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istanbul: general info
· city links
· history
things to do
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Istanbul is known for being one of the most besieged cities in the world. The beginnings of Istanbul started back in the
early 500s BC, when Greek colonists founded a city called Byzantium. In 513 BC, the Persian King Daris I, conquered the city of
Byzantium, controlling it briefly. The city then came under Roman rule when it was captured in the 300s AD by Alexander the Great.
In 330 AD, the Roman Emperor Constantine I decided he wanted Byzantium to be the the capital of his Eastern Empire. He renamed
Byzantium New Rome. Soon, the city became known as Constantino-polis. After the fall of Rome, Constantinople was the capital of
the Byzantine Empire for close to one thousand years.
The city was frequently attacked by hostile forces, including the Arabs (673-78), the Bulgarians in (813 and 913), and the armies of
the Fourth Crusade, which succeeded twice in capturing the city in 1203 and 1204.
In 1453, Constantinople fell to the Turks and the city became the capital of the Ottoman Empire. From the end of World War I until
1923, Constantinople was occupied by Great Britain, France
and Italy. When the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923, the
capital was moved from Constantinople to Ankara. Constantinoples name was officially changed to
Istanbul in 1930, and although Ankara became Turkeys center of government, Istanbul remained,
and still does today, the commercial, historical and cultural heart of the country.
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