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Constantinople [a] (see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman empires between its consecration in 330 until 1930, when it was renamed to Istanbul.
The presence in Constantinople of the imperial court, numerous secular and ecclesiastical nobles, and other wealthy patrons and supporters of the arts contributed to the development of medicine, architecture, construction and closely related mechanics, as well as literature (especially poetry and hagiography), music, theater, arts and crafts ...
The city, known alternatively in Ottoman Turkish as Ḳosṭanṭīnīye (قسطنطينيه after the Arabic form al-Qusṭanṭīniyyah القسطنطينية) or Istanbul, while its Christian minorities continued to call it Constantinople, as did people writing in French, English, and other European languages, was the capital of the Ottoman ...
A few decades after the recapture of Constantinople in 1282, the Empire's population was in the range of 3–5 million; by 1312, the number had dropped to 2 million. [200] By the time the Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople, there were only 50,000 people in the city, which was one-tenth of its population in its prime. [201]
On May 29, 1453, the city was conquered by the Ottoman Turks, and again became the capital of a powerful state, the Ottoman Empire. The Turks called the city "Istanbul" (although it was not officially renamed until 1930); the name derives from the Greek phrase "στην πόλη", which means "to the city".
The Ottoman capital was moved to Constantinople due to its imperial history and strategic location [28] and the city was repopulated and thrived under Mehmed and his successors. [28] Many Greek aristocrats were promoted to elite government positions, [ 29 ] including that of grand vizier . [ 22 ]
They saved the city, and the Byzantine Empire with it, during sieges by the Avar–Sassanian coalition, Arabs, Rus', and Bulgars, among others. The fortifications retained their usefulness after the advent of gunpowder siege cannons, which played a part in the city's fall to Ottoman forces in 1453 but were not able to breach its walls.
According to Pliny the Elder Byzantium was first known as Lygos. [1] The origin and meaning of the name are unknown. Zsolt suggested it was etymologically identitical to the Greek name for the Ligures and derived from the Anatolian ethnonym Ligyes, [2] a tribe that was part of Xerxes' army [3] and appeared to have been neighbors to the Paphlagonians. [4]