GalataGalata is the former name of the Karaköy neighbourhood in Istanbul, which is located at the northern shore of the Golden Horn. The district is connected to the historic Fatih district by several bridges that cross the Golden Horn, most notably the Galata Bridge. The medieval citadel of Galata was a colony of the Republic of Genoa between 1273 and 1453. The famous Galata Tower was built by the Genoese in 1348 at the northernmost and highest point of the citadel. Galata is now a quarter within the district of Beyoğlu in Istanbul.
KadıköyKadıköy (ˈkadɯcøj), known in classical antiquity and during the Roman and Byzantine eras as Chalcedon (Χαλκηδών), is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 25 km2, and its population is 483,064 (2022). It is a large, populous, and cosmopolitan area in the Asian side of Istanbul, on the northern shore of the Sea of Marmara. It partially faces the historic city centre of Fatih on the European side of the Bosporus.
Porphyry (geology)Porphyry (ˈpɔrfəri ) is any of various decorative granites or igneous rocks with coarse-grained crystals such as feldspar or quartz dispersed in a fine-grained silicate-rich, generally aphanitic matrix or groundmass. The larger crystals are called phenocrysts. In its non-geologic, traditional use, the term porphyry usually refers to the purple-red form of this stone, valued for its appearance, but other colours of decorative porphyry are also used such as "green", "black" and "grey".
Suspension bridgeA suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridges, which lack vertical suspenders, have a long history in many mountainous parts of the world. Besides the bridge type most commonly called suspension bridges, covered in this article, there are other types of suspension bridges.
TanzimatThe Tanzimat (tanziˈmat; تنظيمات, see nizam) was a period of reform in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Gülhane Hatt-ı Şerif in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. The Tanzimat era began with the purpose, not of radical transformation, but of modernization, desiring to consolidate the social and political foundations of the Ottoman Empire. It was characterised by various attempts to modernise the Ottoman Empire and to secure its territorial integrity against internal nationalist movements and external aggressive powers.
BosporusThe Bosporus Strait (ˈbɒspərəs,_ˈbɒsfərəs, ; Βόσπορος, bós.po.ros; İstanbul Boğazı, 'Istanbul strait', colloquially Boğaz) or Bosphorus Strait is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul in northwestern Turkey that connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It forms part of the continental boundary between Asia and Europe, and divides Turkey by separating Anatolia from Thrace. It is the world's narrowest strait used for international navigation.
Ottoman CaliphateThe caliphate of the Ottoman Empire (hilâfet makamı) was the claim of the heads of the Turkish Ottoman dynasty to be the caliphs of Islam in the late medieval and the early modern era. During the period of Ottoman expansion, Ottoman rulers claimed caliphal authority after the conquest of Mamluk Egypt by sultan Selim I in 1517, which bestowed the title of Defender of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina upon him and strengthened the Ottoman claim to caliphate in the Muslim world.
Nika riotsThe Nika riots (Στάσις τοῦ Νίκα), Nika revolt or Nika sedition took place against Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in Constantinople over the course of a week in 532 AD. They are often regarded as the most violent riots in the city's history, with nearly half of Constantinople being burned or destroyed and tens of thousands of people killed. The ancient Roman and Byzantine empires had well-developed associations, known as demes, which supported the different factions (or teams) to which competitors in certain sporting events belonged, especially in chariot racing.
DardanellesThe Dardanelles (dɑːrdəˈnɛlz, ; Çanakkale Boğazı, Δαρδανέλλια), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli (after the Gallipoli peninsula), and as the Hellespont (ˈhɛlᵻspɒnt, ; Ἑλλήσποντος) in Classical Antiquity, is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey that forms part of the continental boundary between Asia and Europe and separates Asian Turkey from European Turkey. Together with the Bosporus, the Dardanelles forms the Turkish Straits.
Walls of ConstantinopleThe Walls of Constantinople (Τείχη της Κωνσταντινουπόλεως) are a series of defensive stone walls that have surrounded and protected the city of Constantinople (today Istanbul in Turkey) since its founding as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Constantine the Great. With numerous additions and modifications during their history, they were the last great fortification system of antiquity, and one of the most complex and elaborate systems ever built.
