The city, officially known in
Ottoman Turkish as
Kostantiniye ( after the Arabic form "[city] of Constantine") while its
Christian minorities continued to call it
Kōnstantinoupolis () as in the original Greek and people writing in
French,
English and other
European languages used its Latinized variants, was the capital of the
Ottoman Empire from its conquest in 1453 until the empire's collapse in 1922.
Conquest – The Prospect of Constantinople (16th century) On 29 May 1453,
Sultan Mehmed II "the Conqueror" entered
Constantinople after a 53–day
siege during which his cannon had torn a huge hole in the
Walls of Theodosius II. The city became the fourth and final capital of the
Ottoman Empire. Mehmed had begun the siege on 6 April 1453. He had hired engineers to build
cannons and bombs for the occasion. He also acquired scholars and imams to encourage the soldiers. In accordance with
Shariah (Muslim Holy Law), Mehmed gave the Byzantine emperor
Constantine XI Palaiologos (1449–1453) three chances to surrender the city. After more than a month of fighting, Mehmed's advisors were beginning to lose hope. Against their counsel, Mehmed continued to fight. The night before the final assault, he studied previous attempts to take the city to distinguish potentially successful approaches. On the morning of 29 May 1453 the sultan ordered
Adzan (the call to prayer). This was not a regular prayer session for religious reasons but rather a scare tactic: the sight of the entire Ottoman army getting on their knees to pray provided an intimidating display of unity to the Byzantine forces designed to overcome their minds before their bodies. Since the
Byzantine army was still holding on after this defeat, the sultan set up his secret weapon, a huge mobile tower. This tower could hold many soldiers who could be at the same level as the walls of the city, making it easier for them to break into Constantinople. The first group of Ottomans who entered the city were killed almost immediately, with the effect that the other Ottomans began to retreat. Witnessing this, the sultan encouraged his soldiers. Soon after the sultan's encouragement the Ottomans broke the wall in two places and entered the city. In a last attempt to protect it, Constantine attacked the enemy sword raised; however, he was defeated and killed. Finally, Constantinople was under Ottoman rule. Mehmed entered Constantinople through what is now known as the
Topkapi Gate. He immediately rode his horse to the
Hagia Sophia which he ordered to be sacked. He ordered that an
imam meet him there in order to recite the
Muslim Creed: "I testify that there is no God but
Allah. I testify that
Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah." He turned the Orthodox cathedral into an Islamic
mosque, solidifying Turkish rule in Constantinople. Mehmed ordered the city to be plundered for three days. Following the sack, Mehmed's main concern with Constantinople had to do with rebuilding the city's defenses and re-population. Building projects were commenced immediately after the conquest, which included the repair of the walls, construction of the citadel, and building a new palace. Mehmed issued orders across his empire that Muslims, Christians, and Jews should resettle the city; he demanded that five thousand households needed to be deported to Constantinople by September.
Imperial capital By 1459, the Sultan dedicated a lot of energy to bringing prosperity to Constantinople. In several quarters of the city pious foundations were created; these areas consisted of a theological college, a school (or a Madrasa, usually connected to the mosque), a public kitchen, and a mosque. Mehmed took much personal interest in the creation of his new capital. On his orders, the great mosque and the college of Fatih were built on the old burial grounds of the Byzantine Emperors at the
Church of the Holy Apostles. Bit by bit the great Christian city was transformed into a great Muslim city. Even so, the city was not to be entirely Muslim, at least not until the late 20th century.
Slavs,
Greeks,
Jews, and
Armenians, all of whose diverse skills were needed, were allowed to settle in a city which was to become known as
alem penah-refuge of the universe. According to the census of 1477, there were 9,486 houses occupied by Muslims; 3,743 by Greeks; 1,647 by Jews; 267 by Christians from the Crimea, and 31 Gypsies. Mehmet also re-established Constantinople, as it was still called at that time, as the center of the Orthodox patriarchate. from
Pera, with the
Bosphorus at left, the entrance of the
Golden Horn at right, and the
Sea of Marmara with the
Princes' Islands on the horizon There was also an Italian community in the area of the
Galata Tower. Having surrendered before the fall of the city, Mehmed allowed them to preserve an element of self-government. For generations after, they supplied interpreters and diplomats for the Ottoman Court. After the
conquest of Egypt in 1517, and the Sultan's acceptance of the position of
Caliph, Constantinople acquired additional importance in Muslim eyes. Mosques built by
Sultan Suleiman I and his successors gave the city the unique appearance it still preserves today. The individual communities, though, still lived in self-contained areas. A 16th century Chinese geographical treatise described Constantinople/Istanbul as follows: Its city has two walls. A sovereign prince lives in the city. There are Muslims wearing headwraps and Han-Chinese. There are translators. People cultivated dry fields. It has no products. The statement that there were translators suggests it was a multilingual, multicultural, cosmopolitan city. Although the claim that there were "Han-Chinese" is dubious.
Foundations "Foundation" is
waqf (
vakıf) in
Turkish. The
Grand Bazaar (1455) and
Topkapı Palace (1459) were erected in the years following the
Turkish conquest. Religious foundations were endowed to fund the building of mosques such as the
Fatih (1463) and their associated
schools and
public baths. The city had to be repopulated by a mixture of force and encouragement. book,
Kitab-ı Bahriye refers to the city as Kostantiniyye (
Walters Art Museum collection). North is at the bottom. The
Prince Islands are at the top. The old city of Constantinople or Stamboul (modern-day
Fatih) is on the right. Across the Golden Horn at bottom right is
Pera (Beyoğlu). Asiatic Istanbul (
Üsküdar/Scutari,
Kadıköy) lies across the Bosphorus on the left. Süleyman's reign was a time of great
artistic and
architectural achievements. The architect Sinan designed many mosques and other great
buildings in the city, while Ottoman arts of
ceramics and
calligraphy also flourished.
Sufi orders which were so widespread in the
Islamic world and who had many followers who had actively participated in the conquest of the city came to settle in the capital. During
Ottoman times over 100
Tekkes were active in the city alone. Many of these Tekkes survive to this day some in the form of mosques while others as museums such as the
Jerrahi Tekke in
Fatih, the
Sunbul Effendi and Ramazan Effendi
Mosque and
Turbes also in
Fatih, the Galata Mevlevihane in
Beyoğlu, the Yahya Effendi Tekke in
Beşiktaş, and the
Bektashi Tekke in
Kadıköy, which now serves
Alevi Muslims as a
Cem Evi.
Modernisation As the years passed the population increased, from about 80,000 at the death of Mehmet, to 300,000 by the 18th century, and 400,000 in 1800. The capital of an empire that stretched across Europe, Asia, and Africa, it also became an important diplomatic centre, with several foreign embassies. It was only after 1922, following the
war between Greece and Turkey that things began to change. The city was modernized from the 1870s onwards with the building of bridges, the creation of a proper water system, the use of electric lights, and the introduction of
trams and
telephones. Image:Zentralbibliothek Zürich - Constantinople partie du coté de Stamboul - 4000006193.jpg|Stamboul (the old walled city), around 1896 File:(Street in Eyüp, a section of Constantinople, Turkey) (LOC) (4210466213).jpg|A street in
Eyüp in 1890s Image:Tophane Place Istanbul.jpg|Tophane in 1890s == Republic of Turkey ==