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 Kadýköy (Chalcedon). Cape Moda in Chalcedon was the first location which the Greek settlers of Megara chose to colonize in 685 BC, prior to colonizing Byzantion on the European side of the Bosphorus under the command of King Byzas in 667 BC.
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 Ýzmit, 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 as 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 magnet for international commerce, culture and diplomacy.
In 1204, the Fourth Crusade was launched to capture Jerusalem, but had instead turned on Constatinople where the city was sacked and desecrated. The city subsequently became the centre of the Latin Empire, created by the crusaders to replace the Orthodox Byzantium Empire. Byzantium was thus divided into a number of splinter states, of which the Empire of Nicea was to recapture Constantinople in 1261 under the command of Michael VIII Palaeologus. This empire was distinctly Greek in culture, and became the centre of Greek Orthodox Christianity and was adorned with many magnificent churches, including Hagia Sophia, once the world’s largest cathedral.
Following centuries of decline, Constantinople became surrounded by more youthful and powerful empires, most notably 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 Byzantium Empire the city had decayed as the empire 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 inhabitants back to return. 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. The Sultan also endowed the city with various architectural monuments, including the Topkapý Palace and the Eyüp Sultan Mosque. Religious foundations were endowed 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.
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 Beyoðlu, the Yahya Efendi Tekke in Beþiktaþ, and the Bektaþi Tekke in Kadýköy, 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 favor 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.
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.
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