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( for 2010. Istanbul is sometimes called as the "City on Seven Hills" because the historic peninsula which is the oldest part was built on seven hils, also represented with seven mosques at the top of each hill.
{Link without Title}
Originally founded by .
Only on
March 28 ,
1930 , was the city officially renamed ''Istanbul''. This often causes confusion among foreigners, as illustrated by the song "
Istanbul (Not Constantinople) " by
Jimmy Kennedy and
Nat Simon , and most recently sung by
They Might Be Giants in their 1990 album ''Flood''.
Istanbul encloses the southern Bosphorus which divides it into a western, European and into an eastern, Asiatic area. The Golden Horn, a Bosphorus bay running to the west, separates the European part into a southern, between
Marmara Sea and Golden Horn lying peninsula which is the historical Istanbul and the northern quarter to the historical
Galata . Both to the west, to the north and the east Istanbul exceeds far over historical quarters. In the southeast the
Prince's Islands belonging to Istanbul lie. The city boundaries cover a surface of 1.538,77 km&
2. The Metropol region Istanbul (= province Istanbul) has a surface of 5,220 km&
2.
Istanbul is situated near the North Anatolian fault line, which drags on from the northern in
Kocaeli left 18,000 dead and in the winter of
2001 in the province of
Afyon 41 people died.
{Link without Title}
{Link without Title}
of Istanbul under snow]]
Istanbul has hot and humid summers with cold, rainy and often snowy winters. Yearly precipitation for Istanbul averages 870 mm. Humidity is often rather high which can make temperatures feel much warmer or colder than they actually are. The average maximum temperature during the winter months varies between 3° C (38° F) and 8 °C (46° F). Snowfall is common and can occasionally be heavy. It is most likely to occur between the months of November and April. The summer months of June through September bring average daytime temperatures of 28 °C (82 °F).
The warmest month is July with on the average 23.2 degrees Celsius, coldest January with 5.4 degrees Celsius on the average. The highest recorded temperature in Istanbul is 40.5 °C (105 °F) (August 2000), with the lowest being –16.1 °C (3 °F) (February 1927). The weather becomes slightly cooler as one moves toward eastern Istanbul.
The city is quite windy, having an average wind speed of 17 km/h (11 mph).
Summer is by far the driest season, although there is no real summer drought such as occurs further west, and so the climate cannot be considered truly
Mediterranean .
District]]
Quarters of Istanbul are divided into three ranges:
- The old, city centre Istanbul with the quarters Eminönü and Fatih , located in the south of the European side, are separated by the Golden Horn from the northern part and by the Theodosian wall from the western and younger parts .
- North of the Golden Horn are the historical Beyoğlu and Beşiktaş , where the last Sultan s palace is, followed by a chain of former villages such as Ortaköy and Bebek along the bank of the Bosphorus. Here and on the opposite side of Boshphorus, wealthy Istanbulers established luxurious wooden mansions, called Yali s, which served as summer homes in the beginning of 20th century.
- The quarters Üsküdar and Kadıköy which are opposite on the Asiatic side were originally independent cities. Today they are full of living and business districts, here live approx. a third of the Istanbul's population.
, in the Anatolian side of Istanbul from the air]]
- Elevated office and residential areas are located particularly in the north on the hills above the second Bosphorus bridge above Bebek in the quarters of Levent , Etiler and Maslak .
- Due to Istanbul's exponential growth during the second half of 20th century, a significant portion of the city consists of " Gecekondu s, a Turkish word created in the 1940s meaning "built overnight" and refers to the illegally constructed squatter buildings that comprise entire neighborhoods and run rampant in Turkey’s larger cities, especially Istanbul, Ankara , İzmir , and Bursa . According to the official definition stated in the Gecekondus Act of 1966 , these neighborhoods are typically built on abandoned land or on lands owned by others, without the permission of the landowner, and do not obey rules and regulations.
: ''See
Constantinople for a more detailed history before the
Ottoman Turkish Conquest Of 1453 .''
With the fall of Rome and the Western Roman Empire, Constantinople became the sole capital of what historians now call the
Byzantine Empire . This empire was distinctly Greek in culture, and became the centre of
Greek Orthodox Christianity after an earlier
Split with Rome, and was adorned with many magnificent churches, including
Hagia Sophia , once the world's largest
Cathedral . The seat of the
Patriarch Of Constantinople , spiritual leader of the
Greek Orthodox Church , remains in Istanbul. After the
Fall Of Constantinople to the
Ottoman Turks , in
1453 , Constantinople became part of the
Ottoman Empire and soon, its capital.
was the original name of the modern city of Istanbul. Byzantium was originally settled by
Greek colonists from
Megara in
667 BC and named after their king
Byzas . The name "Byzantium" is a transliteration of the original
Greek name Βυζάντιον; (Demotic
Modern Greek spells this Βυζάντιο,
Pronounced IPA //).
After siding with ic
Dream was said to have identified the location of the city. The name Nova Roma never came into common use. The Eastern Roman Empire which had its capital in Constantinople from then until
1453 , has often been called the
Byzantine Empire or Byzantium by modern scholars.
is one of the most exclusive districts of Istanbul]]
The combination of
Imperialism and location would play an important role as the crossing point between two
Continent s (
Europe and
Asia ), and later a magnet for
Africa and others as well, in terms of
Commerce ,
Culture ,
Diplomacy , and
Strategy . At a strategic position, Constantinoupolis was able to control the route between Asia and Europe, as well as the passage from the
Mediterranean Sea to the ''Efxinos Pontos'' (
Black Sea ).
Constantinople was the capital of the
Eastern Roman Empire , also known as the Byzantine Empire. In Byzantine times the Greeks called Constantinople ''i Poli'' ("The City"), since it was the centre of the Greek world and for most of the Byzantine period, the largest city in Europe. It was captured and sacked by the
Fourth Crusade in
1204 and then re-captured by
Nicaean forces under the command of
Michael VIII Palaeologus in
1261 .
Mecidiye Mosque]]
On
May 29 ,
1453 the city fell to the
Ottoman Turks (''see the
Fall Of Constantinople '') and was part of the
Ottoman Empire until its official dissolution on
November 1 ,
1922 . The Ottoman Turks called the city or Istanbul.
During the Ottoman period the city went through a complete cultural change from an imperial Byzantine city to an Ottoman Imperial one.
Hagia Sophia was converted to a mosque as were several other churches in the city. Other mosques were constructed around the city, each Sultan having built a grand mosque to commemorate his reign. Amongst these mosques, the most impressive are;
Beyazit Mosque ,
Suleymaniye (The largest mosque in Istanbul),
Sultan Ahmed Mosque (The first Friday sermon or "Khutba" in this mosque was read by the
Jelveti Sufi Sheikh Aziz Mahmud Hudayi ) and
Fatih Mosque .
The wives and mothers of the Sultans also contibuted to the construction of mosques and several mosques both on the European and Asian sides of the city have the name
Valide Sultan Mosque to signify that they were constructed under the orders of the Sultans mother.
- Bulgarians dancing]]
- Epirotes]]
- Greeks, blessing the
Epiphany .]]
Sufi orders which were so widespread in the
Islam ic world and who had many followers who had activly participated in the conquest of the city came to settle in the capital. During
Ottoman times over 100
Tekkes were active in Istanbul alone.
Many of these
Tekkes survive to this day some in the form of mosques while others as museums such as the
Jerrahi Tekke in
Fatih , the
Sunbul Effendi and
Ramazan Effendi Mosque and
Turbes also in
Fatih , the Galata
Mevlevihane in
Beyoglu , the
Yahya Effendi Tekke in
Besiktas , and the
Bektashi Tekke in
Kadıköy , which now serves
Alevi Muslims as a
Cem Evi .
When the Republic of
Turkey was founded in
1923 , the capital was moved from Istanbul to
Ankara . Istanbul became the official name in
1930 .
) in
Arnavutköy .]]
In the early years of the republic, Istanbul was overlooked in favor of the new capital
Ankara but, during the
1950s and
1960s , Istanbul underwent great structural change. The city's once numerous and prosperous
Greek community, remnants of the city's Greek origins, dwindled in the aftermath of the
1955 Istanbul Pogrom with most Greeks in Turkey leaving their homes for
Greece .
In the 1950s the government of
Adnan Menderes sought to develop the country as a whole and new roads and factories were constructed throughout the country. Wide modern roads were built in Istanbul but some, unfortunately, were at the expense of historical buildings within the city.
During the
1970s the population of Istanbul began to rapidly increase as people from
Anatolia migrated to the city to find employment in the many new factories that were constructed on the outskirts of the city. This sudden sharp increase in the population caused a rapid rise in housing development (some of poor quality resulting in great death and injury during the frequent
Earthquake s that hit the city) and many previously outlying villages became engulfed into the greater metropolis of Istanbul. Many Turks who have lived in Istanbul for over 30 or more years can still recollect how areas such as large parts of
Maltepe ,
Kartal ,
Pendik , and others were green fields when they were young. Other areas such as
Tuzla were nothing more than sleepy villages.
The cultural activity, tourism and commerce will continue their importance in the city life. However, the issues of population growth, traffic solution, stopping of disorganized housing, restoration of historic buildings and planning a 3rd motorway transition to the Bosphorus will continue. The daily life in Istanbul which continues side by side with the fussily protected Roman, Byzantine and Turkish monuments is colorful and live. Istanbul can be considered as the capital of Turkey in terms of commerce, entertainment, culture, education, shopping, tourism and art activities. More than half of the population lives and mostly works in the European side. The large amount of people living in the residential areas in the Anatolian side uses the bridges and sea transportation to go to work every day in the city which has been the most popular stop for the voyagers throughout the history.
Istanbul is getting more colorful with its rich social, cultural and commercial activities. Alongside with Turkish restaurants, the Far eastern and other cuisines are getting large in number and with the newly opened restaurants. While the world famous pop stars are filling the stadiums, activities like opera, balet, theatre are continuing throughout the year. In the seasonal festivals world famous orchestras, choros, concerts, jazz legends are found. The musical, folk and theatral pieces are playing full house. Among with historical places like
Hagia Irene ,
Rumeli Fortress , Yedikule, courtyard of
Topkapı Palace , Gülhane park; The Ataturk Cultural center, Cemal Reşit Rey concert hall and other open air and modern theatre halls are hosting the shows. For the people that like night life, there are sufficient number of clubs, musical restaurants, discos, bars and pavillions. The clubs, restaurants and discoteques increase in number and move to open air spaces in summers.
"There, God and human,
nature and art are together,
they have created such a perfect place that it is valuable to see."
Alphonse De Lamartine
''Lamartine's famous poetic line reveals his love for Istanbul, describing the embracing of two continents, with one arm reaching out to Asia and the other to Europe.
In the townscape, the typical Ottoman tradition built, timber buildings belong. In the last decades in and around the city, numerous and high settlements were built by the fast growth of the population. Sorrounding towns were absorbed into Istanbul as the city grew rapidly outwards. Successes happened since the mid 1990's when the garbage problem was solutioned, traffic conditions were improved and the air improvement was obtained by the employment of natural gas. Nevertheless air and water pollution by the numerous factories, motor vehicles and private households and the noise pollution by traffic further concerns the population of Istanbul. Diseases such as bronchitis and asthma are far more common among the inhabitants of the city's
Gecekondu areas largely because of these poorer, densely populated areas' proximity to industry.
,the largest of the
Prince's Islands ]]
Because of the contamination of the sea, traditional beach resorts had disappeared gradually, for some years however old places opened again in the city. The most popular places within the city belong to Bakirkoy(
Bakırköy ), Kucukcekmece(
Küçükçekmece ), Sariyer(
Sarıyer ) and the Bosphorus, outside of the city are the Marmara sea the Prince's islands, Silivri and Tuzla as well as at the black sea Kilyos and Sile(Şile). The
Prince's Islands (Prens Adaları) are a group of islands in the Marmara sea, south of the quarters Kartal and Pendik. With their Pine and Stone pines, wooden art nouveau style summer mansions from the turn of the twentieth century, horse-drawn carriages (motor vehicles are not permitted) and fish restaurants make them a popular trip goal. They can be attained with ferry boats and high-speed ferries (Deniz otobüsü) from
Eminönü and
Kartal . From the nine islands, four are settled. Sile(
Şile ) is distant and well-known Turkish seaside resort at the black sea, 50 kilometers from Istanbul. Outside of Sile unaffected white sand beaches are to be found. Kilyos is a small calm seaside resort not far from the northern European entrance of the Bosphorus at the black sea. The place has good swimming possibilities and became popular in the last years among the inhabitants of Istanbul as a place for excursions.
Kilyos offers a beach park with (fish) Restaurants and discotheques.
Newsweek magazine recently named Istanbul the "hippest city of Europe", referring to it as the "
Turkish Delight ":
''After so many decades of trying to become Western, Istanbul glories in the rediscovery of a modern identity. European or not, it is one of the coolest cities in the world. There is such richness, the city is still thickly atmospheric, with bazaars, Byzantine churches and Ottoman mansions pretty much everywhere.''
: ''Further reading
Demographics Of Turkey ''
The townscape of Istanbul is shaped by many communties. Important religious minorities are the
Greek Orthodox Christians,
Armenian Christians, and the
Sephardic Jews . In Istanbul small boroughs are inhabited by ethnic
Armenians ,
Jews and
Greeks . In some quarters, like for example in Kuzguncuk, an Armenian Church is next to a
Synagogue , and on the other side of the road a Greek-Orthodox church is found beside a
Mosque . The seat of the
Patriarch Of Constantinople , spiritual leader of the
Greek Orthodox Church is in Istanbul. Further based here are, the archbishop of the Turkish-
Orthodox community, an
Armenian archbishop and the Turkish Grand-
Rabbi .
The city is traditionally the seat of the
Ecumenical Patriarch , to some orthodox churches and seat of an Armenian archbishop as well as the archbishop of the Turkish-Orthodox community. The everyday life of the Armenian and Greek minorities still living in Istanbul changed after the
First World War of discrimination and constant repression. In
1942 came the introduction of a special wealth tax (varlik vergisi). In
1964 , all Greeks (around 100.000) without Turkish citizenship residing in Turkey were deported. Today, most of Turkey's Greek and Armenian minority live in or near Istanbul. Beside the
Levantine s, who are the descendants of European traders who had started trading outposts in the Ottoman Empire, there is also a small, scattered number of
Bosphorus Germans . A number of places reflect past movements of different people into Istanbul, most notably
Arnavutköy (Albanian village),
Polonezköy (Polish village) and
Yeni Bosna (New Bosnia).
The
Sephardic Jews have lived in the city for over 500 years. They fled in
1492 from the
Iberian Peninsula , when they were forced to convert to Christianity after the fall of the
Moorish Kingdom Of Andalucia . Ottoman Sultan
Bayezid II (
1481 -
1512 ) sent a sizable fleet to
Spain in order to save the Sephardic Jews. More than 200,000 fled first to
Tangier ,
Algiers ,
Genova and
Marseille , later to
Salonica and finally to Istanbul. The Sultan granted over 93,000 of these Spanish Jews to take refuge in the Ottoman Empire. In Istanbul more than 20,000 Sephardic Jews still remain today. Altogether 20 synagoges are to be found in the city, the most important of them being the
Neve Shalom Synagogue ianugurated in
1951 , in the
Beyoglu quarter. The Turkish Grand Rabbi in Istanbul (currently Ishak Haleva) presides over community affairs.
across the
Bosphorus from Bebek District of Istanbul]]
The population of the metropolis more than tripled during the 25 years between
1980 and
2005 . Roughly 70% of all Istanbulites live in the European section and around 30% in the Asian section. Due to high
Unemployment in the southeast of Turkey, many people from that region migrated to Istanbul, where they established themselves in the outskirts (
Gaziosmanpaşa , Ziya Gökalp). . Migrants, predominantly from central and eastern
Anatolia arrive in Istanbul expecting improved living conditions and employment, which usually end with little success. This results each year with new
Gecekondu s at the outskirts of the city, which are later developed into neighbourhoods and integrated into the greater metropolis.
The following overview shows the numbers of inhabitants by year. Population tallies up to 1914 are estimated with variations of up to 50% depending upon researcher. The numbers from 1927 to 2000 are results of censuses. The numbers of
2005 and
2006 are based on computer simulation forecasts. The doubling of the population of Istanbul between 1980 and 1985 is due to a natural increase in population as well as the expansion of municipal limits.
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Topkapi_Palace" class="copylinks">Topkapi Palace
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Hagia_Sophia" class="copylinks">Hagia Sophia
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Sultanahmet_Mosque" class="copylinks">SultanAhmet(Blue) Mosque
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Turkish_Bath" class="copylinks">Turkish Bath s
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Çiçek_Pasajı" class="copylinks">Çiçek Pasajı
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Rumeli_Hisarı" class="copylinks">Rumeli Hisarı
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Basilica_Cistern" class="copylinks">Basilica Cistern
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Galata_Tower" class="copylinks">Galata Tower
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Kiz_Kulesi" class="copylinks">Kiz Kulesi
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Valens_aqueduct" class="copylinks">Valens Aqueduct
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Çırağan_Palace" class="copylinks">Çırağan Palace
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/St_Antoine_Catholic_Church" class="copylinks">St Antoine Catholic Church
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Chora_Church" class="copylinks">Chora Church
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Castle_of_Seven_Towers" class="copylinks">Castle Of Seven Towers
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Istanbul_University" class="copylinks">Istanbul University and Beyazit Tower
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