Istanbul: The capital of Turkey between two continents, Asia and Europe

The city of Istanbul previously known as Byzantium and Constantinople was the capital of the Roman Empire of east and also of the Republic of Turkey to the year 1923 and besides has like special characteristic to be located between the continents of Asia and Europe.



As many cities of Europe, the old one Byzantium was founded by the Greeks, there by the year 667 bc and they raised it their king Byzas. Subsequently the city would pass by hand of Persians, spartan and athenian in a relative short time. Between the years 336 and 323 bc, Byzantium was under the government of the Macedonians and to leave from the 191 bc became a city ally of the Roman Empire. Almost a century later, the city would be under complete Roman control. Nevertheless, the period of greater importance of the city would be given centuries after the arrival of Christ, in the year 330, when the Roman emperor Constantine decides to found a new one Rome to which he called he himself, Constantinople. After the division of the Roman Empire, Constantinople became capital of the Byzantine Empire.



Thus it was like Constantinople becomes a great metropolis medieval thanks to its location between the two continents, hoarding great part of the commercial routes. Exactly to their excellent location is that becomes the ambition of the Turks Ottoman that finally they take the city in the year 1453. With the fall of the Byzantine Empire also the end of the Middle Ages is marked. The last emperor of Byzantium was Constantine XI, dying in defense of the city. Some years after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the birth of the Republic of Turkey, Constantinople he passed to be called Istanbul and to stopped being the capital to offer him this privilege to the city of Ankara.

In spite of be not the capital of Turkey, Istanbul is his larger city and also one of the largest of Europe with almost 9 million inhabitants. The historic helmet of the city has been declared world heritage by the UNESCO in the year 1985.


As main tourist attractions possesses numerous mosques, churches and synagogues of great architectural and historic value. Among the better places to visit during a trip through Istanbul, is recommended to visit the Horn of Gold -estuary that divides the city-, the Mosque of Arap, the Bridge of the Bosporus, the Hagia Sophia, among others.