Historical Background
Byzantium
A settlement on Sarayburnu was established around 655 BC. Triangular in shape, with water on two sides, it was a ready-made fortress. To the north, this peninsula later to be named the "Golden Horn" (Haliç in Turkish) formed a natural deep-water harbor. The site offered easy access to the Mediterranean, Africa and the Black Sea, and lay at the crossroads of mainland transit routes crossing Europe and Asia. The small colony's founding was attributed to a sailor by the name of Byzas, hence the name Byzantium.
The Persians eagerly took control of the city in 550 BC, followed by the Spartans, then the Athenians. The Byzantines developed a series of shrewd alliances and were able to keep their predatory neighbors at bay. King Philip of Macedon tested the walls and will of Byzantium for an entire year from 340-341 BC.
In 196 AD, the Byzantines backed the wrong side in the imperial Roman power struggle. After a prolonged siege, Septimius Severus had Byzantium’s walls torn down, the city put to the torch, and much of the population put to death. He then rebuilt the city on a grander scale with new temples, a colonnaded avenue, and bigger, better walls enclosing an area almost twice the size of the previous city. However, nothing of Severus’ city remains today.
Early in the first century AD, the Roman Empire became too unwieldy to govern from Rome, and was thus subdivided, one section's capital being Byzantium. Power struggles among the new governors of the territories of the Roman Empire led to Byzantium becoming a perpetual battleground. In AD 324, Constantine, governor of Byzantium, defeated his counterpart Licinius and set about changing the course of history. He promoted Christianity and shifted the capital from Rome to Byzantium. In AD 330, Constantine inaugurated his new seat of power as Nova Roma.
Constantinople
Constantine soon renamed Nova Roma Constantinople and the new emperor was keen on development. He commissioned the church of Haghia Eirene (the first Christian cathedral) and rebuilt the city walls. Other than a burnt column, little evidence of Constantine’s work survives, but he laid the foundations for an empire that was to endure for over 1,000 years.
The beginnings were not auspicious. On Constantine’s death in 337 AD, achievement and stability ended. His sons quarreled over the succession, and the Byzantine Empire was divided into eastern and western segments. Theodosius II (408-450) reinforced the city walls and erected the massive Egyptian Obelisk, pilfered during a campaign in Luxor. Constantinople began to move towards a new era of greatness, reaching its apex during the era of Justinian (527-565).
Justinian’s reign was marked by great confidence, and the empire expanded to include most of the Mediterranean coast, including Italy. He embarked on a program of reconstruction, building more than 40 churches and immense water cisterns like Yerebatan Sarayı. The crowning glory was a new cathedral, Sancta Sophia.
Byzantine fortunes were restored during the reign of Basil II (976-1025), who expanded the empire into Armenia and Georgia. Basil’s most significant contribution to history came in 989 AD when his daughter Anna married Vladimir (Prince of Kiev), and the pagan prince converted to Orthodox Christianity.
At the hands of the Ducas and Comneni families, Constantinople became the most decadent city in the world, filled with intermarriage, intrigue, dethronings and murder. The empire now relied on wealth and diplomacy as opposed to military force. With the Seljuk Turks as the greater threat, Byzantium was forced to enlist the aid of Latin armies. By 1394 Constantinople had become a Byzantine island in an Ottoman sea. The city was confronted with a Turkish army at its walls.
Soon after becoming the Ottoman sultan in 1452, Mehmet II constructed the fortress of Rumeli Hisarı on the European shore of the Bosphorus just north of the city.
Istanbul
Mehmet the Conqueror encouraged craftsmen and artisans from Bursa and Edirne to move to his new city and build Topkapı Palace. Soon the new capital was well-endowed with mosques, hamams and the beginnings of what would develop into the Grand Bazaar.
After Mehmet’s death in 1481, his elder son Beyazıt II won succession. Beyazıt’s son Selim (known as "Selim the Grim" for his habit of having his grand viziers executed) succeeded him. During Selim’s eight-year reign he presided over significant military victories, adding Syria and Egypt to the imperial portfolio. He quelled a Portuguese threat to Mecca and was rewarded with the keys to the Holy City, the sacred relics of the Prophet, and the title of Caliph, or "Champion of Islam."
Süleyman the Magnificent (1520-66) ruled an empire that covered the spread of North Africa, stretched east to India, and rolled from the Caucasus through Anatolia and the Balkans, to Budapest and most of modern-day Hungary.
Istanbul became synonymous with grandeur under Süleyman. He married Roxelana and commissioned a promising young architect, Mimar Sinan, to construct the Haseki Hürrem Mosque complex as a birthday present. This was Sinan’s first major commission in Istanbul, launching a glorious career which spanned 50 years, during which time left his indelible mark on the city and indeed on most major cities of the Ottoman Empire.
Süleyman was succeeded by Selim, beginning an era that saw weak sultans manipulated by their wives and mothers between whom there were often violent struggles for power.
In 1683 the Ottomans failed to recapture Vienna. This marked the beginning of a series of backward steps for the Ottomans. The Janissaries (once the sultan’s finest troops) were out of control, threatening the sultan and killing ministers, and plagues were recurrent.
When Selim III took the throne in 1789 he had a lot on his plate: disobedient guards, ongoing and long-lasting outbreaks of disease, economic decline, military defeats, moribund culture and a restless populace. The Janissaries were finally crushed in 1826 by Sultan Mahmut II (1808-39). He implemented much-needed reforms and local government was introduced to Istanbul for the first time, together with the city’s first police and fire services. Quarantine and plague hospitals were also established.
Abdül Mecit (1839-61) continued his father’s reform programs, resulting in what was to be a last blossoming of the Ottoman Empire. The sultan embraced the new era by moving out of Topkapı Palace into the imperial palace at Dolmabahçe.
Armenian Genocide
Before WWII broke out, Adolf Hitler was quoted as saying, "Who now remembers the Armenians?" Beginning in 1909 with the Adana Massacre, but not implemented fully until WWI, the Turkish government perpetrated the first recognized genocide of the 21st century, upon the Armenian minority who resided mostly in Eastern Turkey (near and in modern-day Armenia), but who formed pockets of communities in Istanbul as well. Death estimates range anywhere from hundreds of thousands to 1.5 million. This is an event that the Turkish government still officially denies, referring to the genocide as a "relocation." It is a huge stain on Turkey's human rights record, and their denial of its occurrence is causing some friction in the country's current relations with Europe.
Atatürk
Beyond debate is Atatürk’s status as one of the most influential political figures of the 20th century and a military commander of unrivaled genius. A true reformist, Atatürk changed the face of the country. Elected in 1923 as the Republic of Turkey's first president, he installed a modified Latin alphabet to replace the Arabic script Turkish previously employed, and he even moved the capital from Istanbul to Ankara. Atatürk's new Turkish constitution did away with Islamic law, and instead imposed secular laws largely based on the Italian justice system. After his death in 1938, chaos ruled. Democracy was reinstated in the 1960s but there was still no real consensus on which direction to take: East, West or Soviet-style? In 1980, there was a huge army takeover. A wave of terror ensued, resulting in over 100,000 arrests, and this dark period in Turkey's history has become the subject of a great number of Turkish books and films over the years.
Atatürk's popularity is still at an unbelievable high in Turkey -- there are statues of him on nearly every block of the city, and his representations of his likeness abound in public buildings and private homes alike. His face is also imprinted on every denomination of Turkish lira -- bills and coins. Though his face itself may seem to be the most lasting impression he has left on Turkey, in fact it is his secular policies and laws that are still being studied and fought over today. There is an ongoing and significant struggle between secular and non-secular factions in Turkey. Indecisive elections in 1995 resulted in an unpopular center-right Islamic coalition. Fueled by decades of hatred for the country’s secular institutions, they set about destroying everything they couldn’t control, bringing the economy to the brink of collapse. In the interest of avoiding another army coup, a more stable multi-party coalition was formed.
The Future
A long-awaited metro system, promising relief from traffic congestion, is up and running. Istanbul's yearly GDP recently surpassed those of other major world cities such as Berlin, Delhi, Singapore, Vienna, Munich, Stockholm, Cairo, Bangkok and Johannesburg, among others. The mood in Istanbul at the moment is one of much optimism and hope.
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