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113-485: City bus lines #22, #22RE, #25E, #40T and #42T stop in Emirgan. Infrequent Şehir Hatları ferries connect Emirgan with Eminönü , Beşiktaş , Arnavutköy , Bebek , İstinye , Büyükdere , Sarıyer and Rumeli Kavağı . A separate ferry service links it to Çengelköy , Kandilli , Anadolu Hisarı and Kanlıca . Small private boats also travel back and forth between Emirgan and Kanlıca depending on demand. The neighborhood

226-510: A dotted and dotless I . In English, the stress is on the first or last syllable, but in Turkish it is on the second syllable. A person from the city is an İstanbullu (plural İstanbullular ); Istanbulite is used in English. Neolithic artifacts, uncovered by archeologists at the beginning of the 21st century, indicate that Istanbul's historic peninsula was settled as far back as

339-694: A Turkish city since 1923, it contains many ancient, Roman, Byzantine, Christian, Muslim, and Jewish monuments. The Neolithic settlement in the Yenikapı quarter on the European side, which dates back to c.  6500 BCE and predates the formation of the Bosporus by approximately a millennium, when the Sea of Marmara was still a lake, was discovered during the construction of the Marmaray railway tunnel. It

452-488: A center of Greek culture and Christianity. Numerous churches were built across the city, including Hagia Sophia which was built during the reign of Justinian I and remained the world's largest cathedral for a thousand years. Constantine also undertook a major renovation and expansion of the Hippodrome of Constantinople ; accommodating tens of thousands of spectators, the hippodrome became central to civic life and, in

565-403: A city with above-freezing average 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

678-492: A cosmopolitan society that persisted through much of the Ottoman period. Revitalizing Istanbul also required a massive program of restorations, of everything from roads to aqueducts . Like many monarchs before and since, Mehmed II transformed Istanbul's urban landscape with wholesale redevelopment of the city center. There was a huge new palace to rival, if not overshadow, the old one , a new covered market (still standing as

791-403: A day on average, which usually feed less developed suburbs around frequent routes. Some routes also provide short turning services at peak hours for crowded stops. Those diversions are listed under the same headsign reference as main route. Buses running diversion routes do not display route numbers, spelling out the route on the headsign in detail instead. In 2010, the municipality decided to found

904-401: A heritage tram and a modern tram system. The modern tram consists of lines T1 , T4 , T5 and T6 , initially operated with 55 low-floor Bombardier Flexity Swift and 32 Alstom Citadis . The line T4 was opened in 2007 between Edirnekapı and Mescid-i Selam . There are 22 stations and length is 15,3 km. Since March 2009, the line works between Topkapı and Mescid-i Selam. Service

1017-621: 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. In 1923, after the Turkish War of Independence , Ankara replaced the city as the capital of the newly formed Republic of Turkey. Istanbul

1130-539: A large role in the city's infrastructure development, with over 500,000 vulnerable buildings demolished and replaced since 2012. According to ministry statements and geologist comments made in 2023, the city's infrastructure was in reasonably good shape, however, due to very high costs, buildings were not: over half a million flats were still vulnerable to collapse, and casualties largely depend on how many collapse. As of 2024 , most buildings in Istanbul were built to

1243-817: A less regular schedule. Opened in June 2006, a second modern funicular line, the Kabataş-Taksim Funicular , is operated by Ulaşım A.Ş. and connects the Seabus port and tram stop of Kabataş with the metro station at Taksim Square . It is about 600 meters long and climbs approximately 60 meters in 110 seconds. In October 2022 the newest funicular line the F4 (Istanbul Metro) Boğaziçi Üni./Hisarüstü-Aşiyan funicular line opened and operated by Ulaşım A.Ş. It connects with M6 (Istanbul Metro) line at Boğaziçi University. The bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Istanbul

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1356-479: A low seismic standard in the 20th century, and residents think the city is not properly prepared for the earthquake . 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. Much divergence exists in the terminology used to classify

1469-401: A natural toll-gate. Several picturesque islands— Büyükada , Heybeliada , Burgazada , Kınalıada , and five smaller islands—are part of the city. Istanbul's shoreline has grown beyond its natural limits. Large sections of Caddebostan sit on areas of landfill, increasing the total area of the city to 5,343 square kilometers (2,063 sq mi). Despite the myth that seven hills make up

1582-539: A new company called Otobüs A.Ş. (Bus Inc.) in order to more quickly replace old vehicles. Otobüs A.Ş. had a fleet of 544 vehicles as of December 2012. The vehicles are fully low floor and certified to Euro 5 standards. In 2014, IETT carried 1.31 billion ticketed passengers, a record for a Turkish transport system. İETT is currently trialling outsourcing the drivers and maintenance into private bus company Akkurtlar. Outsourced drivers can be distinguished by their uniforms. Today, there are 3 main ferry operators in İstanbul:

1695-667: A primary urban park, but it has several green areas. Gülhane Park and Yıldız Park were originally included within the grounds of two of Istanbul's palaces — Topkapı Palace and Yıldız Palace —but they were repurposed as public parks in the early decades of the Turkish Republic. Another park, Fethi Paşa Korusu , is on a hillside adjacent to the Bosphorus Bridge in Anatolia, opposite Yıldız Palace in Europe. Along

1808-428: 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. At present, some gecekondu areas are being gradually demolished and replaced by modern mass-housing compounds. Moreover, large scale gentrification and urban renewal projects have been taking place, such as

1921-451: A series of nationwide protests in 2013 covering a wide range of issues. Popular during the summer among Istanbulites is Belgrad Forest , spreading across 5,500 hectares (14,000 acres) at the northern edge of the city. The forest originally supplied water to the city and remnants of reservoirs used during Byzantine and Ottoman times survive. Istanbul is primarily known for its Byzantine and Ottoman architecture. Despite its development as

2034-519: A set of corridors lined with office buildings, residential towers, shopping centers, and university campuses, and over 2,000,000 m (22,000,000 sq ft) of class-A office space in total. Maslak , Levent , and Bomonti are important nodes within the CBD. The Atatürk Airport corridor is another such edge city -style business, residential and shopping corridor with over 900,000 m (9,700,000 sq ft) of class-A office space. During

2147-482: A single trip by public transit is 12 km, and 35% travel for over 12 km. Istanbul has an integrated electronic ticket system for bus, funiculars, LRT, metro, commuter trains, ferryboats and trams. The system uses smart RFID cards, called Istanbulkart , as tickets. The old Akbil iButtons were phased out in 2015. These official websites include timetables and maps Buses & Funicular Trains & Trams Ferry Services Istanbul Istanbul

2260-589: A southern extension from Taksim to Şişhane station in Beyoğlu , near the northern entrance of Tünel . The last northern extension for the short term, Hacı Osman was opened in 2011. The southern extension of M2 from Şişhane to Yenikapı over the new Golden Horn Bridge was opened in 2013 permitting the line to reach the Yenikapı Transfer Center . Finally the Airport (M1A) and Bağcılar (M1B) lines' eastern terminus

2373-600: A system for musicians to play live music for passengers in the lower salons of most ferry lines. The design of the Istanbul vapur ferries have largely been influenced by the Fairfield Shipbuilders of Glasgow , Scotland, which have built the largest number of Istanbul ferries since 1851. The companies which have designed and built the early commuter ferries of Istanbul include the White Shipbuilders of East Cowes , England (models of 1854–1860);

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2486-573: A total of 4,012 vehicles built by MAN , Ikarus , Mercedes-Benz , BMC , Phileas , Otokar , Temsa and Güleryüz . In 2012 the daily ridership was 3,621,908 passengers, representing 30% of the city's total daily transportation. Since 1985, privately owned ÖHO ( Özel Halk Otobüsü - Private Public Bus) buses have been allowed to operate under the authority of İETT. There are 2,157 private owned public buses, including 144 double-deckers. There are 783 bus lines excluding diversions as of May 21, 2018. Many routes have diversions running one roundtrip

2599-678: A trip along the entire line taking 27 (M2) and 52 (M4) minutes. All lines are operated by Metro Istanbul (the new name of Istanbul Ulaşım A.Ş.) which belongs to the Municipality of Istanbul. Istanbul inaugurated horse trams in 1872 and these served the people of Istanbul until 1912. Following this date, electric trams were put in place and they were the main means for urban public transport until 1966. Many routes were built step by step, and it reached their most widespread network in 1956 with 108 million passengers in 270 shuttles in 56 lines. Tramcars were not modernized for many decades, and some of

2712-469: Is a large and rapidly expanding city, its urban heat island has been intensifying the effects of climate change. If trends continue, sea level rise is likely to affect city infrastructure, for example Kadıkoy metro station is threatened with flooding. Xeriscaping of green spaces has been suggested, and Istanbul has a climate-change action plan. The natural vegetation of the province is made up of mixed broadleaf forest and pseudo-maquis , reflecting

2825-445: Is acute in İstanbul with cars, buses and taxis causing frequent urban smog , as it is one of the few European cities without a low-emission zone . As of 2019 the city's mean air quality remains at a level so as to affect the heart and lungs of healthy street bystanders during peak traffic hours, and almost 200 days of pollution were measured by the air pollution sensors at Sultangazi , Mecidiyeköy , Alibeyköy and Kağıthane . It

2938-578: Is called Metrobüs . The construction of the Metrobüs BRT line began in 2005. The first line runs between Avcılar and Söğütlüçeşme . This line is 41.5 km long and has 35 stations, which are located on Istanbul's Main Highway, called the D 100 . It is currently operated with Mercedes Capacity, Mercedes-Benz Citaro , and some Phileas buses. Ridership is 715.000 passengers per day. An extension to Beylikdüzü opened in 2012. The bus fleet has

3051-647: 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 sporadic, but accumulates virtually every winter; and when it does, it is highly disruptive to city infrastructure. Sea-effect snowstorms with more than 30 centimetres (1 ft) of snowfall happen almost annually, most recently in 2022 . Climate change has caused an increase in Istanbul's heatwaves, droughts, storms, and flooding in Istanbul. Furthermore, as Istanbul

3164-676: Is named after Emir Güne Han. In 1635 the Iranian Emir Güne Han surrendered Yerevan to Sultan Murad IV in return for which the sultan took him to Istanbul, renamed him Yusuf Paşa and gave him 50 hectares of woodland that is now the Emirgan Park . Once Murad died his successor Sultan Ibrahim the Mad had Yusuf put to death. Later Sultan Abdülaziz gave the woods to the Khedive of Egypt, Ismail Paşa , who added three pavilions to

3277-516: Is one of the 10 worst cities for NO 2 . However a trial of congestion pricing is planned for the historic peninsula. Algal blooms and red tides were reported in the Sea of Marmara and Bosporus (especially in Golden Horn), and regularly happen in urban lakes such as Lake Büyükçekmece and Küçükçekmece . In June 2021, a marine mucilage wave allegedly caused by water pollution spread to Sea of Marmara. The Fatih district, which

3390-510: Is operated with LRT vehicles built by SGP in 1989. As of 2019, daily ridership was 446 journeys and 196,000 passengers. Starting from June 2013, suburban lines on both sides of the city ( Istanbul suburban and Haydarpaşa suburban ) were closed for rehabilitation works as well as for their fusion into a single line by the means of an undersea tunnel through the Bosphorus as part of the Marmaray project. On 12 March 2019, all parts of

3503-412: Is still active and will be the operator of the new rail lines. The first line (M1) began service on 3 September 1989 between Aksaray and Kocatepe . The line was further developed step-by-step and reached Atatürk Airport on 20 December 2002. The line has 18 stations and is 19.6 kilometres (12.2 mi) long. As of 2012, daily ridership was 416 journey and 210,000 passengers. Even if it's numbered as

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3616-521: Is the largest city in Turkey , straddling the Bosporus Strait , the boundary between Europe and Asia. It is considered the country's economic, cultural and historic capital. The city has a population of over 15 million residents, comprising 19% of the population of Turkey, and is the most populous city in Europe and the world's sixteenth-largest city . The city was founded as Byzantium in

3729-402: Is thought to be impossible. Istanbul Municipality's Directorate of Earthquake and Ground Research is responsible for analysing the methods to reduce the urban seismic risk , whereas the national government-controlled Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency is responsible for earthquake emergency response , and will be helped by NGOs such as İHH . The threat of major earthquakes plays

3842-742: The Allies occupied Constantinople on 13 November 1918. The Ottoman Parliament was dissolved by the Allies on 11 April 1920 and the Ottoman delegation led by Damat Ferid Pasha was forced to sign the Treaty of Sèvres on 10 August 1920. Following the Turkish War of Independence (1919–1922), the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in Ankara abolished the Sultanate on 1 November 1922, and

3955-737: The Golden Horn on the site of the early Thracian settlements, fueling the nascent city's economy. 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 . Byzantium then continued as part of the Athenian League and its successor, the Second Athenian League , before gaining independence in 355 BCE. Long allied with

4068-468: The Grand Bazaar ), porticoes, pavilions, walkways, as well as more than a dozen new mosques. Mehmed II turned the ramshackle old town into something that looked like an imperial capital. Social hierarchy was ignored by the rampant plague, which killed the rich and the poor alike in the 16th century. Money could not protect the rich from all the discomforts and harsher sides of Istanbul. Although

4181-542: The Latin Empire in place of the Orthodox Byzantine Empire. Hagia Sophia was converted to a Catholic church in 1204. The Byzantine Empire was restored, albeit weakened, in 1261. Constantinople's churches, defenses, and basic services were in disrepair, and its population had dwindled to a hundred thousand from half a million during the 8th century. After the reconquest of 1261, however, some of

4294-615: The Marmaray were opened. A further extension to Bahçeşehir via Ispartakule is operated as a shuttle from Halkalı station. Istanbul is served by three underground funicular railways , of very different ages and styles. The older of these lines is the Tünel . This line is the oldest underground metro line in continental Europe, and the second in the world after London . The Tünel is 573 m long with an altitude difference of 60 m and no intermediate stations between Karaköy and Tünel Square . It has been continuously in service since 1875. It

4407-463: The early republican period , continued to operate the city's commuter ferries until 1937, when they under the direction of the state-owned Türkiye Denizcilik İşletmeleri (TDİ) (“Turkish Maritime Lines ”). The TDİ was largely privatized in the early 2000s and ownership of the Şehir Hatları was transferred to the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality in March 2006. In 2017, the municipality established

4520-603: The metropolitan area of Istanbul as result of urban sprawl . Istanbul is in north-western Turkey and straddles the Bosporus Strait , which provides the only passage from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean via the Sea of Marmara . Historically, the city has been ideally situated for trade and defense: The confluence of the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Golden Horn provide both ideal defense against enemy attack and

4633-483: The 17th century, such as Evliya Çelebi , describe it as the common Turkish name of the time; between the late 17th and late 18th centuries, it was also in official use. The first use of the word Islambol ( Ottoman Turkish : اسلامبول ) on coinage was in 1730 during the reign of Sultan Mahmud I . In modern Turkish , the name is written as İstanbul , with a dotted İ, as the Turkish alphabet distinguishes between

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4746-402: The 1911 electric cars were still running in the 1960s. At that time modern buses provided faster and smoother journeys. Because of those negative issues, tram system closed in mid-1960s. From the early 1970s, traffic congestion worsened. By the mid-1980s, Istanbulites realized that the uncontrolled extension of motorization & closure of the tram network had been a mistake. Other cities around

4859-458: The 1950s the number of dolphin observations has become increasingly rare. Mediterranean monk seals were present in Bosporus, and Princes' Islands and Tuzla shores were seal breeding areas during summer, but they have not been observed in Istanbul since the 1960s and thought to be extinct in the region. Water pollution, overfishing and destruction of coastal habitats caused by urbanization are main threats to Istanbul's marine ecology. Apart from

4972-459: The 1960s as part of the process of Turkification . Further mass expulsions of Greeks took place in 1964–1965. As a result of these policies, the Greek population of Istanbul decreased from 110,000 in 1919 to 2,500 today. 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

5085-575: The 19th century, leaving only the Galata Tower , to make way for the northward expansion of the city. Galata ( Karaköy ) is today a quarter within the Beyoğlu district, which forms Istanbul's commercial and entertainment center and includes İstiklal Avenue and Taksim Square . Dolmabahçe Palace , the seat of government during the late Ottoman period, is in the Beşiktaş district on the European shore of

5198-583: The 5th and 6th centuries, the center of episodes of unrest, including the Nika riots . Constantinople's location also ensured its existence would stand the test of time; for many centuries, its walls and seafront protected Europe against invaders from the east and the advance of Islam. During most of the Middle Ages , the latter part of the Byzantine era, Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city on

5311-694: The 6th millennium BCE. That early settlement, important in the spread of the Neolithic Revolution from the Near East to Europe, lasted for almost a millennium before being inundated by rising water levels. The first human settlement on the Asian side, the Fikirtepe mound, is from the Copper Age period, with artifacts dating from 5500 to 3500 BCE, On the European side, near the point of

5424-549: The 7th century BCE by Greek settlers from Megara . In 330 CE, the Roman emperor Constantine the Great made it his imperial capital, renaming it first as New Rome ( Ancient Greek : Νέα Ῥώμη Nea Rhomē ; Latin : Nova Roma ) and then finally as Constantinople ( Constantinopolis ) after himself. In 1930, the city's name was officially changed to Istanbul, the Turkish rendering of εἰς τὴν Πόλιν eis tḕn Pólin 'to

5537-497: The Ankara government, commanded by Şükrü Naili Pasha (3rd Corps), entered the city with a ceremony on 6 October 1923, which has been marked as the "Liberation Day of Istanbul" ( İstanbul'un Kurtuluşu ), and has been commemorated annually since. On 29 October 1923 the Grand National Assembly of Turkey declared the establishment of the Turkish Republic, with Ankara as its capital. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk became

5650-552: The Asian side, 33.5 km (20.8 mi) long M4 line opened on 17 August 2012 up to Kartal . The line will have a total of 25 stations when the third section as far as Tuzla opens. There is also M5 , which links Üsküdar, Ümraniye and Çekmeköy. A further extension to the Sancaktepe and the Sultanbeyli districts is under construction. Currently there are 124 Hyundai-Rotem (M2) and 120 CAF (M4) trains in service, with

5763-590: The Bosphorus. The Istanbul Maritime Company was established in 1851 by a decree of Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid I . The ferry service began in 1853 with six paddle steamers built in the Robert White shipyard in England . The service was extended in 1859 to places around Golden Horn . After 1903 screw-driven steamboats were put in service. Until 1929 boats were imported; later on the ferries were built in

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5876-690: The Bosporus, to the north of Beyoğlu. The former village of Ortaköy is within Beşiktaş and gives its name to the Ortaköy Mosque on the Bosporus, near the Bosporus Bridge . Lining both the European and Asian shores of the Bosporus are the historic yalıs , luxurious chalet mansions built by Ottoman aristocrats and elites as summer homes. Inland, north of Taksim Square is the Istanbul Central Business District ,

5989-606: The City', the appellation Greek speakers used since the 11th century to colloquially refer to the city. The city served as an imperial capital for almost 1600 years: during the Byzantine (330–1204), Latin (1204–1261), late Byzantine (1261–1453), and Ottoman (1453–1922) empires. The city grew in size and influence, eventually becoming a beacon of the Silk Road and one of the most important cities in history. The city played

6102-406: The European continent and at times the largest in the world. Constantinople is generally considered to be the center and the "cradle of Orthodox Christian civilization ". 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. They established

6215-647: The European railway network in the 1880s. Modern facilities, such as a water supply network, electricity, telephones, and trams, were gradually introduced to Constantinople over the following decades, although later than to other European cities. The modernization efforts were not enough to forestall the decline of the Ottoman Empire . With the Young Turk Revolution in 1908, the Ottoman Parliament , closed since 14 February 1878,

6328-535: The European side of the city until 12 August 1961 and on the Asian side until 14 November 1966. The same time as the horsecar started to run, construction of the Tünel , a short funicular between Pera and Galata , began on 30 July 1871. The funicular opened to service on 5 December 1874, the second oldest subway in the world after the London Underground . In the beginning, only freight and livestock were transported. On 17 January 1875, after completing

6441-605: The European side, and close to the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge , is Emirgan Park , which was known as the Kyparades ('Cypress Forest') during the Byzantine period. In the Ottoman period, it was first granted to Nişancı Feridun Ahmed Bey in the 16th century, before being granted by Sultan Murad IV to the Safavid emir Gûne Han in the 17th century, hence the name Emirgan . The 47-hectare (120-acre) park

6554-531: The Great effectively became the emperor of the whole of the Roman Empire in September 324. 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. On 11 May 330, Constantinople was proclaimed the capital of the Roman Empire, which

6667-1013: The M. Wigram Shipbuilders of London, England (models of 1863–1869); Maudslay & Sons of London, England (models of 1870–1872); R. & H. Green Shipbuilders of London, England (models of 1872-1890 and 1894–1896); J. W. Thames of London, England (models of 1890–1893); Napier, Shanks & Bell of Glasgow, Scotland (models of 1893–1894); Fairfield Shipbuilders of Glasgow, Scotland (models of 1903–1906, 1910–1911, 1914–1929, and 1938–1962); Armstrong Shipbuilders in Newcastle and Glasgow, United Kingdom (models of 1905–1907); Atl. &  Chantiers de France in Dunkerque , France (models of 1907–1911); Hawthorn Leslie and Company in Newcastle, England (models of 1911); Kinderdijk L. Smith & Zoon Ltd, Holland (models of 1951). The oldest vapur in operation, Paşabahçe,

6780-406: The Ottoman period, Üsküdar (then Scutari) and Kadıköy were outside the scope of the urban area, serving as tranquil outposts with seaside yalıs and gardens. But in the second half of the 20th century, the Asian side experienced major urban growth; the late development of this part of the city led to better infrastructure and tidier urban planning when compared with most other residential areas in

6893-635: The Princes' Islands. The 30 ferries of the Şehir Hatları carried 40 million passengers in 2023. The first steam ferries appeared on the Bosphorus in 1837 and were operated by private sector companies. On 1 January 1851, the Şirket-i Hayriye  [ tr ] (literally “The Goodwill Company”, as the Istanbul Ferry Company was originally called) was established by the Ottoman state. The Şirket-i Hayriye , renamed Şehir Hatları in

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7006-488: The Republic's first President . A 1942 wealth tax assessed mainly on non-Muslims led to the transfer or liquidation of many businesses owned by religious minorities. The state-sanctioned 1955 Istanbul pogrom , in which hundreds of Greek men, women and children were attacked and raped and dozens murdered, led to the emigration of most of the remaining Greeks in Istanbul. Government persecution of Greeks and religious minorities, especially Christians , intensified through

7119-452: The Romans, Byzantium officially became a part of the Roman Empire in 73 CE. 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. Five years later, Severus began to rebuild Byzantium, and the city regained—and, by some accounts, surpassed—its previous prosperity. Constantine

7232-411: 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. Opulent houses shared the same streets and districts with tiny hovels. Those rich enough to have secluded country properties had a chance of escaping the periodic epidemics of sickness that blighted Istanbul. The Ottoman dynasty claimed

7345-498: The Yellow (Sarı), Pink (Pembe) and White (Beyaz) kiosks - now serve as cafes and restaurants for visitors. The Yellow Pavilion was designed by the Turkish-Armenian architect Sarkis Balyan in the 1870s. Overlooking the Bosphorus in peaceful and beautiful gardens, this private museum contains permanent collections of calligraphy, antique furniture and fine art which are regularly supplemented with short-term exhibitions showcasing everyone from Pablo Picasso through to Abdülmecid Efend ,

7458-438: The artistic last caliph of the Ottoman Empire. The Şerifler Yalı stands on the inland side of the coast road as you come into Emirgan from the centre of town; before the road was built in 1940 it would have stood right beside the water like so many of the yalıs (waterside mansions). Built sometime during the 18th century, it is the oldest surviving yalı on the European side of the Bosphorus and belonged at one time to Hüseyin,

7571-430: The backbone of public transport in an ever-enlarging city. Several British and French companies operated all public transport in Istanbul until 16 June 1939, the date of nationalization. The newly established company İETT (Istanbul Electric Tram and Tünel Company) took over from then on the task of public transport in Istanbul. On 27 May 1961, trolleybuses were put in service first between Topkapı and Eminönü following

7684-420: 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. The North Anatolian Fault , under the Sea of Marmara , is locked just south of the city. This fault caused the earthquakes in 1766 and 1894 , and a quake of at least magnitude 7.0 is very likely in the 21st century, though an earthquake with a magnitude above 7.5

7797-431: The city is Byzantium ( Ancient Greek : Βυζάντιον , Byzántion ), the name given to it at its foundation by Megarian colonists around 657 BCE. Megarian colonists claimed a direct line back to the founders of the city, Byzas, the son of the god Poseidon and the nymph Ceroëssa. Modern excavations have raised the possibility that the name Byzantium might reflect the sites of native Thracian settlements that preceded

7910-429: The city spread over an area of 5,712 km . Public road transport in Istanbul dates back to 30 August 1869, when a contract to build a tram system in the capital of the Ottoman Empire was signed. With this agreement, Konstantin Krepano Efendi's "Société des Tramways de Constantinople" obtained the concession to operate public transportation for forty years. The inauguration of four lines of horse-driven trams

8023-439: The city's climate , however. The city's summers are warm to hot and moderately dry, with an average daytime temperature of about 28 °C (82 °F), and less than 7 days of precipitation per month. Despite the generally acceptable temperature range, mid-summer in Istanbul is considered moderately uncomfortable, due to high dew points and relative humidity. Winters, meanwhile, are cool, quite rainy, and relatively snow-rich for

8136-655: The city's monuments were restored, and some, like the two Deesis mosaics in Hagia Sophia and Kariye, were created. Various economic and military policies instituted by Andronikos II Palaiologos , such as the reduction of military forces, weakened the empire and left it vulnerable to attack. In the mid-14th-century, the Ottoman Turks began a strategy of gradually taking smaller towns and cities, cutting off Constantinople's supply routes and strangling it slowly. On 29 May 1453, after an eight-week siege during which

8249-432: The city's transitional, Mediterranean-influenced humid temperate climate. Chestnut , oak , elm , linden , ash and locust comprise the most prominent temperate forest genera, while laurel , terebinth , Cercis siliquastrum , broom , red firethorn , and oak species such as Quercus cerris and Quercus coccifera are the most important species of Mediterranean and Submediterranean distribution. Apart from

8362-562: The city. Much of the Asian side of the Bosporus functions as a suburb of the economic and commercial centers in European Istanbul, accounting for a third of the city's population but only a quarter of its employment. However, Kozyatağı – Ataşehir , Altunizade , Kavacık and Ümraniye , all together having around 1.4 million sqm of class-A office space, are now important " edge cities ", i.e. corridors and nodes of business and shopping centers and of tall residential buildings. As

8475-663: The counter-revolution attempt known as the 31 March incident . 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 . The Ottoman Empire joined World War I (1914–1918) on the side of the Central Powers and

8588-410: The elimination of trams. However, the last trolleybuses were taken out of service in 1984, because they hindered the growing traffic in the narrow streets of the old city. In 1988, a company called Ulaşım A.Ş. (Transport Inc.) was established to run the services of LRT (light rail transit) (since 1989), Metro (since 2000) and modern trams (since 1992) by the Municipality of Istanbul. The company

8701-419: The expense of historical buildings. The overall 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

8814-693: The first line, actually the line is a LRT system with many common characteristics with the T4 line , including the rolling stock. Though they are categorized differently by the operator. The construction of the underground railway in Istanbul began in 1992. The first line (M2) between Taksim and 4th Levent went into service on September 16, 2000. This line is 8.5 km long and has 6 stations, which all look similar but are in different colours. A northern extension from 4th Levent to Atatürk Oto Sanayi station in Maslak (ITÜ/Ayazağa) entered service in 2009, as well as

8927-572: The fully-fledged town. Constantinople comes from the Latin name Constantinus , after Constantine the Great , the Roman emperor who refounded the city in 324 CE. Constantinople remained the most common name for the city in the West until the 1930s, when Turkish authorities began to press for the use of Istanbul in foreign languages. Ḳosṭanṭīnīye ( Ottoman Turkish : قسطنطينيه ) and İstanbul were

9040-489: The grounds. A string of popular tea gardens cluster round the main square and run along the coast road. Emirgan Woods (Turkish: Emirgan Korusu ) rise above the suburb and cover an area of around 500,000 square metres of what is now public park. The park is at its best in April during the annual Istanbul Tulip Festival when thousands of bulbs come into colourful flower here. The three pavilions created by Khedive İsmail Paşa -

9153-609: The horse-drawn tram had to cease to operate for one year because the Ministry of Defence sent all the horses to the front during the Balkan War . The tram network was electrified by overhead contact wire on 2 February 1914. The tram began to run on the Anatolian part of Istanbul on 8 June 1928 between Üsküdar and Kısıklı. By the 1950s, the length of the tram lines reached 130 km (81 mi). The trams were on service on

9266-520: The last Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed VI , was declared persona non grata . Leaving aboard the British warship HMS Malaya on 17 November 1922, he went into exile and died in Sanremo , Italy, on 16 May 1926. The Treaty of Lausanne was signed on 24 July 1923, and the occupation of Constantinople ended with the departure of the last forces of the Allies from the city on 4 October 1923. Turkish forces of

9379-570: The last Roman emperor, Constantine XI , was killed, Sultan Mehmed II "the Conqueror" captured Constantinople . Sultan Mehmed declared Constantinople the new capital of the Ottoman Empire . Hours after the fall of the city, the sultan rode to the Hagia Sophia and summoned an imam to proclaim the shahada , converting the grand cathedral into an imperial mosque due to the city's refusal to surrender peacefully. Mehmed declared himself as

9492-408: The municipally owned Şehir Hatları ("City Lines"), which operates traditional vapur ferries; the privately operated İstanbul Deniz Otobüsleri ( İDO ) ("İstanbul Sea Busses"), which operates high-speed urban and intercity services, and the privately owned Turyol which operates mostly urban services. Şehir Hatları ferries sail on 32 lines serving 53 piers on the shores of the Bosphorus as well as

9605-522: The names used alternatively by the Ottomans during their rule. The name İstanbul ( Ottoman Turkish : استانبول ; pronounced [isˈtanbuɫ] , colloquially [ɯsˈtambuɫ] ) is commonly held to derive from the Medieval Greek phrase eis tḕn Pólin ( εἰς τὴν Πόλιν , pronounced [is tim ˈbolin] ), literally 'to the city' and is how Constantinople

9718-540: The natural flora, Platanus orentalis , horse chestnut , cypress and stone pine make up the introduced species that got acclimatized to Istanbul. In a study that examined urban flora in Kartal , a total of 576 plant taxa were recorded; of those 477 were natural and 99 were exotic and cultivated. The most prominent native taxa were in the Asteraceae family (50 species), while the most diverse exotic plant family

9831-686: The new Kayser-i Rûm , the Ottoman Turkish equivalent of the Caesar of Rome, and the Ottoman state was reorganized into an empire. Following the capture of Constantinople, Mehmed II immediately set out to revitalize the city. Cognizant that revitalization would fail without the repopulation of the city, Mehmed II welcomed everyone–foreigners, criminals, and runaways– showing extraordinary openness and willingness to incorporate outsiders that came to define Ottoman political culture. He also invited people from all over Europe to his capital, creating

9944-547: The one in Tarlabaşı ; some of these projects, like the one in Sulukule , have faced criticism. 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. Istanbul does not have

10057-639: The other side. The cable line is 333 m (1,093 ft) long and transports in two cabins with six seats each around 1,000 passengers daily. The trip takes three minutes. A second aerial lift line, the Eyüp Gondola ( Turkish : Eyüp-Piyerloti Teleferiği ) was opened in 2005 between the historical district of Eyüp and the Pierre Loti Hill. The gondola lift, built by the Italian Leitner Ropeways Co. of Leitner Group

10170-545: The peninsula ( Sarayburnu ), there was a Thracian settlement during the early 1st millennium BCE. Modern authors have linked it to the Thracian toponym Lygos , mentioned by Pliny the Elder as an earlier name for the site of Byzantium. The history of the city proper begins around 660 BCE, when Greek settlers from Megara established Byzantium on the European side of the Bosporus. The settlers built an acropolis adjacent to

10283-585: The shipyards in Golden Horn. At its peak the fleet contained 40 boats. In 1867, the same company started vehicle transport across the Boğaziçi (Bosphorus) between Kabataş and Üsküdar with two ferries purchased from England, as the first scheduled ferry lines in the world. All ferry companies were nationalized in 1945. Bus transportation in Istanbul started in 1926 with four Renault-Scania buses between Beyazıt and Karaköy . The fleet grew up from 9 buses in 1942 to 16 in 1955 and to 525 buses in 1960, and then became

10396-558: The square, the timekeeper's cottage, added in 1844, now serves as a cafe. This geographical article about a location in Istanbul Province , Turkey is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Public transport in Istanbul#Bus system Public transport in Istanbul comprises a bus network, various rail systems, funiculars , and maritime services to serve the more than 15 million inhabitants of

10509-513: The status of caliphate in 1517, with Constantinople remaining the capital of this last caliphate for four centuries. Suleiman the Magnificent 's reign from 1520 to 1566 was a period of especially great artistic and architectural achievement; chief architect Mimar Sinan designed several iconic buildings in the city, while Ottoman arts of ceramics , stained glass , calligraphy , and miniature flourished. The population of Constantinople

10622-533: The test runs, the funicular was opened to the public. It is still in service. A commuter rail line was built on the European side of the city from Sirkeci to Hadımköy in 1872, which was followed in 1873 on the Anatolian part from Haydarpaşa Terminal to İzmit . The ferry is one of the oldest means of transit in Istanbul, a city with two parts separated by the Bosphorus strait and surrounded by sea. In 1837, British and Russian owned boats started transport on

10735-404: The waters of Istanbul has dwindled in the recent decades. From around 60 different fish species recorded in the 1970s only 20 of them still survive in the Bosporus. Common bottlenose dolphin (Turkish: afalina ), short-beaked common dolphin (Turkish: tırtak ) and harbor porpoise (Turkish: mutur ) make up the marine mammals presently found in the Bosporus and surrounding waters, though since

10848-608: The wild land mammals Istanbul hosts a sizeable stray animal population. The presence of feral cats in Istanbul ( Turkish : sokak kedisi ) is noted to be very prevalent, with estimates ranging from a hundred thousand to over a million stray cats. The feral cats in the city have gained widespread media and public attention and are considered to be symbols of the city. Rose-ringed parakeet colonies are present in urban areas, similar to other European cities as feral parrots , and considered as invasive species . Air pollution in Turkey

10961-410: The world, e.g. Tunis and Buenos Aires , also understood that error, and like them, Istanbul also planned the return of the tramway. As an experiment, Istanbul first opened a heritage tram at European side in 1990. Due to increasing popularity, they opened a modern tram system starting in 1992, also at European side. Now, the Asian side has a heritage tram system, whereas the European side has both

11074-512: The Şerif of Mecca . The yalı probably stands on the site of a 17th-century mansion built for Emir Güne Han after whom the suburb was named. It now serves as offices for several historical monument conservation bodies and the Historic Towns Union ( Tarihi Kentler Birliği ) but is not open to the public. The waterside Hamid Evvel Mosque was built in 1838 beside what is now the plane-tree-shaded main square of Emirgan. Facing it across

11187-443: Was Rosaceae (16 species). Turkish Straits and Sea of Marmara play a vital role for migrating fish and other marine animals between Mediterranean, Marmara and Black Sea. Bosporus hosts pelagic , demersal and semipelagic fish species and more than 130 different taxa have been documented in the strait. Bluefish , bonito , sea bass , horse mackerel and anchovies compose the economically important species. Fish diversity in

11300-460: Was 570,000 by the end of the 18th century. A period of rebellion at the start of the 19th century led to the rise of the progressive Sultan Mahmud II and eventually to the Tanzimat period, which produced political reforms and allowed new technology to be introduced to the city. Bridges across the Golden Horn were constructed during this period, and Constantinople was connected to the rest of

11413-567: Was achieved. Today, the, now privately owned, İDO serves 29 terminals with a fleet of 28 catamarans, including six high-speed car ferries. There is a short gondola lift line above the Democracy Park in the valley between Taksim and Maçka , the Maçka Gondola ( Turkish : Maçka-Taşkışla Teleferiği ), built in 1993. It connects the hotels Hilton Istanbul Bosphorus on one side with Parksa Hilton and Swissotel The Bosphorus on

11526-472: Was built by Cantieri Navali di Taranto SPA , Taranto , Italy in 1952. Since then, most vapurs have been constructed at the Haliç, Hasköy, Camialtı, and İstinye Shipyards in Istanbul. On 16 April 1987 the Municipality of Istanbul established a company to provide fast sea transport with catamaran -type high-speed ferries . With the first ten vessels purchased from Norway , modernization of sea transportation

11639-632: Was extended from Aksaray to this transfer center in 2014. The M3 line runs from Kirazlı station on the M1 line to the northern Başakşehir district. It opened on 14 June 2013. A northern extension to Kayaşehir Merkez was opened on 8 April 2023 and a southern extension to Bakırköy IDO station is still under construction. M6 is a line branching off the M2 from the Levent station running east towards Hisarüstü and Boğaziçi University . It opened on 19 April 2015. On

11752-417: Was in 1871. In the first year, the horsecars transported 4.5 million people on the lines Azapkapı- Galata , Aksaray - Yedikule , Aksaray- Topkapı and Eminönü -Aksaray. More lines were added in the following years. 430 horses were used to draw the 45 carriages, including 15 summer-type and some double-deckers , on 1,000 mm ( 3 ft  3 + 3 ⁄ 8  in ) metre gauge track. In 1912,

11865-500: Was later owned by Khedive Isma'il Pasha of Ottoman Egypt in the 19th century. Emirgan Park is known for its diversity of plants and an annual tulip festival is held there since 2005. The AKP government's decision to replace Taksim Gezi Park with a replica of the Ottoman era Taksim Military Barracks (which was transformed into the Taksim Stadium in 1921, before being demolished in 1940 for building Gezi Park) sparked

11978-403: 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 empire; during the following millennium of Roman history the state is commonly referred to as the "Byzantine Empire". The establishment of Constantinople was one of Constantine's most lasting accomplishments, shifting Roman power eastward as the city became

12091-456: Was named after Mehmed II ( Turkish : Fatih Sultan Mehmed ), corresponds to what was the whole of Constantinople until the Ottoman conquest; today it 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

12204-412: Was originally steam-powered with two wooden trains serving parallel tracks. It was modernized in 1971. Today the line is single-track with a passing loop, electrically powered and runs on rubber tyres with rebuilt ex- RATP MP 55 vehicles. A trip takes approximately 1.5 minutes. About 15,000 people use the line each day. Unlike the modern one below which runs at strictly five-minute intervals, this one has

12317-437: Was referred to by the local Greeks. This reflected its status as the only major city in the vicinity. The importance of Constantinople in the Ottoman world was also reflected by its nickname Dersaadet ( Ottoman Turkish : درساعدت ) meaning the 'Gate to Prosperity' in Ottoman Turkish. An alternative view is that the name evolved directly from "Constantinople", with the first and third syllables dropped. Some Ottoman sources of

12430-488: Was reopened 30 years later on 23 July 1908, which marked the beginning of the Second Constitutional Era . The civil strife and political uncertainties in the Ottoman Empire during the months after the revolution encouraged Austria-Hungary to annex Bosnia and Bulgaria to declare its independence in a jointly coordinated move on 5 October 1908. Sultan Abdul Hamid II was deposed in 1909, following

12543-422: Was the 2010 European Capital of Culture . The city has surpassed London and Dubai to become the most visited city in the world, with more than 20 million foreign visitors in 2023. 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 . The first known name of

12656-474: Was the most expensive cable car line in Turkey costing 5 million Euros. The average time that people spend commuting with public transit in Istanbul, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 91 min. About 30% of public transit users ride for more than 2 h every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 19 min, and 36% of riders wait for over 20 min on average every day. The average distance that people usually ride in

12769-460: Was ultimately defeated. The deportation of Armenian intellectuals on 24 April 1915 was among the major events which marked the start of the Armenian genocide during WWI. Due to Ottoman and Turkish policies of Turkification and ethnic cleansing , the city's Christian population declined from 450,000 to 240,000 between 1914 and 1927. The Armistice of Mudros was signed on 30 October 1918 and

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