Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
28 May 1453 the final attack began and by the evening of the 29th the Turks were in com-
plete control of the city. The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, died
fighting on the walls.
Seeing himself as the successor to great emperors such as Constantine and Justinian,
the 21-year-old conqueror at once began to rebuild and repopulate the city. Aya Sofya was
converted to a mosque; a new mosque, the Fatih (Conqueror) Camii, was built on the
fourth hill; and the Eski Saray (Old Palace) was constructed on the third hill, followed by
a new palace on Sarayburnu a few years later. The city walls were repaired and a new
fortress, Yedikule, was built. İstanbul, as it began to be known, became the new adminis-
trative, commercial and cultural centre of the ever-growing Ottoman Empire.
Under Mehmet's rule, Greeks who had fled the city were encouraged to return and an
imperial decree calling for resettlement was issued; Muslims, Jews and Christians all took
up his offer and were promised the right to worship as they pleased. The Genoese, who
had fought with the Byzantines, were pardoned and allowed to stay in Galata, though the
fortifications that surrounded their settlement were torn down. Only Galata Tower was al-
lowed to stand.
Mehmet died in 1481 and was succeeded by Beyazıt II (r 1481-1512), who was ousted
by his son, the ruthless Selim the Grim (r 1512-20), famed for executing seven grand viz-
iers and numerous relatives during his relatively short reign.
The building boom that Mehmet kicked off was continued by his successors, with Sü-
leyman the Magnificent (r 1520-66) and his architect Mimar Sinan being responsible for
an enormous amount of construction. The city was endowed with buildings commissioned
by the sultan and his family, court and grand viziers; these include the city's largest and
grandest mosque, the Süleymaniye (1550). Later sultans built mosques and a series of
palaces along the Bosphorus, among them Dolmabahçe.
However, what had been the most civilised city on earth in the time of Süleyman even-
tually declined along with the Ottoman Empire, and by the 19th century İstanbul had lost
much of its former glory. Nevertheless, it continued to be the 'Paris of the East' and, to af-
firm this, the first great international luxury express train, the famous Orient Express, con-
nected İstanbul and the French capital in 1883.
The post-WWI campaign by Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) for national salvation and inde-
pendence was directed from Ankara and after the Republic was founded, the new govern-
ment was set up in that city. Robbed of its status as the capital of a vast empire, İstanbul
lost much of its wealth and atmosphere. The city's streets and neighbourhoods decayed,
its infrastructure was neither maintained nor improved and virtually no economic develop-
ment occurred.
