Constantinople
Constantinople -- modern Istanbul -- was the capital of the
Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and later the Republic of
Turkey.
Constantinople, situated between East and West, was for many
Europeans emblematic of the entire Eastern world. The city has
been occupied for over 2,500 years, although the modern city was
Roman in origin. Early in the fourth century, the Emperor
Constantine named Constantinople the capital of his newly
Christian empire. After the fifth-century fall of Rome, however,
Istanbul was subject to repeated invasions and conquests by
Persians, Arabs, Bulgars, Russians, and Western European
Christians in the Fourth Crusade. In 1453, the city was taken by
Mehmed II and made the new capital of the Ottoman Empire, a
position it held until after the First World War.
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