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History
of Istanbul ..
All along
its long and turbulent history Istanbul
has lived through quite different types
of urbanization and in its present
structure the city is still carrying the
marks of these different modes.
The fact that the city has a long
history and that Istanbul had existed
through all those centuries as an
important center is closely related to
the geographic position. The Bosphorus
is a water way uniting two seas and on
the other hand two continents are facing
each other on its two shores. The
strategic importance of such an
intersection from military and
commercial etc. aspects is all too
apparent. Yet, from this point of view
we see that Canakkale (Dardanelles) also
has similar characteristics and in this
position we may face the question of why
an important city like Istanbul was not
founded on the shores of this straight.
The answer of this question is Halic (the
Golden Horn). The golden Horn is a port
safe in all weather conditions, and in
all Eastern Mediterranean there are only
two other ports as such: Izmir and
Selanik (Salonica). But those two ports
do not possess the other privileges of
the Bosphorus.
Thus, it can be said that nature and
geography had predestined Istanbul to be
an important city. Still, during the
interval from its foundation to
Constantine the Great, this potential
had not been used in the best manner.
This city, believed to be founded by the
legendary Byzas of Megara fell into the
hands of Severius Septimus in 196 A.D.,
i.e., when it was 800 years old. The
fact that Severius tore down the citadel
of the city which fought against him,
and then he had it rebuilt the very next
year is an indication that the strategic
importance of Istanbul was well
understood.
The person who consciously decided to
make Istanbul a world center is
Constantine. Against the multitude of
the problems facing the Roman empire,
the solution found by Constantine was to
divide it into two parts and a great
capital which matched Rome had to be
created in the eastern part. Historians
tell that Troy was the first
consideration of Constantine. Troy was a
city which carried great importance as
the hero of the greatest epic of the age,
but it was in ruins. lt is seen that
Constantine turned towards a more
realistic decision in a short time and
preferred the future presented by
Istanbul to the past presented by Troy.
The result of this decision was
interesting for Istanbul in this manner
: The city was built in a planned way in
order to make it a capital. Constantine
was also the emperor who decided that
Rome had to be Christian. Yet, the
conception of the city was carried out
in the classical Greek-Latin style. This
conception foresees big public squares (forums)
joined with large avenues and the
building of residences in a rather
symmetrical manner. The Palace and the
hippodrome were built in the eastern of
the city. The streets were extending to
the walls at the west, multiplying at
the major forums. Both sides of the main
avenues were decorated with columns.
Briefly, Istanbul became a magnificent
city.
The rapid growth of the city proves the
rightness the decision of Constantine.
In only two centuries the walls
Constantine built between ( Unkapani and
Yenikapi was unable to contain the city
and the new walls as seen today were
built by Theodosius II.
After the East Roman empire turned into
Byzantium, the efforts of lustianianos
united the Greek-Latin tradition with
Christianity quite brilliantly.
Starting with Hagia Sophia, the greatest
and most interesting monuments of
Christianity were erected in the general
Greek-Latin framework of Istanbul.
In the middle of thel5th century when
Turks conquered Istanbul Byzantium was
quite in ruins. Especially the effects
of the 13 th century Latin invasion
could still be seen. In a very short
time Turks gave the city a brand new
character.
The Turks who were running from east to
west in the proceeding centuries were
still carrying the remnants of their
nomadic traditions and had not been
accustomed to the classical Greek-Latin
tradition. The articulation of their
traditions with the remains of the
Byzantium capital brought out new
characteristics.
The first characteristic was the
reentrance of nature to the city. Almost
all the houses built by Turks had
gardens and this met the requirement of
green areas which in modern cities is
satisfied by large park areas. Thus the
city became greener. Besides the house
gardens, even in the 20 th century there
were a large number of vegetable gardens.
The second important change is related
to the organization of the city.
Istanbul, as the capital of Ottoman
empire led to the formation of different
districts than those of Byzantium. The
special conditions of the post 1453
period also played a role in this
development. The city which had lost its
population in the Byzantine era had to
be opened for resettlement. In order to
fulfill this task people were called
from all over the empire to Istanbul and
were settled here without regarding any
ethnic separation. These persons (Greeks
from Karaman Turks from towns such as
Carsamba and Aksaray, Armenians from
different locations etc.) settled in
districts which they formed on the base
of their ethnical roots or with their
fellow countrymen. The district, to some
extent was a continuation of rural
characteristics: A square containing the
locations which brought the people
together such as the coffee house
alongside the grocer, greengrocer and
the butcher, formed the center of the
settlement. In the mean time, in a
different manner from the growing cities
of the west, the settlements of Istanbul
were not marked by the differentiation
of social classes. In every district the
rich, the middle class and the poor
lived close together. The base of the
multi-ethnic way of living which was to
become a trait of Istanbul was formed in
this manner.
The type of wooden houses which again
gave the city one its its main
characteristics until the middle of this
century had again begun in these early
periods. There were many reasons for the
preference of wood: Being in the
earthquake belt, rural habits etc. But
the main reason was economical. Wood was
cheap and so was wooden cons- traction.
Also, wooden houses were in conformity
with the climate of the city. Its main
drawback, as is known is its weakness in
face of fire, and indeed, all through
the centuries fires have been a disaster
never lacking in Istanbul.
All through the Ottoman period, although
many details of the Greek-Latin style
had naturally changed, some dominant
characteristics have continued up to our
day.
The old avenues and squares became
narrower with the new houses and shops
built on them. But they never
disappeared altogether. The main artery
joining Sultanahmet to Aksaray, and the
main streets on the axes of Cerrahpasa-Samatya-Yedikule
and Fatih-Karagümrük-Edirnekapi were
existing since Roman times. The avenues
of Vatan and Millet were built in 1950's
by enlarging the itineraries existing
from the most ancient times.
Of the Byzantium churches, the ones in
good condition were turned into mosques
and thus protected. Even the structures
representing different pre-monotheistic
religious beliefs and customs were left
untouched. Columns like the one in
Cemberlitas is one of these. The
harshness shown to pagan structures by
Byzantines was not repeated by Turks for
the Byzantine ones.
On the other hand, the higher locations
places of the city visible from far away
were ornamented by Ottoman sultans with
mosques. This was also a custom from the
Byzantine times. Fatih Mehmet (the
conqueror) Bayezid Selim and Kanuni
Süleyman (the magnificent) all chose one
of the seven hills of Istanbul and built
their mosques. Mihrimah, the daughter of
Kanuni also followed the tradition and
with the construction of Nuruosmaniye
the silhouette of Istanbul was completed.
Here the interesting point is that after
the Hagia Sophia of the 6 th century
Byzantines had not built anything
approaching it during the following
period of nearly a thousand years and,
paradoxically, the architectural
greatness reached by Hagia Sophia was
continued by Turks after the conquest.
The great public building of this period
were the mosques and their complexes.
Leaving aside a few palaces for the
sultans, no building of monumental size
was erected. In fact, even the palaces
were quite modest buildings. This was a
result of the Islamic morality which
refrained from boasting during the
ephemeral life.
As for business life, here also the
structure remaining from the Byzantine
times was partially protected , and in
some cases the guilds were settled in
the very location of the guilds which
had previously performed the same tasks.
Since the Golden Horn was the port of
disembarkation for merchandise, business
centers continued to be located on its
shores.
Thus, Ottomans, without totally
eliminating its Greek-Latin character,
created the capital of another
civilization from this city. This new
Istanbul perpetuated its existence
without an important alteration until
the 19 th century. For a few hundred
years it was the most populated city of
the western world.
The industrial revolution which began in
west during the 19 th century commenced
to change the face of the world. This
change was inevitably going to make its
mark on the concepts and implementations
of urban development and it was
impossible for Istanbul and the Ottoman
state not to be effected from this event
in its neighboring location.
This new understanding showed itself
first not in the traditionally settled
districts, but in the region north of
the Golden Horn which was less
populated. The history of the Beyoglu
region had created the conditions for
this development. Galata had represented
the West in this Levant town ever since
it was a Genoese colony. The Ottomans
had also placed the embassies in this
district after the establishment of
diplomatic relations and thus this side
of the city had grown as a sort of
ex-Istanbul location. Thus it was
natural that the the new concepts of
urbanization took root in this district.
As a result of this development in the
beginning of the 19th century Istanbul
again came under the influence of a new
civilization and its concepts of
urbanization. From this point onwards
this style developed with a high pace,
but it too couldn't totally erase the
traces of the past ages. Looking at
these trends of development we can say
that until the 20th century Istanbul
underwent at least three very radical
and serious transformations.
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