Underground Palace in Yelebatan, Istanbul

The largest city in Turkey, the capital of Istanbul Province.

Istanbul (Turkish:? Stanbul) is the largest city and port in Turkey, the cultural, economic and financial center of Turkey, a world-famous tourist attraction and one of the bustling international metropolises. Istanbul is not only the largest city and former capital of Turkey, but also the center of Turkey's economic life, because it is located at the intersection of international land and sea trade routes. Istanbul is also the largest industrial center in Turkey.

It is Constantinople, the capital of the ancient Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire). The city includes 39 districts in Istanbul province. Located in the northwest of Turkey, across the Bosphorus Strait, it is divided into European part (Thrace) and Asian part (Anatolia). The European part is divided into the old city in the south and the new city in the north by the natural port Golden Horn Bay. It is the only metropolis in the world that spans two continents.

In the long history, Istanbul was once the Roman Empire (330–395), the Byzantine Empire (395–1204,1261–1453), and the Latin Empire (1204– Istanbul was chosen as the sports capital of european capital of culture in 20 10 and Europe in 20 12. The historic block of this city was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985. edit

Istanbul covers an area of 5,220 square kilometers and has a population of about140,000 (2007). Built in 658 BC, it is located at the eastern end of the Balkan Peninsula and the west bank of the southern mouth of the Bosporus Strait, on the promontory between Jinjiao Bay and Marmarahi, and is called Byzantium. Istanbul was founded in 660 BC, when it was called Byzantium. In 324 AD, Constantine the Great of the Roman Empire moved the capital from Rome to Constantinople. 1453 After the Turks became the capital of the Ottoman Empire, they were called Istanbul, but the western countries still used to call it Constantinople. 1923 Turkey moved its capital to Ankara, and Istanbul became the official name. The urban area now includes both sides of the middle and southern section of the Taiwan Province Strait and the northern shore of Marathi connected with it, including UsKudar on the east coast of the Taiwan Province Strait, becoming a big city across Europe and Asia. 1973 Bosphorus Road Bridge across the Strait was completed. There are textile, food, ceramics, glass, machinery, automobile manufacturing, shipbuilding and other industries. It is also an important fishing port. There are places of interest such as Surimaniyah Mosque. Istanbul is also an ancient cultural city, with 34 universities and institutions of higher learning, including Istanbul University and Straits University.

Istanbul is famous for the following reasons.

One is its unique geographical location. Between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea at the westernmost tip of the Asian continent, there is a crucial "golden waterway" that separates Asia from the European continent. Among them, the middle part is Malahi, the southern end is called the Da Daniil Strait, and the northern end is called the Bosphorus Strait, collectively known as the Black Sea Strait. This "golden waterway" is the throat of the Black Sea to the outside world, and Istanbul is located at the southern end of the Bosporus Strait. From here to the north, from the sea to the countries along the Black Sea; The south is connected with the Mediterranean Sea, and Europe, Asia and Africa can be reached from the sea. Looking west from the height of Istanbul, the European continent is close at hand; Although there is a barrier from the Pamirs to the East, there are still an endless stream of businessmen on the Silk Road in 2000. This superior geographical location not only makes it an intercontinental transportation hub, but also a battleground for military strategists. Istanbul is an ancient country with a long history. It was built in 668 BC, and its former site was the worship of ancient Greek city-states.

Satellite map of Istanbul

Zhanting, later after war and reconstruction, became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. In 330 AD, it was renamed Constantinople, also known as New Rome. After the Ottoman Turks acquired the city in 1453, they began to call it Istanbul and have been the capital of the Turkish Empire ever since. 1923, Turkey moved its capital to Ankara, but Istanbul remains the focus of Turkey's economy and culture. Istanbul not only geographically spans two continents, but also absorbs the essence of ideas, cultures and arts of all ethnic groups in Europe, Asia and Africa, and has become an important intersection of eastern and western ideas and cultures, leaving many historical sites. Istanbul has more than 40 museums, more than 20 churches and more than 450 mosques. These beautiful buildings and their large collection of cultural relics are vivid testimony to the intersection of eastern and western cultures. There are Sumerian heads, Babylonian pottery, Assyrian reliefs and so on. In the ancient oriental museum. These are the prehistoric cultural relics of the two rivers (Tigris River and Euphrates River) and the ethnic groups in Asia Minor. There are a large number of ancient Greek and Roman cultural relics in the archaeological museum, among which the huge sarcophagus of Macedonian king Alexander is a masterpiece of Greek art in the 4th century BC. In the koala church, there are a large number of murals about the Virgin Mary, Christ and the apostles, which are representative works of Byzantine art. In the Suleimania Mosque, there are many artistic treasures of the Ottoman period, such as carved beams and painted buildings, golden carvings and silver carvings. Stone castles, city walls, towers and aqueducts left by various empires can be seen everywhere in the old city on the west bank of the city.