Geography of Istanbul

A travel book that I read had a quotation by Stephen Kinzer that I relished: “Istanbul may or may not be the world’s most magnificent city, but is certainly the most magnificently situated.”


One of the reasons why Istanbul has been such an interest of mine over the years relates to it being the crossroads of the world. It literally sits in the middle between Europe and Asia. For example, my hotel The Erguvan, is in Europe with a view across the Bosporus Strait to Asia. The history symposium that I am attending is at a brand new university, Istanbul Sehir University, in Asia. I am literally community between continents, which I suppose is more common in Istanbul than just about any other place in the world.

Last week my World History class was studying the Byzantine Empire. As it works out October is the month when I typically teach about the Byzantine and the Ottoman Empires. The timing wasn’t just about my trip, but I like the coincidence. I asked my classes, why did Constantine move the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople? Hint: it wasn’t because it was named after him. I suppose that the best answers that I heard had to do with location. In all of my classes, the issue of trade was mentioned first.

Then as now Constantinople/Istanbul is a crucial area. It represents Europe’s gateway to the Middle East. This month, for example, Turkey is pushing harder than it has before for membership in the European Union. Turkey is a huge country with more than 70 million people. Istanbul alone has over 15 million people.
When people talk about visiting Istanbul, they think of the old city and all of the impressive monuments. Like any metropolis, however, Istanbul stretches far into the suburbs. I’ll see some of those coming from the airport, but really it’s like visiting New York City and sticking to Manhattan.

The city of Istanbul itself is divided by the Bosporus Strait into two halves: Asia and Europe. The European side is divided again by the Golden Horn, a narrow body of water. I will be traveling in all three parts of the city.

Driving in from the airport I saw huge neighborhoods outside of the city with tall apartment buildings like those in the Bronx. I suppose that is where the bulk of the population lives.