The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought

Istanbul

Istanbul is one of the oldest and most populated cities in Europe and the largest city in Turkey. Located on the Bosporus, spreading along the Sea of Marmara and connecting Thrace and Anatolia, Istanbul consists of four parts: the Golden Horn and Old Istanbul extending to the Eyyub district in the west; Galata to the north of Golden Horn; Üsküdar to the east on the Asian side; and Boğazıcı on the Black Sea side of the Bosporus, extending into Asia and Europe. The greater Istanbul region extends almost 30 miles east to west and 10 miles north to south. The Boğaz Bridge and the Fatih Bridge across the Bosporus connect the European and Asian parts. Its location at the meeting point of Asia and Europe has given it strategic importance, and placed it naturally on major modern and ancient trade routes.

The name Istanbul is from a Greek phrase that means “in the city.” The ancient city was founded by Greek settlers in the seventh century BCE and called Byzantion. Later it fell under Persian rule, then reverted to Greek or independent rule, until in 73 it fell to the Romans. In 330, the emperor Constantine made it the eastern capital of the Roman Empire, calling it “New Rome” (Nea Roma), and it remained the capital of the Byzantine Empire under the name of Constantinople. The city withstood two sieges by the Arabs in late seventh and early eighth centuries. Other than the brief period when it was ruled by the Crusaders (1204–61), it stayed under Byzantine rule. But the expanding Ottoman principalities in Asia Minor gradually confined this empire to the Constantinople area. After several unsuccessful Ottoman attacks, the city fell to the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II the Conquerer in 1453. Under his rule, the city grew much bigger and was completely restructured as an Islamic city and the capital of the Muslim Ottoman Empire. The Hagia Sophia Cathedral was turned into a great mosque, today the Ayasofya, where the Friday prayer was held and the sultan received petitions, giving it a completely Islamic function. The sultan then started repopulating the city with Muslim, Christian, and Jewish immigrants from across his empire, with Muslims constituting the majority by design. The expansion and Islamization of Istanbul continued under Sultan Süleiman the Magnificent, making a full transformation from old Constantinople to the Islamic Istanbul, which was envisaged by the sultan as the true capital of the Muslim world, with the sultan as the rightful leader of the Islamic community in general. The sultan’s claim as the legitimate successor to the original caliphate, and hence worthy of the title “Commander of the Faithful,” was on firm ground after the 1517 Ottoman takeover of Egypt, ruled by the Mamluks, who themselves had laid claim to the title after some Abbasid princes took refuge in Egypt following the 1258 sack of Baghdad by the Mongols and the murder of the last Abbasid caliph. Hence, during the next few centuries, Istanbul remained the capital and the seat of the Ottoman sultan and grew considerably, despite the gradual decline of the Ottoman Empire.

In the late 19th century, European railways reached Istanbul, and the city started to modernize. In World War I, the Ottomans joined the axis powers, and in 1919 Istanbul was occupied by the British and remained under their control until 1923, when the Ottoman Empire was abolished and the modern state of Turkey was founded. In the early 21st century, Istanbul is a center of culture and commerce, although no longer the capital.