City of Empires

Istanbul. Constantinople. Byzantium. The capital of the Ottoman empire; the Third Rome;the seat of all Christendom; The crown of Islam. The Golden Horn. A teeming mass of races, creeds, and religions. A sprawling metropolis that never seems to end. Comparatively it is a busy and as large as London.. and then some. It has London´s cultural spectrum also... and then some. It has the feel of the North African trade cities: like Cairo, Tunis, and Marrakech. But it has more of a unique feel to it. Both European and Asian at once, and not surprisingly so. The history of this city is as steeped in diversity and mystery, as it is in bloodbaths and atrocities. ..

A little History -
There have been settlements on the Bosphorus strait pre-dating history. One of the earliest I have read of is the port of Semistra and also Lygos as early as 13-11th BC but I suspect it has always been a focus for commerce - simply because it is such a natural port. Byzas was the legendary Greek who rocked up and made use of the natural environment in order to force levies on merchant traders sailing and travelling between Asia and Europe. Settlements soon sprang up all along the Bosphorus as trade prospered and created permanent towns. From these early settlements the city of Byzantium emerged; the jewel of the Byzantine empire. It did suffer a few minor setbacks from Muslims, Spartans, and various other bellicose nations over the next c600 years, however it was when the Roman Empire took an interest in it that things began to change. It was finally conquered Byzantium in AD324; by one Constantine I. The Romans made this city the capital of their Empire: Constantinople. A geographical triumvirate along with Rome and Moscow (the Moscow fact being something which surprised the hell out of me.) Anyways - I won't go overly into detail but the Romans did exactly the same as the Byzantines: They made Constantinople the capital of their empire. An empire that was, surprise surprise, attacked from every Tomus, Dickalokagos, and Harry-Said-Bidou for the next millennia. See a pattern here? In concert with the Greek Othordox church, The Romans built a great many edifices in Constantinople, not least the amazing Aya Sofia - or Sofia Sanctius as they called it. Constantine also ordered the construction of the walls of Constantinople. These walls managed to repel invaders for nearly a millennia. This wasn't to say that people weren't having fun along the way. You can check out the history: It's pretty amazing - and diabolical. There's more double-crossing, back-stabbing, and murder, than the Eastenders Christmas Day special. Moving on, The walls of Constantinople were finally breached by the very capable Mehmed the II - or Mehmed the Conqueror. he was only 21 at the time. He managed to breach the walls of the city and declared the city part of the Ottoman Empire. Thus marking the end of the Byzantine era. Sultan Mehmed II immediately set about restoring commerce and trade to the city, that had become stagnant toward the end of the Byzantine age. A golden period ensued (relatively speaking - Sultans were still inclined to have people beheaded at the drop of a hat.. so to speak). Arts and culture flourished, the Kapali Carsi was formed. It must have been an amazing time. Trade with Europe improved and with the introduction of trans-continental rail routes in the 18C from cities such as Vienna - it all got a bit good; until the WW1, however we don't mention that. Turkey finally became an independent republic in 1923. (you may also be interested know Fez's were banned in 1931 (probably by the fashion police(it's a shame that didn't stretch to whopping great caterpillar moustaches))) . The capital moved to Ankara, and it slowly grew into the city it is now. The multi-cultural and multi-faceted modern gem and once city of Empires.

Anyways, sorry for all the eggs, beans, and waffles. I only meant to write a couple of lines. From now on I'll try and just stick to what I am doing, rather than what everyone else has been up to for the last C3,000 years.