Where was Constantinople? What is the name of Constantinople now? Which city was previously called Tsargrad.

Now Istanbul, until 1930 Constantinople. In Rus' it was called Tsargrad. The amazing history of the city dates back more than one millennium. During this period, it underwent many changes, having been the capital of three empires at once: Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman. It is not surprising that he had to change names more than once. The very first name assigned to it in history is Byzantium.

This is one of the few cities in human history that has an exact date of birth: May 11, 330 (May 24, new style) - on this day the official ceremony of the so-called “renewal” (as we now translate), or consecration, of the city took place , which was headed by Emperor Constantine himself.

Constantinople - the city of St. Constantine - was originally conceived by the emperor as the eastern capital of a huge empire that stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to Mesopotamia, as the capital of a state that was founded during the Republic and with Emperor Augustus became an empire, a monarchical power that united a variety of peoples and a variety of cultures, but mainly based on two key elements: the Greek East and the Latin West.

First European settlement

Around 680 BC Greek settlers appeared on the Bosphorus. On the Asian shore of the strait they founded the colony of Chalcedon (now this is a district of Istanbul called “Kadikoy”).

Three decades later, the town of Byzantium grew up opposite it. According to legend, it was founded by a certain Byzantus from Megara, to whom the Delphic oracle gave vague advice to “settle opposite the blind.” According to Byzant, the inhabitants of Chalcedon were these blind people, since they chose the distant Asian hills for settlement, and not the cozy triangle of European land located opposite.

At first, the city was inhabited by fishermen and traders, but the favorable geographical position led to the rapid growth of Byzantium, and it soon took a prominent place among the Greek city-states.

In 196 BC. e. The Roman emperor Septimius Severus, after a three-year siege, took Byzantium and destroyed it, but soon, by his own order, the city was restored.

The city acquired its greatness when Constantine made it the capital of the Roman Empire and renamed it New Rome, Constantinople.

How the location for the new capital was determined

Initially, the emperor's gaze was turned to the shores of the Aegean Sea - where Troy was located in ancient times. It was there that Constantine initially wanted to build a new capital. Troy plays a special, unique role in the history of Rome. But Troy had long disappeared by that time, only ruins remained, and these ruins were located in a place quite inconvenient for political maneuver.

According to legend, Emperor Constantine had a prophetic dream. Allegedly, it was in a dream that the emperor saw that the city should be founded here, opposite the ancient capital of Nicomedia, which by that time was already in ruins due to an earthquake, and precisely on the European shore of the Bosphorus.

The location for the city is very convenient in many respects. On the one hand, it is located at a strategically key point in the entire Eurasian system of trade routes, because it connects both land routes from Asia to Europe and the sea route from the Black Sea region to the Mediterranean Sea. It is very well protected, this triangle on which ancient Byzantium was located, in honor of which, in fact, we call the Byzantine Empire.

Dawn of Constantinople

At the direction of Constantine, the best sculptures, valuable manuscripts, church utensils, and relics of saints were taken from Rome, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, Antioch and other cities of the empire to Constantinople.
Constantine's work was continued by his descendants. Marble and copper columns that previously adorned Roman temples and squares were brought to Constantinople.

Tradition says that 60 tons of gold were spent on the construction of the city. Subsequently, the city grew and developed so rapidly that half a century later, during the reign of Emperor Theodosius, new city walls were erected, which have survived to this day, and included seven hills - the same as in Rome.

During the reign of Emperor Justinian in 527–565, the largest Nika uprising broke out in the city. The city was significantly destroyed, Hagia Sophia burned down.

After the brutal suppression of the rebellion, Justinian rebuilt the capital, attracting the best architects of his time. A “golden age” begins for Constantinople. New buildings, temples and palaces are being built, the central streets of the new city are decorated with colonnades. A special place is occupied by the construction of Hagia Sophia, which became the largest temple in the Christian world and remained so for more than a thousand years - until the construction of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

The city grows rapidly and becomes first the business center of the then world, and soon the largest city in the world.

In Rus', the city was given its name - Tsargrad - the city where the king lives. And the word “king” itself may have come from the name of the Roman emperor Julius Caesar. The word "Caesar" became part of the title of the Roman emperors.

The wealth of the city aroused the envy of the surrounding peoples. Between 666 and 950 the city was subject to repeated sieges by the Arabs.

Capital symbols

Constantinople is a city of secret meanings. Local guides will definitely show you the two main attractions of the ancient capital of Byzantium - Hagia Sophia and the Golden Gate. But not everyone will explain their secret meaning. Meanwhile, these buildings did not appear in Constantinople by chance.

Hagia Sophia and the Golden Gate clearly embodied medieval ideas about the wandering City, especially popular in the Orthodox East. It was believed that after ancient Jerusalem lost its providential role in the salvation of mankind, the sacred capital of the world moved to Constantinople. Now it was no longer the “old” Jerusalem, but the first Christian capital that personified the City of God, which was destined to stand until the end of time, and after the Last Judgment to become the abode of the righteous.

The beginning of the decline of Byzantium

Until the 11th century. Byzantium was a brilliant and powerful power, a stronghold of Christianity against Islam. The Byzantines courageously and successfully fulfilled their duty until, in the middle of the century, a new threat from Islam approached them from the East, along with the invasion of the Turks. Western Europe, meanwhile, went so far that it itself, in the person of the Normans, tried to carry out aggression against Byzantium, which found itself involved in a struggle on two fronts just at a time when it itself was experiencing a dynastic crisis and internal turmoil. The Normans were repulsed, but the price of this victory was the loss of Byzantine Italy. The Byzantines also had to give the mountainous plateaus of Anatolia to the Turks forever.

Meanwhile, the deep old religious differences between the Eastern and Western Christian Churches, fanned for political purposes throughout the 11th century, steadily deepened until, towards the end of the century, a final schism occurred between Rome and Constantinople.

The crisis came when the Crusader army, carried away by the ambition of their leaders, the jealous greed of their Venetian allies and the hostility that the West now felt towards the Byzantine Church, turned on Constantinople, captured and plundered it, forming the Latin Empire on the ruins of the ancient city ( 1204-1261).

In the summer of 1261, the Emperor of Nicaea, Michael VIII Palaiologos, managed to recapture Constantinople, which entailed the restoration of the Byzantine and the destruction of the Latin empires.

After this, Byzantium was no longer the dominant power in the Christian East. She retained only a glimpse of her former mystical prestige. During the 12th and 13th centuries, Constantinople seemed so rich and magnificent, the imperial court so magnificent, and the piers and bazaars of the city so full of goods that the emperor was still treated as a powerful ruler. However, in reality he was now only a sovereign among his equals or even more powerful ones.

The entire 14th century was a period of political failures for Byzantium. The Byzantines were threatened from all sides - Serbs and Bulgarians in the Balkans, the Vatican in the West, Muslims in the East.

Death of the Byzantine Empire

At the end of May 1453, Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror took Constantinople after a siege that lasted 53 days. The last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI, having defended a prayer service in the St. Sophia Cathedral, fought valiantly in the ranks of the city’s defenders and died in battle.

The capture of Constantinople meant the end of the Byzantine Empire. Constantinople became the capital of the Ottoman state and was initially called Constantine, and then was renamed Istanbul.

In Europe and Russia the city is called Istanbul, which is a distorted form of the Turkish name.

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If you try to find Constantinople on a modern geographical map, you will fail. The thing is that since 1930 such a city has not existed. By decision of the new government of the Turkish Republic, founded in 1923, the city of Constantinople (the former capital of the Ottoman Empire) was renamed. Its modern name is Istanbul.

Why was Constantinople called Constantinople? The amazing history of the city dates back more than one millennium. During this period, it underwent many changes, having been the capital of three empires at once: Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman. It is not surprising that he had to change names more than once. The very first name assigned to it in history is Byzantium. The modern name of Constantinople is Istanbul.

Constantinople was perceived by Russian people as the center of Orthodoxy. Soon after the adoption of Christianity in Russian culture, a systematic sacralization (imbuing with sacred meaning) of the image of Constantinople occurs.

It is the image of Constantinople in Russian folk tales that inspired the idea of ​​a strange overseas country with its magic and all kinds of miracles.

Vladimir's marriage to a Byzantine princess led to the establishment of cultural and spiritual ties with Constantinople. Constantinople played an extremely positive role in the development of Russian society, as business and cultural contacts led to a leap in the development of icon painting, architecture, literature, art and social science.

By order of Vladimir, magnificent cathedrals were built in Kyiv, Polotsk and Novgorod, which are exact copies of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople.

At the main entrance to Vladimir and Kiev, golden gates were installed, created by analogy with the golden gates that opened during the solemn ceremonies of the meeting of the Byzantine emperors.

Etymological information

The etymology of the word “king” is interesting. It came from the name of the Roman Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar. The word “Caesar” became a mandatory part of the title of all rulers of the empire: both in the early and late periods of its existence. The use of the prefix “Caesar” symbolized the continuity of power that passed to the new emperor from the legendary Julius Caesar.

In Roman culture, the concepts of “king” and “Caesar” are not identical: in the early stages of the existence of the Roman state, the king was called the word “rex”, performed the duties of the high priest, justice of the peace and leader of the army. He was not endowed with unlimited power and most often represented the interests of the community that chose him as its leader.

End of the Byzantine Empire

On May 29, 1453, Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror took Constantinople after a 53-day siege. The last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI, having defended a prayer service in the St. Sophia Cathedral, fought valiantly in the ranks of the city’s defenders and died in battle.

The capture of Constantinople meant the end of the Byzantine Empire. Constantinople became the capital of the Ottoman state and was initially called Constantine, and then was renamed Istanbul.

In Europe and Russia the city is called Istanbul, which is a distorted form of the Turkish name.

He who seeks will always find.
Some time ago I put forward the assumption that Constantinople is simply a royal city, the capital of the kingdom. And today I found confirmation of this.

Somewhere there was then the border of the Crimean kingdom and the region of Rus', in which both the Muscovite kingdom and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were then located.

But it turns out that in addition to the Tsarev City, there was also a New Tsarev City. It was common then to move the capital frequently. This book alone mentions several transfers of cities from place to place. And the city of Orenburg changed its location three times in the 18th century.

Whether these Tserev cities were the same ones that the Kyiv princes took is no longer very important. In principle they could. The Greek Pontic kingdom could well have had its capital here. Well, or further south, in the Black Sea region. What's the difference? The main thing is that no one swam across the sea, but everything was here, nearby. This is somehow more realistic from the point of view of common sense.
Rus' and one is generally beyond the Volga.
Official historians were well aware of all this. They just closed their eyes. History is written not by them, but by politicians. And it will always be like this. And only I am trying to “discover America” again and bring back the real story and not the invented one.

Addition:

Book: Ancient Russian hydrography: Containing a description of the Moscow state of rivers, channels, lakes, deposits, and what cities and tracts there are along them, and at what distance thereof. / Published by Nikolai Novikov. - In St. Petersburg: [Typ. Academician Sciences], 1773. -, 233, p.; 8°.

I looked at old documents, they always write Tsarev and not Tsar. Tsarev Kokshansk, Tsarev Sanchursk. For example in the decree of 1708 on the creation of provinces.
Those. writing Constantinople is already the second half of the 18th century.
It’s nice, of course, to think that your ancestors nailed a shield to the gates of Constantinople, but from my point of view, you have to live now. But the past is gone and will never return.

About the city of Moscow.

About Easter, no matter what the people there, old and young, everyone gives the priests an egg at this sacred time, and they ring the church bells, of which there are many thousands, as much as they like: this is considered a special service for them.

Moscow is a beautiful and large main city in Muscovy, lying on a flat plane, in which the Grand Duke and Sovereign of all Russians, Fyodor Ivanovich, has his seat. This is a strong city, where native and foreign merchants come in large numbers from very distant lands: from Turkey, Tartary, Persia, Turkmenistan (Siareoschen), Kabardian, Georgian, Siberian, Cherkassy and other lands, and conduct a large trade in many excellent goods: sables , martens and various furs, also wax, flax, lard and other goods, which are brought in great quantities at convenient times of the year. This city is divided into 4 main parts: 1 outer city, surrounded by a completely wooden wall three good fathoms thick, and decorated with many wooden towers, which gives it a majestic and beautiful appearance from a distance; all the gates in it are of exactly the same construction, large and beautiful, and all with three-pointed towers: this wall was built about 2 years ago, according to some residents, it has 30 miles in circumference, which is 6 German miles of travel. 3 rivers flow through this city, of which the largest is Moscow, and from it the whole country takes its name; another river of almost the same size is called Neglinnaya (Negilo), and the third Yauza (Chaso): in the outer city these last rivers flow into the Moscow River. In this first wooden wall lies another city, surrounded by a stone wall, whitewashed and decorated with many towers and battlements; residents call this part of the city Constantinople (Zaragradt), also what in our name is Khoenigstadt. In that city ​​of Tsargrad There is also a special city, also surrounded by a special stone wall, with towers and a dry moat, and it is called Kitaygorod (Kataygradt): there is a nice square and a lot of trade, up to 100 shops and shops where you can get various goods. In the same city, in front of the Kremlin, there is a beautiful Moscow Church, an excellent building, and is called Jerusalem (St. Basil's Church or Intercession Cathedral, which is on the Moat.). It also contains the castle of the Grand Duke, also surrounded by a dry moat and a strong wall, very majestic, well built and decorated with many towers. There are also many round towers on churches, gilded with good gold, probably at great expense: from a distance it makes a magnificent appearance. The castle is entirely made of stone, is extensive in circumference and has many significant churches. Among them is the church, called in their language the Annunciation (Blaweschin, i.e., Maria Verkhondigung), with nine gilded towers: both the roof and the towers are all gilded with good gold; The Grand Duke usually goes there to conduct his services.

I think over time I’ll find a few more King of Cities whose gates could be nailed with a shield.

Additions e:
I just wrote

Before answering the question: “What is Constantinople called now?”, you should find out what it was called before.

The roots of this ancient city go back to 658 BC. The island, which from the height of the flight of a proud eagle bird looked like its head, attracted the attention of Greek colonists from Megara. They settled on this land, which is between the Sea of ​​Marmara and the Golden Horn Bay. It didn’t take long for the settlers to choose the name for their city - it was given in honor of the leader Byzantine. Byzantium - this decision satisfied everyone.

Almost four centuries passed, the city began to prosper and already seemed like a tasty morsel to the surrounding neighbors. The Roman emperor kept proud Byzantium under siege for three years, and only after destroying it to the ground was he able to completely conquer it. We must pay tribute - on his orders the city was rebuilt. Life began to boil in Byzantium with renewed vigor.

Where is Constantinople located, in what country?

Years and centuries flew by unnoticed and the year 330 came. Known to all his contemporaries, Constantine I (Roman Emperor) decided to make the main city of Byzantium the capital of the empire. This changed the provincial center so much that after a couple of decades it was no longer possible to recognize it. The huge city became famous for its unprecedented wealth and fame, which spread throughout many neighboring countries. At first there was an attempt to name the capital New Rome, but this name did not take root. The city began to bear the name of the emperor himself - Constantinople. It became the center of world trade. Its history was long - many countries constantly wanted to conquer it. As a result, we can summarize: Constantinople is the disappeared capital of the disappeared state - the Byzantine Empire, but before that it was the capital of the Roman Empire. Constantinople is the second name given to it by the Slavs of Ancient Rus'.

The year 1453 arrived. Much water has passed under the bridge during the founding of Constantinople, many lives have been lived... But this year was not easy - it went down in history with the capture of the city by the Turks. It was not easy to achieve what was desired; the siege lasted for a long time, but it was impossible to withstand it, and foreign troops occupied the city.

Centuries later, Constantinople became the capital of the Ottoman Empire and was now called Istanbul. But the old culture did not just leave the city walls; to this day in Istanbul you can find something that reminds you of the proud Byzantine times:

• Walls of ancient fortresses.
• Remains of world-famous imperial palaces.
• Famous hippodrome.
• Unique underground tanks and other attractions.

The capture of Constantinople by Turkish troops and its renaming to Istanbul is the beginning of another, no less interesting story. This is already the history of the Ottoman Empire and its capital.

Istanbul today...

Istanbul today is the most populous city in Europe. It has a population of more than ten million people. And on Muslim holidays, the same number of Muslims come here. Just imagine a bus station from which buses depart to different cities at intervals of seconds! And they don't leave empty. There are always passengers coming and going back.

There are a lot of mosques in Istanbul. These buildings deserve attention. A building of extraordinary beauty where every Muslim can worship Allah and take care of his soul.

Like many centuries ago, the city is caressed by the waves of two seas: the Black and Marmara. Only the preserved walls of the famous Constantinople can tell contemporaries about the glorious history of the powerful capital of several empires:

• Roman;
• Byzantine;
• Ottoman.

How many cities in the world can “boast” such a fascinating and far from simple history? Constantinople was transformed into Istanbul quite rapidly. The Turkish way of life absorbed the existing one - the oriental appearance became more and more familiar. Everyone built their own house in a convenient place. The streets became narrower and narrower, solid fences fenced off the residents of the houses from prying eyes. The passages became more and more dark.

No longer the capital...

Istanbul ceased to be the capital in 1923, when the Turkish Republic was proclaimed. From now on, Ankara became the capital, and Constantinople still remained the beautiful, centuries-old cultural center of the country. Many tourists from different parts of the world flock to the city, where the spirit of emperors, warriors and ordinary citizens hovers.

What is the name of Constantinople now - you ask. Some call it Istanbul, some - Constantinople, some - Constantinople. It is not the name that is important, what is important is the memory of everyone who courageously and faithfully defended it, worked and lived in it before.

An ancient impregnable city from which the Christian history of Europe began. The sea gate from Asia to Europe and the crossroads of cultures.

1. At the very dawn of its existence, Constantinople (Byzantium) was a colony in historical Thrace. It was founded by Greeks, immigrants from Megara.

2. The first known name of the city, when it was still a Thracian settlement, was Lygos (according to Pliny the Elder).

3. Athens and Sparta fought among themselves for the possession of Byzantium. From the 4th century BC. it becomes autonomous and independent from other Greek policies.

4. The Greeks called the ancient city “Byzantion”. "Byzantium" is the Latinized form of the same name.

5. Byzantium had some of the most powerful walls among the Greek city-states, and already in its earliest era withstood dozens of sieges. The art of building walls by the Byzantines was especially valued in ancient times.

6. Byzantium completely controlled the Bosporus and issued permission to pass through the strait.

7. Despite the eternal confrontation between the Byzantines and Macedonians, Alexander the Great did not encroach on the independence of Byzantium, and during his campaigns the city remained untouched. At the same time, Byzantium even supplied ships to his army. After the collapse of the empire, Byzantium acted as a mediator between the opposing “splinters” - the Hellenistic states.

8. In the 3rd century BC. Byzantium became one of the richest trading cities in Greece, taking over most of the slave trade.

9. Byzantium was an old ally of Rome, and even in the Roman Empire it retained autonomy until the 2nd century.

10. In the Roman Empire, the city was famous for its scientists and architects, who were in demand in other cities of the Middle East and the Black Sea region.

11. The earliest Christian communities came to Byzantium. Andrew the First-Called, Stachy, Onesimus, Polycarp I and Plutarch preached here.

12. Huge destruction was brought to Byzantium not by barbarian raids or wars with other states, but by its own rulers. Emperor Septimius Severus, whom the city did not support, deprived it of its autonomy, and in 196 ordered the most important buildings to be razed to the ground and the centuries-old city walls torn down. After this, the city was a dysfunctional province for at least a century.

13. For a whole century (III century AD), the city bore the name Augustus Antoninus in honor of the son of Septimius Severus - Anthony.

14. The Church of Hagia Irene of the 4th century is one of the oldest surviving Christian buildings and the main temple of the city before the world-famous Hagia Sophia. The Second Ecumenical Council took place in the church. It was named, however, not in honor of St. Irene, but in honor of the “Holy Myra.” “The World” (Ειρήνη) was the name given to the oldest Christian area of ​​the city in Galata.

15. In the 4th century, Constantinople was actually rebuilt anew and immediately as the capital of the Roman Empire. The medieval “metropolis”, Constantinople, became a city of contrasts: from a simple vagabond or soldier one could rise to become an emperor. Nationality and origin did not matter much. The luxurious palaces of the elite coexisted with the miserable hovels of ordinary people.

16. The first name of the new capital of the Roman Empire - “New Rome”, given to Byzantium in 330, did not stick. The city began to be called in honor of Constantine I - Constantinople.

17. During the era of the first Christian emperor Constantine I, pagan temples continued to be built in the city, which was encouraged by the authorities.

18. If the Romans’ favorite place for spectacle was the Colosseum, where gladiator fights took place, then in Constantinople such a place was the hippodrome, where chariot races took place. The hippodrome was used for all major celebrations and holidays.

19. The most valuable material in Constantinople was porphyry. Future legitimate rulers were born in the porphyry hall of the Imperial Palace.

20. The Russian name of Constantinople “Tsargrad” is a literal translation of the Greek “Basileus polis” - the city of basileus (monarch)

21. The kings of Constantinople collected the most revered artifacts from all over the empire in the city (mainly at the hippodrome). This is the Serpentine Column of the 5th century BC. from Delphi, Egyptian obelisk of the 15th century BC. from Thebes, a statue of Pallas Athena from Troy, a bronze bull from Pergamum and many others.

22. The length of the fortress walls in Constantinople was about 16 kilometers, and there were about 400 towers on them. Some walls reached 15 meters in height and 20 in depth.

23. The head of the city of Constantinople, the eparch, was the second person in the empire. He could arrest and expel from the city any person he thought posed a danger to the capital. One of the most famous eparch was Cyrus, who ruled the city during the period between the reigns of Constantine the Great and Theodosius.

24. At different times the city was under the rule of the Romans, Greeks, Galatians, Crusaders, Genoese, and Turks.

25. One of the very first monasteries of Constantinople, which laid the foundation for the monastic movement, was the Studite Monastery, built in the 5th century on the shores of the Sea of ​​Marmara.

26. The population of Constantinople in its heyday could be up to 800,000 people.

27. Compared to Rome, Constantinople had a fairly large middle class: almost 4.5 thousand individual houses. The rich lived in three-story mansions, the poor huddled in multi-story buildings up to 9 floors in height on the outskirts of the city.

28. The main street of the city was called Mesa (same root Russian “mezha”, Latin medius) - “middle”. It ran from east to west along numerous forums and squares from the “beginning of all roads” at the Milestone near the Hagia Sophia to the city walls. Place of imperial ceremonies and active trade. The section from the Imperial Palace to the Forum of Constantine was called “Regia” - the Imperial Road.

29. To protect against attacks by the Slavs, a special Anastasia Wall, about 50 kilometers long, was built in the 6th century.

30. Greeks, Slavs, Armenians, Turks, Romans, Germanic peoples (Goths, later Scandinavian Vikings), Arabs, Persians, Jews, Syrians, Thracians, Coptic Egyptians lived in Constantinople. Due to the numerous pilgrims to Jerusalem, there were many hotels in the city.

31. Constantinople “fell” even before its official fall in 1453 from the capture of the city by the Turks. In 1204, during the Fourth Crusade, the Venetians burned down two thirds of the city's buildings. The most magnificent buildings and structures, including the Forum of Constantine, the Baths of Zeuxippus and the surrounding area of ​​the Great Palace lay in ruins. The capital was completely looted, including the sarcophagi of the emperors.

32. After the capture of Constantinople (1204) by the Crusaders, French became the language of the urban elite.

33. In the last two centuries of the existence of Byzantium, in the suburbs of Constantinople, Galata, a city of the Genoese grew up, surrounded by a wall, and dictating its own rules of trade.

34. Throughout the history of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople was besieged 24 times. Half of the defenders of Constantinople in 1453 were Latins (Venetians and Genoese)

35. Many Russian rulers dreamed of conquering Constantinople, from the Prophetic Oleg and Igor Rurikovich to Catherine II (Greek project) and the last Russian emperor. Catherine II named her grandson Constantine.

36. Hagia Sophia is the heart of Constantinople, the largest temple in the Christian world. It was first built in 324-337, but burned down in 404; the new basilica built on this site burned down already in 532. The construction of a new grandiose temple in the 6th century was carried out by Justinian I. During Ottoman rule, four minarets were added to it, and the cathedral itself was converted into a mosque. Nowadays it is the Hagia Sophia Museum. The division of churches took place in the cathedral, and the Shroud of Turin was also kept.

37. The Turks did not rename Constantinople after the capture. There are several versions of the origin of the word Istanbul (in the original - Istanbul): from “Constantinople” distorted by the Turks to the Turkish adaptation of the everyday name “polis” (“city” as a City, capital), to which “extra” sounds were added (other examples: Smyrna- Izmir and Nicomedia-Iznik). It is known that the Arabs used the name “Istinpolin”.

In any case, in official documents until the 20th century, the city was called in the Arabic manner, Konstantiniye.

38. During the Ottoman period, a new “city within a city” emerges in Galata, with a Christian majority. Traders settled there - Greeks, Armenians, Italians. The first Central Bank was founded in Galata. The area was also called Pera, meaning "beyond."

39. Istanbul’s most famous square, Taksim, is located on the site of the largest non-Muslim cemetery (Armenian community), founded in the 16th century.

40. During the Russian Civil War, Constantinople became the main gate of white church and civil emigration. The city and its surroundings hosted about 200,000 Russian emigrants. By the mid-20s, the main part repatriated to the USSR, emigrated to European countries (Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia) and American countries, some died of disease and hunger, forced to live on islands and territories deprived of material support.