Encyclopedia of Islam

Istanbul

  

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330 

c

.

e

., when it was renamed Constantinople. 

The city remained the capital of the ensuing Byz-

antine Empire and the center of the Byzantine 

Orthodox Church (now known as the Greek 

Orthodox Church) for 1,000 years. One of the 

most spectacular churches in the East, the Hagia 

Sophia (or Aya Sofia) Basilica, was built there on 

the site of an older church and dedicated by the 

Byzantine emperor Justinian (r. 527–565) in 537. 

Constantinople was on the route crusaders took 

from Europe to s

yria

 and p

alestine

 between the 

late 11th century and the 13th century, and it was 

plundered and occupied by European soldiers 

during the Fourth c

rUsade

 (1202–04). It became 

the capital of the Latin Empire until 1261, when 

the Byzantines recaptured it. The Fourth Crusade 

has remained a bitter memory for many Orthodox 

Christians and still affects their relations with the 

Roman Catholic Church.

Attracted by Constantinople’s wealth, strategic 

importance, and prestige as a center of culture 

and learning, and inspired by a 

hadith

 calling on 

Muslims to conquer the city, Arab armies besieged 

Constantinople between 674 and 678 and again 

in 717–718, but they were unable to take it. The 

Byzantine Empire suffered substantial losses of 

land in Anatolia and Thrace when Muslim Turkish 

armies invaded beginning in the 11th century, and 

the city was finally taken by the Ottomans under 

Sultan Mehmed II (the Conqueror) in 1453. It was 

then resettled with people from other parts of the 

empire and developed as an Ottoman Muslim city 

through the construction of 

mosqUe

s and Islamic 

economic and social institutions. The Hagia Sophia 

Basilica was converted into an Ottoman state 

mosque. Nonetheless, the city was never exclusive 

to Muslims; significant numbers of Christians and 

Jews continued to live there. It remained the seat 

of the Ottoman government until the dynasty was 

overthrown by m

UstaFa

 k

emal

 a

tatUrk

 in 1922, 

after which time Ankara was proclaimed capital 

of the nascent Republic of Turkey. The Aya Sofia 

Mosque was converted into a museum in 1935, 

reflecting the strong secular outlook of the new 

Turkish republic. While the city was referred to 

by many different names through the Ottoman 

period (Istanbul, Kostantiniye, Der Saadet, Islam-

bol), it was not until 1930 that it was officially 

named Istanbul, the Turkish rendering of a Greek 

phrase meaning “in the city.”

With 11.3 million residents (2007 estimate), 

Istanbul remains the largest city in Turkey. It has 

the largest port and is the commercial and cultural 

center of the country. It is the fifth-largest city in 

a Muslim-majority country, after c

airo

, Jakarta 

(i

ndonesia

), Dakha (b

angladesh

), and Karachi 

(p

akistan

). Like other major urban areas, it suffers 

from air and water pollution and overcrowding due 

to mass migrations from rural areas of the country. 

Istanbul is also a major tourist destination. Roman 

and Byzantine remains include the Hippodrome, 

underground cisterns, and many churches, includ-

ing the Aya Sofia. Ottoman monuments include 

many mosques, such as Süleymaniye and Sultan 

Ahmed, palaces such as the Topkapi Palace, and 

the Grand Bazaar.

See also 

cities

; o

ttoman

 

dynasty

.

Mark Soileau

The magnificent Süleymaniye Mosque (16th century), 

as seen from the Golden Horn, Istanbul, Turkey

  (Juan 

E. Campo)

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