Istanbul Travel Guide & Information
from Istanbul Luxury Vacation Rentals: Istanbul Holiday Apartments
from Istanbul Luxury Vacation Rentals: Istanbul Holiday Apartments
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ISTANBUL: Where the Continents Meet
Throughout its long history, Istanbul has stood as a symbol of greatness, a
confluence of peoples, languages, religions and continents. It is impossible to visit
the city and not be moved by it; not only by the grandeur of its monuments and
the unsurpassed beauty of its setting, but by its vibrancy and energy.
The former capital city of not one but three empires, Istanbul today is a lively and
exciting city of 12 million people, built around the Bosphorus, one of the most majestic
waterways in the world. Enjoy the magic and mystery of ancient Constantinople while
staying at Istanbul's finest luxury apartments!
History
"As for the site of the city itself, it seems to have been created
by nature for the capital of the World."
Ghislain de Busbecq, Turkish Letters, 1540s
Istanbul Government Istanbul History Site
In Istanbul, mankind and nature have combined to make a city unequalled anywhere else
on earth. The city's legendary past dates from nearly three thousand years ago when
Jason and the Argonauts rowed past Istanbul and up the Bosphorus in their search for
the Golden Fleece on the eastern shores of the Black Sea.
Istanbul's recorded history began in the middle of the seventh century BC with Byzas,
the semi-mythical Megarian hero, who founded the first city on Sarayburnu, the
promontory above the Golden Horn. At this promontory the Bosphorus, gateway to the
Black Sea in the east, flows into the Sea of Marmara and eventually the Mediterranean.
Strategic and pecuniary interests made this promontory where
Topkapi Palace stands today an attractive site for colonization.
The Bosphorus immediately became an important trade route, vesting those who
controlled it with power and revenue. Bloody battles for Byzantium and this
waterway followed involving the Persians, Spartans, Athenians and Macedonians.
Alexander the Great conquered the city without a struggle in the 4th century BC,
but 200 years later Byzantium joined all of western Asia Minor in the Roman province of
Asia.
Constantine the Great's decision in 324 to transfer the capital of the Roman Empire from
Italy to Byzantium was one of the great turning points in history.
It was an inspired choice. Set on a hilly promontory at the mouth of the Bosphorus,
Byzantium was almost impregnable to attack and dominated the vital trade route to the
Black Sea.
Constantine took a keen interest in the transformation of the small coastal settlement into
an imperial capital. When the city was formally dedicated in 330 A.D. he called it New
Rome. But it was under his name that the city was to take its place in history. For, as
Constantinople, it was to become the capital of an empire that was to last for over one
thousand years.
To Western travelers, accustomed to the cramped towns and villages of Dark Age
Europe, Constantinople was a place of wonder, a vast teeming metropolis of magnificent
buildings and fabulous wealth. To the Byzantines it was simply "The City", the center not
just of the empire but of the whole world. Artists, traders, philosophers and craftsmen
flocked to Constantinople, each making their own contribution to the city's unique
character.
Within a hundred years of its foundation the city had outgrown its boundaries and the
emperor Theodosius II had to erect new defenses to accommodate the burgeoning
population. The new walls were over 12 meters high and ran for nearly 20 kilometers.
The defenses were to be breached only twice: in 1204 by the armies of the Fourth
Crusade; and in 1453 when the city finally fell to the Turks.
"... a city richer than any other since the beginning of time."
Geoffrey de Villehardouin,
History of the Conquest of Constantinople, 1203-4
Although the Byzantines recaptured Constantinople from the Crusaders in 1261, their
Empire was in irreversible decline. Weakened by the territorial gains of Ottoman Turks
in the east, the Byzantine Empire shrank until, by the beginning of the 1400s,
Constantinople was practically all that remained. When the young Sultan Mehmet II
conquered it for the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the city had a population of just under
100,000.
The history of the city under the Turks has been characterized by adaptation and
enrichment rather than destruction.
Churches were converted into mosques and ancient stone reused in new buildings. The
Byzantine land walls, a massive belt of brick and stone, studded with 96 towers, are still
awesomely impressive over 1500 years after their construction. The vast dome of
Justinian's 6th century masterpiece of Haghia Sofia, the church of Holy Wisdom,
continues to command the skyline of the Old City, even today. The oval Hippodrome,
where the Byzantines would gather to watch chariot races and circus games, is still
clearly visible today. The 4th century aqueduct of Valens, which dominates the skyline in
Unkapanı, carried water well into the 19th century.
"The heavens may turn about the earth as they will
They will find no city like Istanbul"
Nabi (1642-1712)
The city, which came to be known as Istanbul, flourished under Ottoman rule and
became home to Greeks and Armenians as well as Sephardic Jews fleeing from the
Spanish Inquisition. The Ottomans repaired buildings and aqueducts and built palaces,
bazaars, fountains and mosques with their adjoining complexes of pious foundations,
schools, hospitals, inns and tombs, creating an imperial capital worthy of a great power.
Istanbul in the mid-16th century was once more the grandest and most prosperous city in
the world.
During the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Empire reached its zenith,
stretching from Vienna, which it never captured, in the west to Tunis in the east,
encompassing all the land of the Levant, the Balkans, the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, the
Crimea and the Caucasus.
By the end of the 17th century, however, the empire began a slow process of decline.
Ottoman institutions became ingrown and stagnant at a time when Europe entered a
period of discovery, exploration and expansion.
Following more than four centuries of war, conquest and defeat, the Ottoman rulers
turned away from military engagement and diplomacy to more frivolous pleasures. In the
early 18th century, under the patronage of Sultan Ahmed III, Istanbul entered a halcyon
epoch known as the Tulip Age, a time of elegance and delight. During this period,
relations with Europe intensified. Istanbul witnessed the emergence of European
architectural styles and ushered in the printing press for the publication of books in the
Turkish language. Impetus was given to science, libraries, translation and intellectual
exploration.
"Istanbul needs no aid from imagination to make it
one of the brightest gems in the diadem of nature..."
Miss Julia Pardoe
The Beauties of the Bosphorus, 1835
Once the gateway to new ideas had been breached, it could not be sealed again. The
emergence of a strong reforming sultan in the early 19th century set the stage for a
period of westernization known as "Tanzimat" or reordering. The introduction of western
law codes culminated in the first Ottoman constitution and parliament in 1877.
European influence was visible in many parts of Ottoman life in the 19th century.
Istanbul could boast of opera houses, lycees and a stock exchange. Clothing fashion of
the wealthy was based on European designs. The flowing robes of the Janissaries, the
army's elite corps, were replaced by the uniform and epaulettes of the modern officer.
Turkish statesmen, including the sultan, traveled to Europe, and Istanbul became a
brilliant, diplomatic city, filled with majestic foreign embassies. The new, European-style
Dolmabahçe Palace with its grand ballroom replaced the courtyards and pavilions of
Topkapı Palace.
World War I put an end to Istanbul's role as one of the great imperial capitals of the
early 20th century. Wartime austerity was followed by British occupation between 1919
and 1922, and when the city returned to Turkish rule, it was a city shorn of its empire,
refashioned as the cultural and business center of the new Turkish Republic.
A new and hectic period of expansion began in the 1950s. Turkey's economic miracle
took off as entrepreneurs created a new and vigorous private sector. Industry replaced
trade as the source of Istanbul's wealth, which resulted in an influx of people from the
hinterlands of Anatolia that continues today.
Istanbul today is a bustling, sprawling, sophisticated metropolis, full of apartments and
office blocks, hotels and restaurants, a trendsetter in fashion and decoration but also at
ease with its own past. Byzantine palaces, walls and churches stand shoulder to shoulder
with Ottoman mosques, monuments and palaces. On the Prince's Islands in the Sea of
Marmara, phaeton carriages and donkeys remain the only means of transport. Ferryboats
and caiques still ply the Bosphorus, now spanned by two intercontinental bridges,
affording enchanting views of the city and its shores. Renovation of 19th and early 20th
century buildings in Galata, Beyoglu and other areas have revitalized the historic inner
city, creating an unusually attractive urban landscape.
Boston Globe: 36 Hours in Istanbul
Chicago Tribune: Tapping into cool Istanbul
New York Times Istanbul Travel Page
Newsweek: One of the Coolest Cities in the World
Travel Intelligence: Istanbul-Constantinople
The Independent: Istanbul-Europe's Most Exotic City
Official Turkish Tourism Site for Istanbul
UNESCO World Heritage listing for Istanbul
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