History
 The
city has been
conquered, fought
over and rebuilt
many times over the
centuries.
Istanbul’s history
dates back to the
first settlement
possibly in the 13th
Century BC, although
was founded by Byzas
the Megarian in the
7th Century BC, from
when the city was
named Byzantium. A
small colony of
Greeks inhabited the
area until 3rd
Century BC, and over
the next 1000 years
became a thriving
trading and
commercial centre.
Whilst continuing
life as a trading
city during the
Roman Empire, it was
then conquered by
Emperor Septimus
Severius in 193 AD.
During the 4th
century, Istanbul
was selected by the
Roman Empire to be
the new capital,
instead of Rome, by
Constantine. It was
a strategic choice:
Built on seven
surrounding hills –
echoing that of Rome
– the city would
have control of the
Bosphorus and easy
access to the
harbour of the
Golden Horn. The
city was
re-organized within
six years, its
ramparts widened and
the construction of
many temples,
official buildings,
palaces, hamams and
hippodrome.
With a great
ceremony, in the
year 330, the city
was officially
announced as the
capital of the Roman
Empire, and known as
Constantinople in
the late eras.
It remained the
capital of the
eastern Roman Empire
(Byzantine) for a
long period, due to
the fall of the west
Roman Empire in the
5th century. By the
sixth century, the
population exceeded
half a million, and
was considered a
golden age under
Emperor Justinyen’s
reign.
The Byzantium Empire
and Istanbul's
latter history is
full of palace and
church intrigues,
was overrun by the
Arabs in the 7th and
8th centuries, the
Bulgars in the 9th
and 10th, but could
not keep out the
Crusaders who
conquered in 1204.
They destroyed and
raided it for many
more years -
including churches,
monasteries and
monuments, which led
to a decline in the
population. The city
passed reign to
Byzantium again in
1261, did not regain
its former richness,
and was conquered by
Turks in 1453 after
a 53-day siege and
the hands of control
changed yet again.
It then became the
capital city of
Ottoman Empire,
which saw a
population increase
with immigrants from
other parts of the
country, with
religious freedom
and social rights
granted to Greeks,
Armenians and Jews.
Mehmet the Conqueror
began to rebuild it,
with a new palace
and mosque (Fatih
Camii) and tried to
inject new life into
the economy.
The reign of
Suleyman the
Magnificent
(1520-66) was
considered the
greatest of all the
Ottoman leaders, and
the military
conquests paid for
the most impressive
Ottoman
architecture, the
work of Mimar Sinan.
The city was also
the centre of the
Islamic work, and
domes and minarets
from hundreds of
mosques dotted the
skyline.
But a century after
the death of
Suleyman, the Empire
started to decline
again. By the end of
the 18th century,
whilst the empire
was in decline with
more territory being
lost to the West,
and sultans becoming
more interested in
Western
institutional
models. There was a
short-lived Ottoman
parliament and
constitution in
1876, and by the end
of the World War I
during which allied
troops occupied the
city, the once-great
empire was in
shambles.
This changed
radically with the
emergence of a
prominent commander
of the Turkish army,
who entered the
struggle for the
Turkish nation.
Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk was
considered a hero
after the 4-year
long War of
Independence, after
which he established
the Republic if
Turkey in 1923.
Moving the capital
to Ankara, then a
small provincial
town in Anatolia,
Istanbul was simply
the commercial and
cultural centre,
which it still
remains today.
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