Geographical Location of Istanbul |
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The location of Istanbul could be placed in a circle, lying roughly at the intersection of the 41 st parallel and the 29th meridian. A number of the world's important cities also lie on, or near the same parallel-cities such as Peking Salonika, Naples Madrid and New York. İstanbul is the place where the two continents Europe and Asia. It was founded at the point where the Black Sea is linked to the Mediterranean and the islands by the Sea of Marmara. Istanbul is where roads link East and West, where the sea brings North and South together. This geographical feature of the city is further stressed by the presence of the Golden Horn, which throughout history has served as a natural harbor for ships of all kinds. Istanbul was able to develop into three separate cities. The first of these is the historic part within the old city walls which is triangular in shape; this part of the city has a very ancient history. It has seen many different stages of development, and could rightly be described as its nucleus. Galata, which lies on the north bank of the Golden Horn, developed as a city in its own right, and is the nucleus of the many districts that have grown up around it during the past century. Üsküdar was founded on the Asian Side of the Bosphorus and, until the arrival of the Turks, was an unimportant settlement; it resembles a purely Turkish provincial township which has blossomed just outside of İstanbul, like a second city. During the time of the Ottoman Empire, the three parts of the city were referred to as Bilâd-ı selâse. It has been established that there were no during the Early and Middle ages. If the few coastal villages which lay close to the city could be settlements of any importance on either side of the Bosphorus regarded as exceptions, then examples of habitation dating from the Byzantine period consist of a few isolated monasteries lying on the coast, or on the hillsides overlooking the Bosphorus. After the advance of the OttomanTurks it is probable that they were abandoned. Both shores of the Bosphorus experienced their main development during the Turkish period, when villages sprang up at intervals along both sides, and a large number of waterside residences adorned the coastline between them. It was in the l9th century that a number of palaces were built along the Bosphorus, this added even more to its importance. It is a great pity that in our day and age, a blind eye has been turned to the construction of a number of ugly buildings that have spoiled the landscape of this waterway. Many of the old waterside residences have been demolished. A number of facilities such as coal yards and oil storage tanks, factories and workshops, which are not in keeping with their surroundings, have been built along the shores of this natural channel, which is surely one of the most beautiful places in the world, and have done a great deal to detract from the beauty of this “promenade”. If we add to this damage, all that has been done in the past, the shanty towns that have also sprung up with incredible rapidity in recent years, then there is no doubt that the shore of the Bosphorus has lost much of its beauty. The law that was put into action in 1985 to save the Bosphorus deserves to be criticized as far as its terms and its enforcement are concerned. |
