Istanbul : The city that lives on two Continents and its historic cultural diversity

I bet that you've heard about this beautiful city at least somewhere in your life time. Here I am back with a surprise for you with a very fresh topic regarding the fewer known facts about history and geographical facts about Constantinople OR Istanbul. Alright if you are excited enough about the topic already then read along.

Istanbul is one of oldest city in the world and as of now is the biggest city in Turkey as well. This city has seen a complete change over in the religion that it belonged to and what it belongs to now. Many rulers have conquered this piece of land over the period of time and have also put in their own idea of how a kingdom should look like.

Here is a quick look at where and when this place was identified. Its first inhabitants came from the Asian side of the city and it was during the 7th century a colony was established and they named the place as Byzantium (Greek name for a city which lies by the banks of Bosporus River). Later the city was renamed from Byzantium to Constantinople when the Roman Emperor (Septimius Severus) conquered the city in 193 AD and accordingly the eastern Roman Empire was called as Byzantine Empire. It was during 532 AD when a Christian Roman Emperor (Justinian) attacked and occupied the city and also destroyed most of the religious monuments and public buildings, only until he realized his mistake and tried re-constructing the monuments including the very famous Hagia Sophia church (Now a Mosque). The whole city had gone through a drastic shift culturally as it had to move from being a Muslim province to a Christian state.

Hagia Sophia Church ( Now a Mosque)

In the beginning of 6th century, warfare kept Constantinople's power flip-flopping between decline and progression. Alliance with Europe slowly began to break away from the Byzantine Empire between the 7th & 8th centuries, when the Byzantine and Roman churches disagreed on various subjects. However, the distinguishing gap placed between the two churches involved the use of icons in the church. Images of Christian holy people such as Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and the saints. Finally this issue was settled by the Emperor Leo III (717 to 741 AD) when he ordered to destroy all the icons from the church and public places.

Constantinople was again attached by Ottoman Turks led by Sultan Mehmet II in 1453 AD and renamed it from Constantinople to Istanbul, during his tenure they built ample amount of Mosques and Islamic monuments in the city. Turks ruled the place until allied troops took over Istanbul during WW I and Republic of Turkey was born in 1923 and the capital was shifted from Istanbul to Ankara province.

Bosphorus Bridge

Currently the city which had to go through so much of destruction and Re-construction over the period of time is one of the most visited and most famous busiest cities in the whole world. Istanbul is divided by the 31 km long and 3.7 km wide water way called “Bosporus Strait” that connects the Black Sea with Marmara Sea forming a naturally boundary, making one part of the city in Europe and the other half in Asia. Both sides are connected by a steel bridge called “Bosphorus Bridge” which was opened to public on 30th Oct 1973 by Turkish government. Every October, the annual Intercontinental Istanbul Eurasia Marathon crosses the bridge on its way from Asia to Europe. During the marathon, the bridge is closed to vehicular traffic.

Grand Bazaar

Also the Grand Bazaar is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world having 61 covered streets, 4,000 shops that attract almost 250,000 to 400,000 tourists every day. Istanbul was the European Cultural capital city in 2010 but has never hosted the Olympics till date. The very famous Hagia Shopia church which was treated as museum for 86 long years has been converted into a mosque now on 10th July 2020 by the current Turkish government and is open to all Islam worshipers.

Fun Fact:

The chicken which is called "turkey" in India is also called as"Hindi" in Turkey nation.