Istanbul
Istanbul
İstanbul | ||
|---|---|---|
  Istanbul Location within Asia | ||
| Coordinates: 41°00′49″N 28°57′18″E / 41.01361°N 28.95500°E Governor Ali Yerlikaya | | |
| Area | ||
| • Urban | 2,576.85 km2 (994.93 sq mi) | |
| • Metro | 5,343.22 km2 (2,063.03 sq mi) | |
| Highest elevation | 537 m (1,762 ft) | |
| Population (31 December 2022)[4] | ||
| • Metropolitan municipality and province | 15,907,951 | |
| • Rank | 1st in Turkey
.ist, .istanbul | |
| Website |
| |
| Official name | Historic Areas of Istanbul | |
| Criteria | Cultural: (i)(ii)(iii)(iv) | |
| Reference | 356bis | |
| Inscription | 1985 (9th Session) | |
| Extensions | 2017 | |
| Area | 765.5 ha (1,892 acres) | |
Istanbul (
The city was founded as
The city served as an imperial capital for almost 1600 years: during the Roman/Byzantine (330–1204), Latin (1204–1261), late Byzantine (1261–1453), and Ottoman (1453–1922) empires.[12] The city played a key role in the advancement of Christianity during Roman/Byzantine times, hosting four of the first seven ecumenical councils before its transformation to an Islamic stronghold following the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 CE—especially after becoming the seat of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1517.[13] In 1923, after the Turkish War of Independence, Ankara replaced the city as the capital of the newly formed Republic of Turkey. In 1930, the city's name was officially changed to Istanbul, the Turkish rendering of εἰς τὴν Πόλιν (romanized: eis tḕn Pólin; 'to the City'), the appellation Greek speakers used since the 11th century to colloquially refer to the city.[10]
Over 13.4 million foreign visitors came to Istanbul in 2018, eight years after it was named a European Capital of Culture, making it the world's eighth most visited city.[14] The historic centre of Istanbul is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the city hosts the headquarters of numerous Turkish companies, accounting for more than thirty percent of the country's economy.[15][16]
Toponymy
The first known name of the city is
The name İstanbul (Turkish pronunciation:
History
Byzantium 667 BC–510 BC
196–395 (Capital between 330–395)
Persian Empire 512 BC–478 BC
Byzantium (Under Athens) 478 BC–404 BC
Byzantium 404 BC–196 CE
Byzantine Empire 395–1204
Latin Empire 1204–1261
Ottoman Empire 1453–1918
Occupation of Istanbul 1918–1923
Turkey 1923–Present
The history of the city proper begins around 660 BCE,[10][33][d] when Greek settlers from Megara established Byzantium on the European side of the Bosporus. The settlers built an acropolis adjacent to the Golden Horn on the site of the early Thracian settlements, fueling the nascent city's economy.[39] The city experienced a brief period of Persian rule at the turn of the 5th century BCE, but the Greeks recaptured it during the Greco-Persian Wars.[40] Byzantium then continued as part of the Athenian League and its successor, the Second Athenian League, before gaining independence in 355 BCE.[41] Long allied with the Romans, Byzantium officially became a part of the Roman Empire in 73 CE.[42] Byzantium's decision to side with the Roman usurper Pescennius Niger against Emperor Septimius Severus cost it dearly; by the time it surrendered at the end of 195 CE, two years of siege had left the city devastated.[43] Five years later, Severus began to rebuild Byzantium, and the city regained—and, by some accounts, surpassed—its previous prosperity.[44]
Rise and fall of Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire
Constantine the Great effectively became the emperor of the whole of the Roman Empire in September 324.[45] Two months later, he laid out the plans for a new, Christian city to replace Byzantium. As the eastern capital of the empire, the city was named Nova Roma; most called it Constantinople, a name that persisted into the 20th century.[46] On 11 May 330, Constantinople was proclaimed the capital of the Roman Empire, which was later permanently divided between the two sons of Theodosius I upon his death on 17 January 395, when the city became the capital of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire.[47]
The establishment of Constantinople was one of Constantine's most lasting accomplishments, shifting Roman power eastward as the city became a center of Greek culture and Christianity.
Constantinople began to decline continuously after the end of the reign of Basil II in 1025. The Fourth Crusade was diverted from its purpose in 1204, and the city was sacked and pillaged by the crusaders.[56] They established the Latin Empire in place of the Orthodox Byzantine Empire.[57] Hagia Sophia was converted to a Catholic church in 1204. The Byzantine Empire was restored, albeit weakened, in 1261.[58] Constantinople's churches, defenses, and basic services were in disrepair,[59] and its population had dwindled to a hundred thousand from half a million during the 8th century.[e] After the reconquest of 1261, however, some of the city's monuments were restored, and some, like the two Deesis mosaics in Hagia Sophia and Kariye, were created.[60]
.Various economic and military policies instituted by
Ottoman Empire and Turkish Republic eras
Following the conquest of Constantinople,
Social hierarchy was ignored by the rampant plague, which killed the rich and the poor alike in the 16th century.[71] Money could not protect the rich from all the discomforts and harsher sides of Istanbul.[71] Although the Sultan lived at a safe remove from the masses, and the wealthy and poor tended to live side by side, for the most part Istanbul was not zoned as modern cities are.[71] Opulent houses shared the same streets and districts with tiny hovels.[71] Those rich enough to have secluded country properties had a chance of escaping the periodic epidemics of sickness that blighted Istanbul.[71]
The
A period of rebellion at the start of the 19th century led to the rise of the progressive Sultan
Sultan Abdul Hamid II was deposed with the Young Turk Revolution in 1908 and the Ottoman Parliament, closed since 14 February 1878, was reopened 30 years later on 23 July 1908, which marked the beginning of the Second Constitutional Era.[79] A series of wars in the early 20th century, such as the Italo-Turkish War (1911–1912) and the Balkan Wars (1912–1913), plagued the ailing empire's capital and resulted in the 1913 Ottoman coup d'état, which brought the regime of the Three Pashas.[80]
The Ottoman Empire joined
Following the
A 1942 wealth tax assessed mainly on non-Muslims led to the transfer or liquidation of many businesses owned by religious minorities.[87] From the late 1940s and early 1950s, Istanbul underwent great structural change, as new public squares, boulevards, and avenues were constructed throughout the city, sometimes at the expense of historical buildings.[88] The population of Istanbul began to rapidly increase in the 1970s, as people from Anatolia migrated to the city to find employment in the many new factories that were built on the outskirts of the sprawling metropolis. This sudden, sharp rise in the city's population caused a large demand for housing, and many previously outlying villages and forests became engulfed into the metropolitan area of Istanbul.[89]
Geography
Istanbul is located in north-western
Despite the myth that seven hills make up the city, there are, in fact, more than 50 hills within the city limits. Istanbul's tallest hill, Aydos, is 537 meters (1,762 ft) high.[15]
The nearby
Climate
Istanbul's climate is temperate, and is often described as transitional between the Mediterranean climate typical of the western and southern coasts of Turkey, and the oceanic climate of the northwestern coasts of the country.[93] Much divergence exists in the terminology used to classify the city's climate, however.
The city's summers are warm to hot and moderately dry, with an average daytime temperature of about 27 °C (81 °F), and less than 7 days of precipitation per month. Despite the generally acceptable temperature range, however, mid-summer in Istanbul is considered moderately uncomfortable, due to high dew points and relative humidity.[94] Winters, meanwhile, are cool, quite rainy, and relatively snow-rich for their well-above-freezing temperatures.
Istanbul's precipitation is unevenly distributed, with winter months getting at least twice the level of precipitation of their summerly counterparts. The mode of precipitation also varies by season. Winter precipitation is generally light, persistent and often of mixed precipitation such as rain-snow mixes and graupel; while summer precipitation is generally abrupt and sporadic. Cloudiness, as with precipitation, varies greatly by season. Winters are quite cloudy, with around 20 percent of days being sunny or partly cloudy. Meanwhile, summers experience 60-70 percent of possible sunshine.
Snowfall is somewhat common, and often persistent and disruptive; sea-effect snowstorms with more than 30 centimetres (1 ft) of snowfall happen almost annually, most recently in 2022.[95][96]
| Climate data for Kireçburnu, Istanbul (normals 1981–2010, snowy days 1996-2011, more data on the main article )
| |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 8.5 (47.3) |
8.7 (47.7) |
10.9 (51.6) |
15.5 (59.9) |
20.1 (68.2) |
25.0 (77.0) |
26.9 (80.4) |
27.2 (81.0) |
23.8 (74.8) |
19.2 (66.6) |
14.2 (57.6) |
10.4 (50.7) |
17.5 (63.5) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 5.8 (42.4) |
5.5 (41.9) |
7.3 (45.1) |
11.2 (52.2) |
15.7 (60.3) |
20.5 (68.9) |
22.9 (73.2) |
23.4 (74.1) |
19.9 (67.8) |
15.8 (60.4) |
11.0 (51.8) |
7.8 (46.0) |
13.9 (57.0) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 3.5 (38.3) |
2.9 (37.2) |
4.4 (39.9) |
7.8 (46.0) |
12.2 (54.0) |
16.7 (62.1) |
19.7 (67.5) |
20.4 (68.7) |
16.8 (62.2) |
13.2 (55.8) |
8.5 (47.3) |
5.5 (41.9) |
11.0 (51.8) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 99.5 (3.92) |
82.1 (3.23) |
69.2 (2.72) |
43.1 (1.70) |
31.5 (1.24) |
40.6 (1.60) |
39.6 (1.56) |
41.9 (1.65) |
64.4 (2.54) |
102.3 (4.03) |
110.3 (4.34) |
125.1 (4.93) |
849.6 (33.45) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 16.9 | 15.2 | 13.2 | 10.0 | 7.4 | 7.0 | 4.7 | 5.1 | 8.1 | 12.3 | 13.9 | 17.5 | 131.3 |
| Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 cm) | 4.5 | 4.7 | 2.9 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 2.7 | 15.2 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 68.2 | 89.6 | 142.6 | 180.0 | 248.0 | 297.6 | 319.3 | 288.3 | 234.0 | 158.1 | 93.0 | 62.0 | 2,180.7 |
| Mean daily sunshine hours | 2.2 | 3.2 | 4.6 | 6.0 | 8.0 | 9.6 | 10.3 | 9.3 | 7.8 | 5.1 | 3.1 | 2.0 | 5.9 |
| Percent possible sunshine | 22 | 29 | 38 | 46 | 57 | 64 | 69 | 66 | 65 | 46 | 31 | 22 | 46 |
| Source: [97][98] | |||||||||||||
Climate change
is the first climate change museum in Turkey.As with virtually every part of the world, climate change is causing more heatwaves,[99] droughts,[100] storms,[101] and flooding[102][103] in Istanbul. Furthermore, as Istanbul is a large and rapidly expanding city, its urban heat island has been intensifying the effects of climate change.[104] If trends continue, sea level rise is likely to affect city infrastructure, for example Kadıkoy metro station is threatened with flooding.[105] Xeriscaping of green spaces has been suggested,[106] and Istanbul has a climate-change action plan.[107]
Cityscape
Districts and neighborhoods
European side
The Fatih district, which was named after Sultan Mehmed II (Turkish: Fatih Sultan Mehmed), corresponds to what was, until the Ottoman conquest in 1453, the whole of the city of Constantinople (today is the capital district and called the historic peninsula of Istanbul) on the southern shore of the Golden Horn, across the medieval Genoese citadel of Galata on the northern shore. The Genoese fortifications in Galata were largely demolished in the 19th century, leaving only the Galata Tower, to make way for the northward expansion of the city.[108] Galata (Karaköy) is today a quarter within the Beyoğlu (Pera) district, which forms Istanbul's commercial and entertainment center and includes İstiklal Avenue and Taksim Square.[109]
The Atatürk Airport corridor is another such edge city-style business, residential and shopping corridor with over 900,000 m2 (9,700,000 sq ft) of class-A office space.[112]
Asian side
During the Ottoman period,
Expansion
As a result of Istanbul's exponential growth in the 20th century, a significant portion of the city is composed of gecekondus (literally "built overnight"), referring to illegally constructed squatter buildings.[114] At present, some gecekondu areas are being gradually demolished and replaced by modern mass-housing compounds.[115] Moreover, large scale gentrification and urban renewal projects have been taking place,[116] such as the one in Tarlabaşı;[117] some of these projects, like the one in Sulukule, have faced criticism.[118] The Turkish government also has ambitious plans for an expansion of the city west and northwards on the European side in conjunction with the new Istanbul Airport, opened in 2019; the new parts of the city will include four different settlements with specified urban functions, housing 1.5 million people.[119]
Parks
Istanbul does not have a primary urban park, but it has several green areas.
Over the next four centuries, the Ottomans transformed Istanbul's urban landscape with a vast building scheme that included the construction of towering mosques and ornate palaces. The
Among the oldest surviving examples of Ottoman architecture in Istanbul are the Anadoluhisarı and Rumelihisarı fortresses, which assisted the Ottomans during their siege of the city.[133] Over the next four centuries, the Ottomans made an indelible impression on the skyline of Istanbul, building towering mosques and ornate palaces.
Topkapı Palace, dating back to 1465, is the oldest seat of government surviving in Istanbul. Mehmed II built the original palace as his main residence and the seat of government.
The
Administration
Since 2004, the municipal boundaries of Istanbul have been coincident with the boundaries of its province.[139] The city, considered capital of the larger Istanbul Province, is administered by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (MMI), which oversees the 39 districts of the city-province.
The current city structure can be traced back to the Tanzimat period of reform in the 19th century, before which
Small settlements adjacent to major population centers in Turkey, including Istanbul, were merged into their respective primary cities during the early 1980s, resulting in metropolitan municipalities.[144][145] The main decision-making body of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality is the Municipal Council, with members drawn from district councils.
The Municipal Council is responsible for citywide issues, including managing the budget, maintaining civic infrastructure, and overseeing museums and major cultural centers.[146] Since the government operates under a "powerful mayor, weak council" approach, the council's leader—the metropolitan mayor—has the authority to make swift decisions, often at the expense of transparency.[147] The Municipal Council is advised by the Metropolitan Executive Committee, although the committee also has limited power to make decisions of its own.[148] All representatives on the committee are appointed by the metropolitan mayor and the council, with the mayor—or someone of his or her choosing—serving as head.[148][149]
District councils are chiefly responsible for waste management and construction projects within their respective districts. They each maintain their own budgets, although the metropolitan mayor reserves the right to review district decisions. One-fifth of all district council members, including the district mayors, also represent their districts in the Municipal Council.[146] All members of the district councils and the Municipal Council, including the metropolitan mayor, are elected to five-year terms.[150] Representing the Republican People's Party, Ekrem İmamoğlu has been the Mayor of Istanbul since 27 June 2019.[151]
With the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and Istanbul Province having equivalent jurisdictions, few responsibilities remain for the provincial government. Like the MMI, the Istanbul Special Provincial Administration has a governor, a democratically elected decision-making body—the Provincial Parliament—and an appointed Executive Committee. Mirroring the executive committee at the municipal level, the Provincial Executive Committee includes a secretary-general and leaders of departments that advise the Provincial Parliament.
Demographics
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| Sources: Jan Lahmeyer 2004,Chandler 1987, Morris 2010,Turan 2010[155] Pre-Republic figures estimated[e] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Throughout most of its history, Istanbul has ranked among the largest cities in the world. By 500 CE, Constantinople had somewhere between 400,000 and 500,000 people, edging out its predecessor, Rome, for the world's largest city.[157] Constantinople jostled with other major historical cities, such as Baghdad, Chang'an, Kaifeng and Merv for the position of the world's largest city until the 12th century. It never returned to being the world's largest, but remained the largest city in Europe from 1500 to 1750, when it was surpassed by London.[158]
The Turkish Statistical Institute estimates that the population of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality was 15,519,267 at the end of 2019, hosting 19 percent of the country's population.[159] 64.4% of the residents live on the European side and 35.6% on the Asian side.[159]
Istanbul ranks as the
Istanbul experienced especially rapid growth during the second half of the 20th century, with its population increasing tenfold between 1950 and 2000.[162] This growth was fueled by internal and international migration. Istanbul's foreign population with a residence permit increased dramatically, from 43,000 in 2007[163] to 856,377 in 2019.[164][165]
According to 2020 TÜİK data around 2.1 million people in a population of over 15.4 million have been registered[g] in Istanbul, meanwhile the vast majority of the residents ultimately originate from Anatolian provinces, especially those in the Black Sea, Central and Eastern Anatolia regions due to internal migration since the 1950s.[166] People registered in Kastamonu, Ordu, Giresun, Erzurum, Samsun, Malatya, Trabzon, Sinop and Rize provinces represent the biggest population groups in Istanbul, meanwhile people registered in Sivas has the highest percentage with more than 760 thousand residents in the city.[167] A 2019 survey found that only 36% of the Istanbul's population was born in the province.[168]
Ethnic and religious groups
Istanbul has been a cosmopolitan city throughout much of its history, but it has become more homogenized since the end of the Ottoman era. The dominant ethnic group in the city is Turkish people, which also forms the majority group in Turkey. According to survey data 78% of the voting-age Turkish citizens in Istanbul state "Turkish" as their ethnic identity.[168]
With estimates ranging from 2 to 4 million, Kurds form one of the largest ethnic minorities in Istanbul and are the biggest group after Turks among Turkish citizens.[169][170] According to a 2019 KONDA study, Kurds constituted around 17% of Istanbul's adult total population who were Turkish citizens.[168] Although the initial Kurdish presence in the city dates back to the early Ottoman period,[171] the majority of Kurds in the city originate from villages in eastern and southeastern Turkey.[172] Zazas are also present in the city and constitute around 1% of the total voting-age population.[168]
2019 survey study by KONDA that examined the religiosity of the voting-age adults in Istanbul showed that 57% of the surveyed had a religion and were trying to practise its requirements. This was followed by nonobservant people with 26% who identified with a religion but generally did not practise its requirements. 11% stated they were fully devoted to their religion, meanwhile 6% were
Into the 19th century, the Christians of Istanbul tended to be either
The majority of the Catholic Levantines (Turkish: Levanten) in Istanbul and
Istanbul became one of the world's most important
Politics
Politically, Istanbul is seen as the most important administrative region in Turkey. In the run-up to local elections in 2019, Erdoğan claimed 'if we fail in Istanbul, we will fail in Turkey'.[194] The contest in Istanbul carried deep political, economic and symbolic significance for Erdoğan, whose election of mayor of Istanbul in 1994 had served as his launchpad.[195] For Ekrem İmamoğlu, winning the mayorlty of Istanbul was a huge moral victory, but for Erdoğan it had practical ramifications: His party, AKP, lost control of the $4.8 billion municipal budget, which had sustained patronage at the point of delivery of many public services for 25 years.[196]
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