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When I went to Istanbul

Shisha

Photo by: Jackie Baisa ~ Seattle Photographer

Turks are the authority when it comes to smokes and tea. Shishah, hookah, tea, and fortune-divining coffee can be found all over the country and we’ve got the Top 5 not-to-be missed Coffee, Tea and Hookah Lounges sure to fulfill your orientalistfantasies, while still keeping it real.

Photo by: muvakkıtzade

Fatih is an extra-conservative neighborhood directly west of Sultanahmet, right near Old City sites like the Hagia Sophia and the Basilica cisterns.  A religious hub within secular Istanbul, drinking and skin-flashing are a definite no-no. If you can part with your brew and keep your pants on for a day, it’s worth checking out one of the many traditionalKıraathanes in Fatih (although lingering late night, especially if you’re a girl, isn’t the brightest idea). Conservative Turks take a liking to foreigners who show an interest in their lifestyle, so bust out your best “Nerede Kıraathane?” and you’ll be led to tea in no time.

OTP Tip: Kıraathanes are typically for men only but if you’re a chick, an infiltration might be in order (skip the lip waxing; it’s easier if you have a mustache).

If Fatih is akin to the deep American South in terms of conservative politics and a less-than-cosmopolitan vibe, the AgaKapısı tea house is New York City. This joint is bursting at the seams with hip Turkish urbanites; a little less traditional, but just as authentic. Famous for its extensive menu, you could drink here for 40 days and never taste the same tea leaf combination twice! To top it off, AgaKapısı is surrounded by great views of the city and some delicious platters to accompany your tea. Hook yourself up with a fruity, sugary tea to go full throttle.

Photo by: Lemi Hacıoğlu

Legend has it that shisha—the sticky, flavored, stringy tobacco product smoked most often in tall water hookahs with multiple pipes—was invented in the Tophane neighborhood in Beyoğlu. Consequently, when hopping around this hood, you’re not going to be at a loss for hookah cafés (nargile). Most are clustered near the water and all merit a peek or two. Tap into the stuff Turkish stereotypes are made of by lounging back on deep colored cushions and indulging in some lung-wrecking deliciousness. Not just a tourist attraction, plenty of locals smoke it up in the nargiles. Find a non-English speaking place to add some authenticity to your toke.

Photo by: Sibane.

If you get a craving for ritzy, hop a bus fromBeyoğlu to the Bebek neighborhood and check out the Oba Sultan Café—the classiest hookah joint in all of Istanbul. Sit back on their breathtaking wooden patio and watch the water roll on the Bosphorus Straight while you smoke in this upper-middle-class oasis. Before returning to the squalor you’re used to, blow the rest of your allowance on a fruit-stuffed waffle, a neighborhood specialty. It’s totally worth what seems like highway robbery.

Türk Kahvesi, or Turkish coffee, is well-known in the English speaking world, and it’s not a bastardized “foreign” dish like pizza. Turks in Turkey drink Turkish coffee, and there are plenty of joints that specialize in it. There’s a certain color scheme and lore that goes along with the drink. Put your feet up like an Ottoman at the places catering to that image near Topkapı Palace in Sultanahmet. Ada, a bar and café on Istiklal Street in Beyoğlu, has it going on with a rebellious touch of class. WhileIstikal Street is known for its party scene, Ada is far less rowdy than its neighbors, sporting music and literary wares for sale alongside great Turkish brew. On your party-night off, hunker down here for some caffeine or wine at a decent price in one of the best modern atmospheres the city has to offer.

When you begin to sweat raki, perhaps it’s time to sit back and slowly draw on the pipe. Even if you’re just lounging to plan your next step, no visit to Istanbul is complete without some tea, smoke or coffee.

http://offtrackplanet.com/inspiration/otps-top-5-favorite-coffee-tea-and-hookah-lounges-in-istanbul/

Turkish food

Eating street food is very much part of the Istanbul way of life. You can’t walk for over a kilometer without coming accross one or more street vendors and a dozen of snack shops or büfes. And with street food we don’t just mean food literally bought and eaten on the street, but also an array of light snacks such as pastry (börek), kebap, döner and meatballs (köfte). Here’s is an overview of what’s hot and what’s not, as well as a list of usual suspects.

Hot Istanbul Street Food

Döner seller on the streets of Istanbul.
• Kebap – together with döner, this is probably the first street food that comes to any tourist’s mind when asked to name one. Kebap actually means small pieces of broiled or roasted meat — generally cow, sheep or chicken. Excellent dishes you may want to try out areİskender Kebap, Adana Kebap,Patlıcan Kebap and Şiş Kebap.
• Döner – this tightly packed meat roasted on a large vertical spit is the basis for fast-food snacks (or even full meals) such as Pilav Üstü Döner, İskedender and Dürüm. Although you can find these half-outside/half-inside eateries almost anywhere, for the biggest concentration head to the beginning of Istiklal Caddesi in Taksim.
• Börek – a flaky pastry consisting of several thin layers, often with a specific shape and/or filling. You’ll see locals entering these tiny shops for a quick breakfast or lunch. Among my favorites are ıspanaklı börek (with spinach filling), peynirli börek (with cheese filling), kıymalı börek (with minced meat filling) and patatesli börek (with potato filling). If you prefer it rather plain, you can’t go wrong with su böreği.
• Pide – a slightly leavened, flat pizza like bread. They again come in different styles, withKaşarlı Pide (melted cheese) and Sucuklu Pide (melted cheese and spicy sausage) among the most popular.
• Lahmacun – a Turkish-style pizza. A very thin round piece of pide, with a cheese and tomato layer as well as some (minced) meat. It is often served with a salad and a few pieces of lemon in a side dish. You’ll see locals topping the pizza with the salad, sprinkling is with lemon and making a roll out of it.
• Mısır – freshly boiled or grilled corn on the cob, often sprinkled with salt or spices. This popular snack is almost exclusively sold during the summer months by the real street sellers with their push-cars.
• Kestane – due to the lack of corn in winter, the street vendors mentioned above shift to roasted chestnuts in winter time.
• Balık ekmek – literaly translated ‘fish bread’. And that’s basically what it is — freshly caught fish, grilled or fried in front of your eyes and stuffed inside a large piece of bread. Fans of this fast-food can have a blast in Eminönü, on the shore next to the Galata Bridge.

Cold Istanbul Street Food

Simit and açma on display in push-car.
• Simit – a crisp, ring-shaped, savory roll covered with sesame. Sold by street sellers with glass-fronted push-cars. There are two main versions: sokak simit (sold on the streets and very crispy) and pastane simit (sold in shops and softer).
• Açma – a ring-shaped savory bun — a Turkish-style dougnut if you will. It’s soft but also a bit oily.
• Poğaça – a flaky, savory pastry. You can go for the plain one (sade) or choose one with a filling: peynirli(cheese), kıymalı (minced meat), or my personal favorite — zeytinli (black olives)

The Usual Suspects

When wandering through Istanbul’s streets, you’ll also notice the following snacks being sold. While they’re all delicious when fresh and prepared well, be cautious when buying them on the (sunny) streets. Ask for local advice as to where to order them best!

Kokoreç on its horizontal skewer.
• Midye dolma – stuffed mussels. If you’re a fan, you may want to prefer eating those in a real restaurant.
• Çiğ köfte – a dish made of raw ground meat, pounded wheat and red pepper. It’s a delicacy, but we all know what effect the burning sun may have on raw meat. Again, checkour restaurant listing in order not to cut your holiday short.
• Kokoreç – grilled sheep intestines with an almost industrial amount of spices, roasted on a skewer. A very popular snack after a night out and (too) many drinks. So which skewer has the döner and which one the intestines? Luckily for us, the kokoreç skewer is always positioned horizontally.

http://www.wittistanbul.com/magazine/istanbuls-street-food-whats-hot-and-whats-not/

Timeline

• 7000 BC Neolithic fishing settlements in Kadıköy, Pendik and Yarımburgaz
• 750 BC Greeks sailed through the Bosphorus.
• 667 BC Byzantium was founded.
• 676 BC Greek colony of Chalcedon founded in Kadıköy today.
• 64 BC Pompeius captured Byzantium and it became a province in the Roman Empire.
• 324 Constantine became emperor of the Roman Empire.
• 326 Constantine founded Constantinople and incorporated Byzantium into a new city.
• 330 Constantine made it the new capital of the Roman Empire.
• 395 Emperor Theodosius I died. The Empire was divided into an eastern and western half. The eastern half was centered in Constantinople.
• 408 During the reign of Emperor Theododius II the construction began on the new city walls.
• 476 The fall of the western half of the Roman Empire.
• 532 Nika riots in Constantinople. Up to 30.000 people were killed in the Hippodrome.
• 537 Construction of Hagia Sophia, ordered by Emperor Justinian, was completed.
• 745 – 7 Bubonic plague wipes out one third of the city.
• 976 – 1025 Reign of Byzantine Emperor Basil II under whose reign the Empire reached its greatest height.
• 1071 Selcuk army conquered Anatolia.
• 1096 The First Crusade reached Constantinople, helped recapture lands lost to the Selcuks.
• 1202 An army gathered in Venice for the Fourth Crusade.
• 1204 The Fourth Crusade conquered Constantinople.
• 1261 Michael VIII Palaeologus recovered Constantinople from the Latin Empire and transformed the Empire of Nicaea into restored Byzantine Empire.
• 1301 Osman I founded the Ottoman Empire.
• 1321 This year marked the start of a devastating 33-year Byzantine civil war.
• 1348 The Galata Tower was built to watch over the Pera district.
• 1394 – 1442 Ottomans besieged Constantinople four times.
• 1453 Mehmet II conquered Constantinople and declared it the capital of the Ottoman Empire.
• 1455 The construction of the Grand Bazaar started.
• 1478 The Topkapı palace was completed.
• 1492 Spain’s exiled Jewish population was invited by Beyazıt II to settle in İstanbul.
• 1517 Selim the Grim captured Cairo and appointed himself Caliph of all Islam.
• 1520 – 1566 Reign of Suleyman the Magnificent. Ottoman Empire reached its zenith.
• 1556 Inauguration of the Süleymaniye mosque by Mimar Sinan, Sinan the Architect. Beginning of “the rule of women”
• 1616 After eight years of construction, the Blue Mosque was finished.
• 1622 Janissaries murdered Osman II, Genc Osman, Osman the Young.
• 1699 The loss of Hungary in the Treaty of Karlowitz marked the beginning the Ottoman Empire withdrawal from Europe.
• 1651 – 1783 Janissaries revolted 11 more times.
• 1778 Plague wipes out one third of the city.
• 1807 Big part of the city destroyed during the Janissary revolt vs Mahmut II.
• 1826 Janissaries destroyed by Mahmut II.
• 1845 The first wooden Galata bridge spaned the Golden Horn.
• 1853 Dolmabahce Palace is completed.
• 1854 The first Istanbul stock exchange opened.
• 1854 – 1856 Crimean War and revolts against Ottoman rule in the Balkans.
• 1856 Abdülmecit I left Tokapı Palace and moved to the new Dolmabahce Palace.
• 1875 The Tünel-metro, the third metro worldwide was inaugurated in Galata.
• 1877 First Ottoman Parliament.
• 1878 Russians siezed Balkans. Abdülhamit closed parliament and ruled by decree.
• 1885 The Orient Express pulls into Istanbul.
• 1899 Young Turks groups formed in military.
• 1908 First elections. CUP emerges victorious.
• 1912 First Balkan War.
• 1913 Second Balkan War.
• 1914 Ottomans entered WWI on German side.
• 1915 Allied forces landed in Gallipoli but had to retreat.
• 1919 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk declared independent Turkey.
• 1919 – 1922 British and French troops occupied İstanbul.
• 1920 Turkish Parliament was formed in Ankara.
• 1922 Turkish Independance war. After two years of fighting, Turks forced Greece out of Izmir. The Sultanate was abolished.
• 1923 Allied occupation of Istanbul ended. Ankara declared capital of new republic.
• 1928 Istanbul became the official name.
• 1935 – 1941 Turkey provided a safe haven for Jews fleeing the German Reich.
• 1936 Hagia Sofia became a museum. Restoration started.
• 1938 Atatürk died at 09:05 on November 10th in the Dolmabahçe Palace.
• 1950 The first democratically elected Turkish government.
• 1960 Prime Minister Adnan Menderes deposed in coup, hanged following year.
• 1971 Instability in the government and extremism prompted a second army coup.
• 1973 First suspension bridge over the Bosphorus was built.
• 1980 Warring between left and right groups prompted military coup. Over a 100.000 arrested.
• 1983 Growth of shanty towns on outskirts of Istanbul moves in from rural areas.
• 1999 The population of Istanbul quarupled in 20 years time from 2.7 million in 1980 to 11.8 million. On August 17, an earthquake devastated parts of Istanbul and North-west Turkey. Over 17,000 people died.
• 2002 Turkish national football team endend third in the Fifa World Cup. AKP under the leadership Recep Tayyip Erdogan received 34% of the votes in the 2002 general elections.
• 2003 Turkey wins the Eurovision Song Contest with “Every way that I can” by Sertab Erener.
• 2005 Introduction of the New Turkish Lira (YTL) 6 zero’s on the bank notes are dropped.
• 2007 Abdullah Gül elected president of Turkey.

The Crusaders: interlopers from the West

Soldiers of the Second Crusade passed through the city in 1146 during the reign of Manuel I, son of John Comnenus II ‘The Good’ and his empress, Eirene, both of whose mosaic portraits can be seen in the gallery at Aya Sofya. In 1171 Manuel evicted Venetian merchants from their neighbourhood in Galata. The Venetians retaliated by sending a fleet to attack Byzantine ports in Greece.

The convoluted, treacherous imperial court politics of Constantinople have given us the word ‘Byzantine’. Rarely blessed with a simple, peaceful succession, Byzantine rulers were always under threat from members of their own families as well as would-be tyrants and foreign powers. This internecine plotting was eventually to lead to the defeat of the city by the Crusaders.

In 1195 Alexius III deposed and blinded his brother, Emperor Isaac II, claiming the throne for himself. Fleeing to the West, Isaac’s oldest son, Prince Alexius, pleaded to the Pope and other Western rulers for help in restoring his father to the Byzantine throne. At the time, the Fourth Crusade was assembling in Venice to sail to Egypt and attack the infidel. Knowing this, Prince Alexius sent a message to the Crusaders offering to agree to a union of the Greek and Roman churches under the papacy if the Crusaders could put his father back on the throne. He also promised to pay richly for their assistance. The Crusader leaders agreed, and Enrico Dandolo, Doge of Venice, led the crusaders to Constantinople, arriving in 1203.

Rather than facing the Crusaders, Alexius III fled with the imperial treasury. The Byzantines swiftly restored Isaac II to the throne and made Prince Alexius his co-emperor. Unfortunately, the new co-emperors had no money to pay their allies. They were also deeply unpopular with their subjects, being seen as Latin toadies. Isaac fell ill (he died in 1204), and the Byzantines swiftly deposed Alexius and crowned a new emperor, Alexius V. The new emperor foolishly ordered the Crusaders to leave his territory, conveniently ignoring the fact that they believed themselves to be owed a considerable amount of money by the Byzantines. Their patience exhausted, the Crusaders attacked. On 13 April 1204 they broke through the walls, and sacked and pillaged the rich capital of their Christian ally.

When the smoke cleared, Dandolo took control of three-eighths of the city, including Aya Sofya, leaving the rest to his co-conspirator Count Baldwin of Flanders. The Byzantine nobility fled to what was left of their estates and fought among themselves in best Byzantine fashion for control of the shreds of the empire.

After Dandolo’s death, Count Baldwin had himself crowned emperor of Romania (‘Kingdom of the Romans’), his name for his new kingdom. Never a strong or effective state, Baldwin’s so-called empire steadily declined until, just over half a century later in 1261, it was easily recaptured by the soldiers of Michael VIII Palaeologus, formerly the emperor of Nicaea, where the Byzantine Empire in exile sat. The Byzantine Empire was restored.

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The Ottomans: upstarts from the East

Two decades after Michael reclaimed Constantinople, a Turkish warlord named Ertuğrul died in the village of Söğüt near Nicaea. He left his son Osman, who was known as Gazi (Warrior for the Faith), a small territory. Osman’s followers became known in the Empire as Osmanlıs and in the West as the Ottomans.

Osman died in 1324 and was succeeded by his son Orhan. In 1326 Orhan captured Bursa, made it his capital and took the title of sultan. A victory at Nicaea followed, after which he sent his forces further afield, conquering Ankara to the east and Thrace to the west. His son Murat I (r 1362–89) took Adrianople (Edirne) in 1371 and extended his conquests to Kosovo, where he defeated the Serbs and Bosnians.

Murat’s son Beyazıt (r 1389–1402) unsuccessfully laid siege to Constantinople in 1394, then defeated a Crusader army 100, 000 strong on the Danube in 1396. Though temporarily checked by the armies of Tamerlane and a nasty war of succession between Beyazıt’s four sons that was eventually won by Mehmet I (r 1413–21), the Ottomans continued to grow in power and size. By 1440 the Ottoman armies under Murat II (r 1421–51) had taken Thessalonica, unsuccessfully laid siege to Constantinople and Belgrade, and battled Christian armies for Transylvania. It was at this point in history that Mehmet II ‘The Conqueror’ (r 1451–81) came to power and vowed to attain the ultimate prize – Constantinople.

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The conquest

By 1450, the Byzantine emperor had control over little more than Constantinople itself.

The first step in Mehmet’s plan to take the city was construction of the great fortress of Rumeli Hisarı, which was completed in 1452. He also repaired Anadolu Hisarı, the fortress on the Asian shore that had been built by his great-grandfather. Between them, the two great fortresses then closed the Bosphorus at its narrowest point, blockading the imperial capital from the north.

The Byzantines had closed the mouth of the Golden Horn with a heavy chain (on view in İstanbul’s Askeri Müzesi) to prevent Ottoman ships from sailing in and attacking the city walls on the north side. Mehmet outsmarted them by marshalling his boats at a cove where Dolmabahçe Palace now stands, and having them transported overland during the night on rollers and slides up the valley (where the İstanbul Hilton now stands) and down the other side into the Golden Horn at Kasımpaşa. As dawn broke his fleet attacked the city, catching the Byzantine defenders by surprise. Soon the Golden Horn was under Ottoman control.

As for the mighty Theodosian land walls to the west, a Hungarian cannon founder named Urban had offered his services to the Byzantine emperor for the defence of Christendom. Finding that the emperor had no money, he conveniently forgot about defending Christianity and went instead to Mehmet, who paid him richly to cast an enormous cannon capable of firing a huge ball right through the city walls.

Despite the inevitability of the conquest (Mehmet had 80,000 men compared with Byzantium’s 7000), Emperor Constantine XI (r 1449–53) refused the surrender terms offered by Mehmet on 23 May 1453, preferring to wait in hope that Christendom would come to his rescue. On 28 May the final attack commenced: the mighty walls were breached between the gates now called Topkapı and Edirnekapı, the sultan’s troops flooded in and by the evening of the 29th they were in control of every quarter. Constantine, the last emperor of Byzantium, died fighting on the city walls.

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The city ascendant

The 21-year-old conqueror saw himself as the successor to the imperial throne of Byzantium by right of conquest, and he began to rebuild and repopulate the city. Aya Sofya was converted to a mosque; a new mosque, the Fatih (Conqueror) Camii, was built on the fourth hill; and the Eski Saray (Old Palace) was constructed on the third hill, followed by a new palace at Topkapı a few years later. The city walls were repaired and a new fortress, Yedikule, was built. İstanbul, as it was often called, became the new administrative, commercial and cultural centre of the ever-growing Ottoman Empire. Mehmet encouraged Greeks who had fled the city to return and issued an imperial decree calling for resettlement; Muslims, Jews and Christians all took up his offer and were promised the right to worship as they pleased. The Genoese, who had fought with the Byzantines, were pardoned and allowed to stay in Galata, though the fortifications that surrounded their settlement were torn down. Only Galata Tower was allowed to stand.

Mehmet died in 1481 and was succeeded by Beyazıt II (r 1481–1512), who was ousted by his son, the ruthless Selim the Grim (r 1512–20), famed for executing seven grand viziers and numerous relatives during his relatively short reign.

The building boom that Mehmet kicked off was continued by his successors, with Selim’s son Süleyman the Magnificent (r 1520–66) being responsible for more construction than any other sultan. Blessed with the services of Mimar Sinan (1497–1588), Islam’s greatest architect, the sultan and his family, court and grand viziers crowded the city with great buildings. Under Süleyman’s 46-year reign, the longest of any sultan, the empire expanded its territories and refined its artistic pursuits at its court. None of the empires of Europe or Asia were as powerful.

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Rule of the women

Süleyman’s son Selim II (‘the Sot’, r 1566–74) and his successors lost themselves in the pleasures of the harem and the bottle, and cared little for the administration of the empire their forebears had built. While they were carousing, a succession of exceptionally able grand viziers dealt with external and military affairs.

Before the drunken Selim drowned in his bath, his chief concubine Nurbanu called the shots in the palace and ushered in the so-called ‘Rule of the Women’, whereby a series of chief concubines and mothers (valide sultans) of a series of dissolute sultans ruled the roost at court. Among the most fascinating of these women was Kösem Sultan, the favourite of Sultan Ahmet I (r 1603–17). She influenced the course of the empire through Ahmet, then through her sons Murat IV (r 1623–40) and İbrahim, (‘the Mad’, r 1640–48) and finally through her grandson Mehmet IV (r 1648–87). Her influence over Mehmet lasted only a few years and she was strangled in 1651 at the command of the valide sultan Turhan Hadice, Mehmet’s mother.

For the next century the sultans continued in Selim’s footsteps. Their dissolute and often unbalanced behaviour led to dissatisfaction among the people and the army, which would eventually prove to be the empire’s undoing.

Read more: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/turkey/istanbul/history#ixzz27VCB7ygD

History continued

 The city of Istanbul is important to geography because it has a long history that spans the rise and fall of the world's most famous empires. Due to its participation in these empires, Istanbul has also undergone various name changes throughout its lengthy history.

History of Istanbul

Byzantium

Though Istanbul may have been inhabited as early as 3000 BCE, it was not a city until Greek colonists arrived in the area in the 7th Century BCE. These colonists were led by King Byzas and settled there because of the strategic location along the Bosporus Strait. King Byzas named the city Byzantium after himself.

The Roman Empire (330-395 CE)

Following its development by the Greeks, Byzantium became a part of the Roman Empire in the 300s. During this time, the Roman emperor Constantine the Great undertook a construction project to rebuild the entire city. His goal was to make it stand out and give the city monuments similar to those found in Rome. In 330, Constantine declared the city as the capital of the entire Roman Empire and renamed it Constantinople.

The Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire (395-1204 and 1261-1453 CE)

After Constantinople was named the capital of the Roman Empire the city grew and prospered. After the death of the emperor Theodosius I in 395, however, enormous upheaval took place in the empire as his sons permanently divided the empire. Following the division, Constantinople became the capital of the Byzantine Empire in the 400s.

As part of the Byzantine Empire, the city became distinctly Greek as opposed to its former identity in the Roman Empire. Because Constantinople was at the center of two continents, it became a center of commerce, culture, diplomacy, and grew considerably. In 532, though, the anti-government Nika Revolt broke out among the city’s population and destroyed it. After the revolt however, the Constantinople was rebuilt and many of its most outstanding monuments were constructed- one of which was the Haghia Sophia as Constantinople became the center of the Greek Orthodox Church.

The Latin Empire (1204-1261)

Although Constantinople significantly prospered during decades following its becoming a part of the Byzantine Empire, the factors leading to its success also made it a target for conquering. For hundreds of years, troops from all over the Middle-East attacked the city. For a time it was even controlled by members of the Fourth Crusade after it was desecrated in 1204. Subsequently, Constantinople became the center of the Catholic Latin Empire.

As competition persisted between the Catholic Latin Empire and the Greek Orthodox Byzantine Empire, Constantinople was caught in the middle and began to significantly decay. It went financially bankrupt, the population declined, and it became vulnerable to further attacks as defense posts around the city crumbled. In 1261, in the midst of this turmoil, the Empire of Nicaea recaptured Constantinople and it was returned to the Byzantine Empire. Around the same time, the Ottoman Turks began conquering the cities surrounding Constantinople, effectively cutting it off from many of its neighboring cities.

The Ottoman Empire (1453-1922)

After being considerably weakened by constant invasions and being cut off from its neighbors by the Ottoman Turks, Constantinople was officially conquered by the Ottomans, led by Sultan Mehmed II on May 29, 1453 after a 53-day siege. During the siege, the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, died while defending his city. Almost immediately, Constantinople was named as the capital of the Ottoman Empire and its name was changed to Istanbul.

Upon taking control of the city, Sultan Mehmed sought to rejuvenate Istanbul. He created the Grand Bazaar (one of the largest covered marketplaces in the world), brought back fleeing Catholic and Greek Orthodox residents. In addition to these residents, he brought in Muslim, Christian, and Jewish families to establish a mixed populace. Sultan Mehmed also began the building of architectural monuments, schools, hospitals, public baths, and grand imperial mosques.

From 1520 to 1566, Suleiman the Magnificent controlled the Ottoman Empire and there were many artistic and architectural achievements that made it a major cultural, political, and commercial center. By the mid-1500s, the city’s population also grew to almost 1 million inhabitants. The Ottoman Empire ruled Istanbul until it was defeated and occupied by the allies in World War I.

The Republic of Turkey (1923-today)

Following its occupation by the allies in World War I, the Turkish War of Independence took place and Istanbul became a part of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. Istanbul was not the capital city of the new republic and during the early years of its formation Istanbul was overlooked and investment went into the new centrally located capital Ankara. In the 1940s and 1950s though, Istanbul re-emerged new public squares, boulevards, and avenues were constructed. Because of the construction though, many of the city’s historic buildings were demolished.

In the 1970s, Istanbul’s population rapidly increased, causing the city to expand into the nearby villages and forests, eventually creating a major world metropolis.