Istanbul

Istanbul is a city in northwestern Turkey on both shores of the Bosphorus, the strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara. It lies on two continents, Europe and Asia, linked by bridges over the strait and by the Marmaray rail tunnel beneath it.

Greek settlers from Megara founded Byzantium on the European shore in the 7th century BC. Emperor Constantine made it the capital of the Roman Empire in 330 and renamed it Constantinople, and Justinian built Hagia Sophia there in the 6th century. Sultan Mehmed II took the city in 1453 and made it the capital of the Ottoman Empire, which ruled from it until the early 20th century. Mimar Sinan, the chief architect of Suleiman the Magnificent, built the Süleymaniye Mosque on one of its hills in the 16th century. The Republic of Turkey moved its capital to Ankara in the 1920s, and Istanbul became the official name of the city in the 1930s.

Arçelik makes refrigerators and washing machines sold in Europe under the Beko brand and has its headquarters in the city. Ülker bakes biscuits and chocolate and belongs to Yıldız Holding, which also owns Godiva. Eczacıbaşı is known for its VitrA bathroom ceramics and its pharmaceuticals.

Hagia Sophia, with its great dome on four arches, served as a church, a mosque and a museum and became a mosque again in the 2020s. Topkapı Palace was the residence of the Ottoman sultans for nearly four centuries and now shows their treasury and the rooms of the harem. The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, called the Blue Mosque for the tiles of its interior, faces Hagia Sophia across a park. The Grand Bazaar, a covered market of vaulted lanes, has traded carpets, jewelry and leather since the 15th century.