History UsefulNotes / Istanbul

This is an ancient city of [[IHaveManyNames many names]]. To the Greeks it was Byzantium (its original name). To the Romans it was Constantinople [[note]]However, use of the name Constantinople stuck for some Turkophobic westerners up until the 20th Century as well as in Modern Greek (even in colloquial Modern Greek, it's either "Stamboul" or "Konstantinoupoli")[[/note]]. To the [[UsefulNotes/TheVikingAge Northmen]] who served as [[HiredGuns Hired Axes]] it was Miklagard ([[MegaCity "Big City"]]). To its longtime UsefulNotes/{{Armenia}}n minority, it was Bolis. And to the [[UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}} Turks]] who now possess it, it is Istanbul.[[note]]Though this is [[NewerThanTheyThink a more recent development than most people think]]. The name "Istanbul" has been around for a very long time, it wasn't until the 18th century that it became official. For nearly 300 years the Ottoman Turks officially called the city either "Ḳosṭanṭīnīye" (the direct translation of Constantinople into Turkish) or "Rûm" (Turkish for Rome, reflecting Constantinople's status as "Second Rome" and the Ottomans' belief that [[MightMakesRight by right of conquest]] they were the successors to the Roman Empire.[[/note]] It was built on the Bosphorus strait between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean; legend has it that its first settlers saw a previous settlement nearby and were amazed at how greatly they missed the boat. Istanbul does indeed have an ideal site being at the crossroads of several travel routes; indeed in some ways it is ''too'' ideal: every prince and his cousin wanted this city and it has endured ''seventeen'' sieges in its history. Fortunately its fortifications were a wonder of Medieval military architecture being something of a man-made cliff of insanity, so the city has endured only two [[RapePillageAndBurn sacks]]; the Fourth Crusade, and the Ottoman Conquest in 1453.

While there are several countries that can claim the title of "transcontinental" (Turkey included), Istanbul has the distinction of being the only transcontinental ''city'' in the world,[[note]] Transcontinental if you're Eurocentric that is (which everyone is, no matter how hard they try to deny it). Europe and Asia, after all, never have a clear geographical distinction.[[/note]] though it originally wasn't built to be that way; the Ancient Greeks built the old city of Byzantium only on the European side of the strait. Only when it was reconstituted as Constantinople during the Roman period did it eventually expand into Anatolia (which in antiquity was the original, letter for letter, "Asia". What people now have in mind when they think of Asia received individual names per regions, e.g. Persia, Hindus, Palaestina...). This city is also proverbial for its [[GambitPileup Gambit Pileups]] and is the only city in the world to actually be an adjective for such things, as it is after all, very [[CityOfSpies "byzantine"]]. This tradition continued into modern times and as late as UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (and no doubt later) it was an important espionage battleground. It is nevertheless the home of some 14 million people, being the largest European city (yes, ''European''; most of Istanbul is located in Eastern Thrace) and the fifth largest Muslim-majority metropolitan area in the world (after [[UsefulNotes/{{Indonesia}} Jakarta]], UsefulNotes/{{Karachi}}, UsefulNotes/{{Cairo}}, and [[UsefulNotes/{{Bangladesh}} Dhaka]]).

* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'', along with its StealthSequel ''Manga/UQHolder'' has a few flashback segments that set in the city.