About Istanbul

 


Istanbul is a fascinating city, built on two Continents, divided by the Bosporus Strait. This is one of the greatest cities in the world, where you can see a modern western city combined with a traditional eastern city. It’s a melting pot of many civilizations and different people. The European Union also announced Istanbul as the 2010 European Capital of Culture.
 
From the foundation of Byzantium in the 7th century BC until today, Istanbul has always played an important role in the history of humanity in this part of the world. Everybody wanted to gain control of this area because of its strategic location; Empires were born here on the ashes of previous ones.
Since the Republic in 1923, Istanbul has continued to grow, and today, it has boosted its population by almost 16 million people living in this spread-out city. This makes Istanbul the largest city in Turkey and one of the biggest cities in the world.