Istanbul and Constantinople

Constantinople was a difficult city to conquer because it was one of the wealthiest cities in Europe. It was renowned for its power and splendour. Despite countless attacks, Constantinople stood firm and survived for over 1,000 years. Only the Ottomans managed to conquer Constantinople in 1453

Mehmend II, the sultan who besieged and conquered Constantinople, undertook the revitalisation of the city. He repaired the damaged infrastructure, began the construction of the Grand Bazaar, and built the sultan's residence, the Topkapı Palace. He urged of those who had fled the city during the siege to return, and settled Muslims, Jews, and Christians from other parts of of the Ottoman territories in the city.

Constantinople is today known as Istanbul, and has been ever since the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of Turkey (1922). It is located on both sides of the Bosporus Strait in Southeastern Europe.

It was conquered by Mehmet II of the Ottoman empire. It was the end of the Eastern Roman Empire.

The location of a civilization is an important prerequisite- so it is with Rome. If you looked at Rome on a map, you would see it is surrounded by mountains, jungles, and a turbulent sea on all sides. It is from this sheltered position that Rome springboarded to greatness. Remember, Hannibil of Charthage had a great deal of trouble crossing the Roman mountains. The story of the elephants is famous.

Both Rome and Constantinople had written laws. Emperor Justinian of Constantinople wrote the Corpus Julius Civilius which was based off the Roman written codes. Also Rome and Constantinople both practiced Christianity. Although Rome followed the Roman Catholicism and Constantinople followed the Eastern Orthodox Church, these are still from the same roots of the belief of Christianity. Also the idea of domes were used by both Rome and Constantinople. Rome had built the "Pantheon" and Constantinople built the Hagia Sophia. Emperor Justinian of Constantinople built the domes even bigger by using the quadrangle underneath the domes. Also both Rome and Constantinople were involved in trade and cultural diffusion with other countries.

ottoman empire

Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus was found Constantinople as the new capital of the roman empire. Constantine chooses Byzantium as the new capital of the Empire and renames it Constantinopolis.

Constantinople had pagan origins, but soon after the Edict of Milan, which established religious tolerance, the Christian Orthodox Faith started to become the main religion and lasted for over 1,000 years. After the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 AD, the main religion became Islam.

Rome had already ceased to be the capital of the empire under Diocletian, Constantine's predecessor. He created the tetrarchy (rule by four) which was a co-emeperorship with two senior emperors (Augusti) and two junior ones (Caesars). Each emperor had an imperial seat. The four capitals were: Nicomedia(modern Izmit in north-western Turkey) f Sirmium(modern Sremska Mitrovica, near Belgrade, in Serbia) Mediolanum(modern Milan in Italy) and AugustaTrevorum(modern Triers in Germany). What these cities had in common was that they were close or relatively close to the frontiers of the empire. The empire had been attacked many times and the purpose of having the capitals close to the frontiers was to improve their defence. Rome was too far from the frontiers. Constantine ended the tetrarchy and become the sole emperor by winning two civil wars. He decided to have his own imperial seat and designated Byzantium for this, He redeveloped it and renamed it after himself - Constantinople means city of Constantine.Constantinople was only some sixty miles west of Nicomedia.

The Cathedral is the Hagia Sophia -- pronounced ah-ya so-fee-a. (Greek Ἁγία Σοφία / Turkish Ayasofya)

Best known for being the first Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine reversed the persecution of his predecessor, Diocletian, and issued (with his co-emperor Licinius) the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious toleration throughout the empire. He thought that a new, utterly Christian capital should be established. Also, Constantine searched for revenge against some influential aristocratic families who posed a threat to his throne. Some historians believe that building Constantinople was merely to issue large taxes, mostly on aristocrats. Through blackmailing and torture, Constantine confiscated the property of aristocrasy and even wealthy plebs to finance the Building of his new city. Another thing. the city of Rome was losing its power because of barbarian attacks and political enimities and also the Sassanid Empire which caused trouble in the east. Constantinopole, built on the European shores of Bosporus became a military base against the Sassanids and the barbarians due to the mountainous land of Greece. It also became a vast trading center between the east and the east and will continue to be for thousand of years on.

There were several attempts by Muslim armies to conquer Constantinople before Ottoman Muslim Sultan Mehmet II el-Fatih (the Conqueror) overran the city's defenses in 1453. The Muslims were unable to conquer Constantinople in those attacks because of how well the city is fortified. The Old City of Constantinople is on a small peninsula and the city walls went right up to the water. This meant that no siege weaponry could be used on three sides of the city. Correspondingly, the only land-border of the city was extremely well-fortified and developed. Additionally, since the land border was west-facing, it would require the Muslims, who were generally coming from the east, to move around the city's north or south face and given the defenders of the city enough time to prepare an effective defense.

Yes, yes it was. Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople. (I highly doubt it will ever go back. Constantinople got the works, and it was no one's business but the Turks.)

On May 29th, 1453, Byzantium (Greek)- which was then Constantinople (Roman), was captured by the Turkish Sultan Mahmud II. then it became Constantinople.

The Latin Empire of Constantinople ruled from 1204 to 1261, when Michael VIII Palaiologos managed to reclaim the city from the Italians.

Religion was a major contributor to the Byzantine Empire Because it shaped the culture and the military. but on the the hand it also divided the nation because there were Christian's, Jews and Muslims a ticking time bomb I'd say.

In 330, Constantine declared the city the capital of the Roman Empire, and named it Constantinople, after himself. Constantine XI died while defending the city from the Ottomans on May 29, 1453. Immediately the name of the city was changed to Istanbul, and the city was declared the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

Istanbul became the capital of the Ottoman Empire in 1453.

It became the center of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Constantinople became the seat of Patriarch of Constantinople one of the four patriarchs of Orthodox Christianity (the others were the patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem). From the reign of Justinian the Great onward, the emperor , whose seat was Constantinople, were the supreme head of the Orthodox Church.

During the Middle Ages, Constantinople was attacked a number of times by both Christian and Muslim armies. It fell to crusaders of the Fourth Crusade in 1203, despite the fact that their doing so meant excommunication from the pope. In 1261, the Byzantine Greeks retook the city and reestablished it as the capital of the Byzantine Empire. It was finally taken by the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

Fish, bread and stuff they imported from India,China,and the lot....

In Constantinople it was very much of a city type environment. It was the center of many trade routes and that is why it was the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Not only was it the center of trade routes but Constantinople traded too. Then had ivory, silks, and furs. It was a very elegant city filled with riches! A French soldier said " One could not believe there was so rich a city in the whole world!" At one point Constantinople had around one million people living there! Also because it was a peninsula it was able to build an easy defense system. Constantinople had a large chain that was placed in the water to block intruders. They also built a huge wall, it covered all of the land around Constantinople so no one could get in without people knowing.

The main features are that its located in a cross road between Asia and Europe, it is surrounded by three sides of water its harbor could easily be guarded from attack, and it was 800 miles east of rome.

When the Emperor Constantine the Great moved the capital of the Roman Empire, from Rome to the Ancient Greek city of Byzantium, in 330 AD, he renamed it Constantinople (city of Constantine) and made it the new capital of the Roman Empire. Because there could not be two capital cities with the same name, he called Constantinople the New Rome (Nova Roma).

Think of Constantinople as the major city that followed Rome.It had greek coulture though most of the the byzantine empire's income came from Antioch and other eastern cities. Constaninople was the the major city of Europe until the late 11th century. It was the capital of the longest (in years) empire of Europe.