practical information booklet here. - ICSM 2012

Sultanahmet-Old City: Essentially Constantinople of Roman, Byzantine, and much of the Ottoman period,
this is where most of the famous historical sights of Istanbul are located
Galata: Housing many of the nightlife venues of the city, this district which includes Beyoğlu, Istiklal Street,
and Taksim Square has also its own share of sights and accommodation
New City: Main business district of the city, also home to many modern shopping malls, and districts such
as Elmadağ, Nişantaşı, and Etiler
Bosphorus: European bank of Bosphorus that is dotted by numerous palaces, parks, water-front mansions,
and bohemian neighborhoods
Golden Horn: Banks of Golden Horn, the estuary that separates European Side into distinctive districts.
Eyüp with an Ottoman ambience is located here
Princes’ Islands: An excellent getaway from the city, made up of an archipelago of nine car-free islands—
some of them small, some of them big—with splendid wooden mansions, verdant pine forests and
nice views—both on the islands themselves, and also on the way there
Asian Side: Eastern half of Istanbul, with lovely neighborhoods at the Marmara and Bosphorus coasts.
Western Suburbs: Western chunk of the European Side
Expanding the ancient Greek colony of
Byzantium by the order of the Roman Emperor
Constantine the Great, the imperial city
ofConstantinople was for nearly a thousand
years the last remaining outpost of the Roman
(later termed Eastern Roman or Byzantine)
Empire. It was finally conquered by the Ottoman
Sultan Mehmed II on May 29th, 1453, an event
sometimes used to mark the end of the Middle
Ages. It was the nerve center for military
campaigns that were to enlarge the Ottoman
Empire dramatically. By the mid 1500s, Istanbul,
with a population of almost half a million, was a
Istanbul is divided in three by the north-south
Bosphorus Strait (Istanbul Bogazi), the dividing
line between Europe and Asia, the estuary of the
Golden Horn (Haliç) bisecting the western part
and the Sea of Marmara (Marmara Denizi)
forming a boundary to the south. Most sights
are concentrated in the old city on the peninsula
History
Orientation
15
major cultural, political, and commercial center.
Ottoman rule continued until it was defeated in
WWI and Istanbul was occupied by the allies.
When the Republic of Turkey was born in 1923
after the War of Independence, Kemal Atatürk
moved its capital to the city of Ankara. However,
Istanbul has continued to expand dramatically;
today its population is approximately 14 million
and increases at an estimated 400,000
immigrants per year. Industry has expanded
even as tourism has grown. It continues to be a
city that creates its own history at the
intersection where both continents meet.
of Sultanahmet, to the west of the Bosphorus
between the Horn and the Sea. Across the Horn
to the north are Galata, Beyoğlu and Taksim, the
heart of modern Istanbul, while Kadıköy is the
major district on the comparatively less-visited
Anatolian side of the city. The Black Sea forms
the northern boundary of Istanbul.