The old city is mainly located on the Bosporus strait, which separates Europe from Asia and the Black Sea from the Marmara Sea. However, the modern city is much larger and covers both European and Asian sides of the Bosporus. Famous tourist places include Sariyer, Eyüp and Taksim on the European side, and Beykoz, Üsküdar, Kadiköy, Moda, Bostanci and Adalar (the Princes Islands) on the Asian side. Although Istanbul is no longer the capital of Turkey, it is still the major city in Turkey's industry, commerce and culture and the most important import and export center.
For the history of Istanbul pre-1930s, see the articles at Byzantium and Constantinople.
On November 20, 2003, two bombs exploded in Istanbul, destroying the Turkish HQ of HSBC Holdings, a bank headquartered in London. The second bomb destroyed the British Consulate, killing the Consulate General, Robert Short. The attacks came only weeks after suicide blasts at two synagogues in the city.
For Istanbul cymbals, see Istanbul cymbals.
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It is sometimes said that the name Istanbul comes from the Greek words stin poli which means "at the City". This is a historical myth. The name is merely a Turkish contraction of Constantinoupolis. The sound rendered by "i" is prepended by the virtue of the language. Many Turkic languages forbid certan combinations of consonants at the beginning of the word, hence certain borrowed words asquire a vowel chosen according to the rule of vowel harmony. In this way Smyrna became Izmir and Nicaea became Iznik, just as "machine" became "amashina" in e.g., Abkhaz language. The intermediate form Stamboul was commonly used in the 19th century.
Etymology of the name
Places to visit
Airports