İstanbul

İstanbul, the capital of Türkiye,¹ has a metropolitan population of 14.4 million, 12.2 million of them in the city proper. It has been called Kωνσταντινoύπoλις (Kōnstantinoupolis) and قسطنطينيه (Konstantiniyye), both anglicized to Constantinople, Byzantium² and ή Nέα δευτέρα ΄Pώμη (ē Nea, deutera Rōmē; the New, second Rome)--at least the European portion of the bi-continental city. It occupies both shores of the southern half of the Bosporus. Its monuments and buildings include the classical Greek Maiden's (or Leander's) Tower in the Bosporus, the late classical Hippodrome with an obelisk removed from the Egyptian Temple of Karnak; the Byzantine Aya Sofya (or Hagia Sophia, a former cathedral and mosque); the Galata Tower in the Venetian citadel; the Ottoman era, Gothic style, Yildiz Mosque; and the 236 meter high Endem TV Tower. World Heritage Status is accorded its historic areas, recognizing many buildings including the Hippodrome, the aqueduct of Valens, the fifth century ramparts, Aya Sofya, the 12th century Pantocrator Monastery, the Kariye Camii (former church of the Holy Savior in Chora), the Palace of the Blachernes, Topkapi Saray, the Süeymaniye mosque, and many preserved Ottoman-era houses.

External references

Aya Sofya (Hagia Sofia) former mosque and church

Historical maps

Footnotes

1. Turkey in English.
2. Byzantium is the Latinized form.
3. Tables of the World's Largest Cities, in Tertius Chandler, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth, 2nd ed. (The Edwin Mellen Press, 1987). Its world rank in various years was 1 (361, 500 and 1700 CE), 2 (1100 CE), 3 (622, 900, 1000 and 1600 CE), 4 (800 CE), 5 (1800 CE), 6 (1500 CE) and 7 (1200 CE). It was the largest city in what is now Türkiye in those years, currently and in 1300, 1400, 1900 and 2000 CE. The population for 2000 and the calculated metropolitan estimate for 2010 came from world-gazetteer.com, accessed 6/11 and 9/3/2011.