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Istanbul Tourist Information Official Site
Istanbul
Capital of three empires
Istanbul history and key dates
ONCE UPON A BYZANUM ...
The foundation of the city is lost in legends. It is in the 7th century BC. AD that Byzas, at the head of a troop of sailors from Megara (Greece), settled on the point occupied today by the seraglio of Topkapı. This arid promontory enjoyed an exceptional location at the southern entrance to the Bosphorus Strait, bathed to the south by the Sea of Marmara, to the north by the Golden Horn estuary.
Opposite, however, on the Asian side, other inhabitants of Megara had already founded Chalcedon, now Kadıköy. The oracle of Delphi had whispered in the ear of Byzas to gain a foothold "in front of the blind". It is thus, says the legend, that in front of Chalcedon, Byzas founded Byzantium.
... THEN WAS CONSTANTINOPLE
In 324, Emperor Constantine seized Byzantium and decided to make it the capital of the Roman Empire. In 330 he inaugurated his New Rome, built on 7 hills, which would take the name of Konstantinou Poli. He surrounded it with ramparts, enlarged the Hippodrome de Septime Sévère and designed the project for the first basilica dedicated to divine wisdom: Hagia Sophia. Constantine also had a port dug (of which recent work on the new railway tunnel under the Bosporus has recently uncovered significant remains).
In 476, Rome fell, the Western Roman Empire slipped into the Middle Ages. There remains the Byzantine Empire and its capital: Constantinople.
TURKS TAKE ISTANBUL
In 1453, the Ottomans who dominated the entire region stormed the city. Constantinople gave in on the morning of May 29, 1453. Mehmet II became Fatih Sultan Mehmet (the Conqueror) and, that same evening, crowned Hagia Sophia with a crescent and a star. The symbol of Christianity has become a mosque. Constantinople has become Istanbul.
In the days of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566), when Paris, the largest city in the West, had only 250,000 inhabitants, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, with its 500,000 inhabitants, was the 1st city in the world . At that time, it had nearly 5,000 mosques. The Sublime Porte fascinates Europeans who discover the city with wonder. In the 16th century, nearly 150 travelogues written by European authors will be devoted to Istanbul!
SOME CHRONOLOGICAL REFERENCES
343 BC BC: Byzantium is dominated by Alexander the Great
193-196 apr. AD: Byzantium is besieged by the Roman emperor Septimius Severus. It is destroyed, then rebuilt
330: Constantine consecrates Byzantium as the capital of the Roman Empire. New Rome will be called Constantinople.
395: Constantinople becomes the capital of the Eastern Empire.
476: following the fall of Rome to the hands of the Barbarians, Constantinople becomes the capital of the Byzantine Empire.
537: completion of the construction of Hagia Sophia.
1204-1261: in 1204, the barons of the 4th Crusade destroy the city and most of the masterpieces found there. They founded, with the blessing of the Pope, the Latin Empire of the East. The Byzantines will retake Constantinople in 1261.
453: Sultan Mehmet II, having conquered the whole of Anatolia, besieges Constantinople. The city fell on May 29, 1453. He made it the capital of the Ottoman Empire and encouraged trade. Many foreign colonies settled there (Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Genoese and Venetians).
1520-1566: under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Empire reached its peak and Istanbl its golden age. The city is adorned with many monuments.
1609-1619: construction of the Blue Mosque.
1868: creation of the French lycée in Galatasaray. Gradual westernization of Istanbul.
1919: the city is occupied by Franco-British forces following the engagement of the Ottoman Empire alongside Germany during the First World War. Mustafa Kemal organizes popular resistance against the occupying armies from Samsun.
1920: the Treaty of Sèvres consecrates the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire.
1935: Hagia Sophia becomes a museum.
1923: the Treaty of Lausanne delimiting the current borders of Turkey is ratified, the Turkish Republic is officially proclaimed. The Allies evacuate Istanbul. Ankara becomes the administrative capital.
1938: death of Ataturk at the Dolmabahçe Palace.
1973: opening of the 1st Bogaziçi bridge (Bosphorus) connecting Europe to Asia.
2013: Erdogan, since his accession to power in 2003. Taksim Square becomes the symbol of opposition to authoritarian abuses of power. In October, inauguration of Marmaray, the 1st railway tunnel under the Bosphorus.
2018: inauguration of the new Istanbul airport.
2019: Erdogan's party loses municipal elections. Ekrem Imamoglu of the Republican People's Party (CHP) becomes Istanbul's new mayor.
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