Resort Istanbul

Time Istanbul

HISTORY

From the prehistorical period to the foundation of Byzantion

The first human settlement in what is now Istanbul, the Fikirtepe mound on the Anatolian (Turkish) side, is from the Chalcolithic period (Copper Age), with artifacts dating from 5500-3500 BC. In nearby Kadıköy (Chalcedon), a large port settlement dating from the Phoenicians has been discovered. Cape Moda in Chalcedon was the first location which Greek settlers from Megara (near Athens) chose to colonize, in 685 BC. Thracian tribes built a port called Lygos and another village called Semistra on the European side of the Bosphorus between the 13th and 11th centuries BC and it was on this site in 667 BC that the Greek King Byzas founded Byzantium. Plinius mentions Lygos in his books of history. Only a few walls and substructures belonging to Lygos have survived to the present. They are near the Seraglio Point (Turkish: Sarayburnu), where the famous Topkapı Palace now stands. During the period of Byzantion, the Acropolis stood where Topkapı Palace stands today.

Byzantion (Byzantium)

From the prehistorical period to the foundation of Byzantion
Byzantion (Latin: Byzantium) was originally settled by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after King Byzas. The city was established in the Sarayburnu area.[1] 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.

Late Roman period and the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire

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 never officially proclaimed as the new capital of the Roman Empire but it did start to supersede Rome and the other cities by natural means. 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.

Ottoman Empire

On 29 May 1453, Sultan Mehmet II “the Conqueror”, entered Constantinople after a 53–day siege during which his cannon had torn a huge hole in the Walls of Theodosius II. Istanbul became the third capital of the Ottoman Empire

Modernization
As the years passed the population increased, from about 80,000 at the death of Mehmet, to 300,000 by the eighteenth century, and 400,000 in 1800. The capital of an empire that stretched across Europe, Asia and Africa, it also became an important diplomatic centre, with several foreign embassies. The city continued to develop a distinct international identity, so much so that by the time the population reached a million in 1900, under 50% of the people were Muslim. It was only after 1922, following the war between Greece and Turkey that things really began to change. With the establishment of the new Turkish Republic, built on a wave of nationalism, there was a mass exodus of much of the Greek and Armenian population from Istanbul, which had ceased to be the capital. After riots in 1955 the remaining fraction also departed.

The city was modernized from the 1870s onwards with the building of bridges, the creation of a proper water system, the use of electric lights, and the introduction of streetcars and telephones.

Republic of Turkey

When the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923, the capital was moved from Istanbul to Ankara. The city's name Constantinople had remained, in the form Konstantiniyye, throughout the Ottoman period. Outside the Empire, it was often known as Stambul or Stamboul. There are various other names of Istanbul, used throughout history (Names of Istanbul). With the Turkish Post Codes Law of 1930, it was ordered that from then on only the name "Istanbul" would be used in official documents and letters.

In the early years of the republic, Istanbul was overlooked in favour 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 city. Wide modern boulevards and large public squares were built in Istanbul, but some, unfortunately, were at the expense of demolishing many historical buildings.

During the 1970s the population of Istanbul began to increase rapidly as people from Anatolia started migrating to the city in order to find employment in the many new factories that were built in that period. This sudden sharp increase in the population caused a rapid rise in housing development (mostly of poor construction quality and shabby appearance) and many previously outlying villages became engulfed into the greater metropolis of Istanbul. Older Turks who have lived in Istanbul for over 30 or more years can still remember 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.

Font http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Istanbul

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District

Convention centre

Stadium of Arena

Asian side-kadikoi

Lufti Kidar

Ali Sami Yen Stadium

Besiktas

CNR Expo center

Sukru Saracoglu Stadium

Old city sultanahmed

Airport

BJK İnönü Stadium

Taskim square

Ataturk 12.9 km.

Monument

Şişli

Sabina Gokcen 31.8km

Galata Tower

Landmark

City

Shopping centre

Saint Sophia

Bursa

Istiklal Street

Romantic dinner in the Golden Horn Hotel Sultanahmet

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Country Turkey
Province Istanbul
Districts 25
Founded 667 BC as Byzantium
Roman rule AD 330 Constantinople
Ottoman rule 1453 as Istanbul
Area
- City 1,538.77 km² (594.1 sq mi)
Elevation 100 m (328 ft)
Population
- City 11,008,790
- Density 6,521/km² (16,889.3/sq mi)
Postal code 34010 to 34850 and
80000 to 81800
Area code(s) (+90) 212 (European side)
(+90) 216 (Asian side)
Licence plate 34