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Queen of Cities ISTANBUL
The signs of first communal settlements in Istanbul and its
surroundings date back to long years ago. While the first traces extend
back to 6. Century B.C., it was discovered by research that some
communities have lived in both Anatolian and European side of Istanbul.
These first habitants had first lived as nomads and semi-nomads. Then
they adopted a communal way of life based on fishing, agriculture and
cattle breeding.
Especially
in researches in Fikirtepe, it was found out that back in year 6000
B.C, animals such as dogs, goats, cattle and pigs were domesticated and
the habitants took up fishing.
In
the advent of 3000 B.C., there is an intense settlement activity
starting in Istanbul. This period enabled the arising of small governed
city units (beylik). Researches reveal that Sultanahmet Square of today
and its surroundings had been center to a major settlement.
NAME
The
city of Istanbul has had many names throughout its history, depending
on the culture, language, and religion of its rulers. Byzantium,
Constantinople, Stamboul and Tsarigrad are examples that may still be
found in active use in certain countries. Among others, it has been
called New Rome or Second Rome, since the Roman Emperor Constantine the
Great founded it on the site of the ancient Greek city of Byzantium as
a second, and decidedly Christian, capital of the Roman Empire, in
contrast to the still largely pagan Rome. It has also been nicknamed
"The City on Seven Hills" because the historic peninsula, the oldest
part of the city, was built by Constantine on seven hills to match the
seven hills of Rome. The hills are represented in the city's coat of
arms with seven mosques, one at the top of each hill. Another old
nickname of Istanbul is Vasileousa Polis (Queen of Cities) due to its
importance and wealth throughout the Middle Ages.
With
the Turkish Postal Service Law of March 28, 1930, the Turkish
authorities officially requested foreigners to cease referring to the
city with their traditional non-Turkish names (such as Constantinople,
Tsarigrad, etc.) and to adopt Istanbul as the sole name also in their
own languages. Letters or packages sent to "Constantinople" instead of
"Istanbul" were no longer delivered by Turkey's PTT, which contributed
to the eventual worldwide adoption of the new name. Similarly, letters
or packages that were sent to "Smyrna" instead of Izmir, "Angora"
instead of Ankara, "Trebizond" instead of Trabzon, and other ancient
city names were no longer delivered; a measure which forced the quick
worldwide recognition of the modern Turkish names of every prominent
city in the country.
HISTORY
The
first human settlement in Istanbul, the Fikirtepe mound on the
Anatolian side, is from the Chalcolithic period, with artifacts dating
from 5500-3500 BC. A port settlement dating back to the Phoenicians has
been discovered in nearby Kadıköy (Chalcedon). Cape Moda in Chalcedon
was the first location which the Greek settlers of Megara chose to
colonize in 685 BC, prior to colonising Byzantion on the European side
of the Bosphorus under the command of King Byzas in 667 BC. Byzantion
was established on the site of an ancient port settlement named Lygos,
founded by Thracian tribes between the 13th and 11th centuries BC,
along with the neighbouring Semistra, of which Plinius had mentioned in
his historical accounts. Only a few walls and substructures belonging
to Lygos have survived to date, near the Seraglio Point (Turkish:
Sarayburnu), where the famous Topkapı Palace now stands. During the
period of Byzantion, the Acropolis used to stand where the Topkapı
Palace stands today.
After
siding with Pescennius Niger against the victorious Septimius Severus
the city was besieged by Rome and suffered extensive damage in AD 196.
Byzantium was rebuilt by the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus and
quickly regained its previous prosperity, being temporarily renamed as
Augusta Antonina by the emperor, in honor of his son.
The
location of Byzantium attracted Constantine the Great in 324 after a
prophetic dream was said to have identified the location of the city;
but the true reason behind this prophecy was probably Constantine's
final victory over Licinius at the Battle of Chrysopolis (Üsküdar) on
the Bosphorus, on September 18, 324, which ended the civil war between
the Roman Co-Emperors, and brought an end to the final vestiges of the
Tetrarchy system, during which Nicomedia (present-day İzmit, 100 km
east of Istanbul) was the most senior Roman capital city. Byzantium
(now renamed as Nova Roma which eventually became Constantinopolis,
i.e. The City of Constantine) was officially proclaimed the new capital
of the Roman Empire six years later, in 330. Following the death of
Theodosius I in 395 and the permanent partition of the Roman Empire
between his two sons, Constantinople became the capital of the Eastern
Roman (Byzantine) Empire. As well as being the centre of an imperial
dynasty, the unique position of Constantinople at the centre of two
continents made the city a magnet for international commerce, culture
and diplomacy. The Byzantine Empire was distinctly Greek in culture and
became the centre of Greek Orthodox Christianity, while its capital was
adorned with many magnificent churches, including the Hagia Sophia,
once the world's largest cathedral. The seat of the Patriarch of
Constantinople, spiritual leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church, still
remains in the Fener (Phanar) district of Istanbul.
In
1204, the Fourth Crusade was launched to capture Jerusalem, but had
instead turned on Constantinople, which was sacked and desecrated. The
city subsequently became the centre of the Catholic Latin Empire,
created by the crusaders to replace the Orthodox Byzantine Empire,
which was divided into a number of splinter states, of which the Empire
of Nicaea was to recapture Constantinople in 1261 under the command of
Michael VIII Palaeologus.
Following
centuries of decline, Constantinople became surrounded by more youthful
and powerful empires, most notably that of the Ottoman Turks. On 29 May
1453, Sultan Mehmed II "the Conqueror" entered Constantinople after a
53–day siege and the city was promptly made the new capital of the
Ottoman Empire. In the last decades of the Byzantine Empire, the city
had decayed as the Byzantine state became increasingly isolated and
financially bankrupt, its population had dwindled to some thirty or
forty thousand people whilst large sections remained uninhabited. Thus,
Sultan Mehmed's first duty was to rejuvenate the city economically,
creating the Grand Bazaar and inviting the fleeing Orthodox and
Catholic inhabitants to return back. Captured prisoners were freed to
settle in the city whilst provincial governors in Rumelia and Anatolia
were ordered to send four thousand families to settle in the city,
whether Muslim, Christian or Jew, to form a unique cosmopolitan
society.[8] The Sultan also endowed the city with various architectural
monuments, including the Topkapı Palace and the Eyüp Sultan Mosque.
Religious foundations were established to fund the construction of
grand imperial mosques (such as the Fatih Mosque which was built on the
spot where the Church of the Holy Apostles once stood), adjoined by
their associated schools, hospitals and public baths.
View
of the Seraglio Point (Sarayburnu) on the Golden Horn as seen from
Galata Tower, with the Sea of Marmara and the Princes' Islands in the
background, and Kadıköy (ancient Chalcedon) at left, on the Asian side
View
of the Seraglio Point (Sarayburnu) on the Golden Horn as seen from
Galata Tower, with the Sea of Marmara and the Princes' Islands in the
background, and Kadıköy (ancient Chalcedon) at left, on the Asian side
Suleiman
the Magnificent’s reign was a period of great artistic and
architectural achievements. The famous architect Sinan designed many
mosques and other grand buildings in the city, while Ottoman arts of
ceramics and calligraphy also flourished. Many of these Tekkes survive
to this day; some in the form of mosques while others have become
museums such as the Cerrahi Tekke and the Sünbül Efendi and Ramazan
Efendi Mosques and Türbes in Fatih, the Galata Mevlevihanesi in
Beyoğlu, the Yahya Efendi Tekke in Beşiktaş, and the Bektaşi Tekke in
Kadıköy, which now serves Alevi Muslims as a Cemevi.
The
city was modernized from the 1870s onwards with the construction of
bridges, the creation of a proper water system, the use of electric
lights, and the introduction of streetcars and telephones.
When
the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923, the capital was moved from
Istanbul to Ankara. In the early years of the republic, Istanbul was
overlooked in favour of the new capital. However, in the 1950s,
Istanbul underwent great structural change, as new roads and factories
were constructed throughout the city. Wide modern boulevards, avenues
and public squares were built in Istanbul, sometimes at the expense of
the demolition of many historical buildings. 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.
During
the 1970s, the population of Istanbul began to rapidly increase as
people from Anatolia migrated to the city in order to find employment
in the many new factories that were constructed at 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 deaths and
injuries during frequent earthquakes that hit the city) and many
previously outlying villages became engulfed into the greater
metropolis of Istanbul.
Today, as well as being the country's largest city, Istanbul is the financial, cultural, and economic centre of modern Turkey.
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