Original photo by Osman Köycü/ Unsplash |
Istanbul, Turkey, is located in both Europe and Asia. | Istanbul (formerly known as Constantinople, and before that as Byzantium) isn't just the biggest city in Turkey. At 15.4 million people, it's the most populous city in all of Europe, and its location — between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean — has helped to make it one of the most famous cities in history, not to mention the capital of both the former Byzantine and Ottoman empires. (The capital of modern-day Turkey, incidentally, is the inland city of Ankara.)
In addition to its more than 2,500-year-old history and fascinating architecture (including the Hagia Sophia, built as a church in the sixth century CE), Istanbul is notable for being split between two continents, Europe and Asia, by a thin ribbon of water called the Bosporus. Around one-third of Istanbul's residents live in Asia — east of the Bosporus — while the rest live in Europe. The European portion of Turkey is also known as East Thrace or Turkish Thrace (after the ancient Thracian tribes that inhabited the region), while the Asian region is sometimes called Anatolia. Istanbul itself is stitched together across the Bosporus with multiple bridges, two underwater tunnels, and lots of ferries. The newest addition, the Eurasia tunnel, opened on December 20, 2016, and allows cars to travel between the two continents in just 15 minutes. |
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| Istanbul is the only transcontinental city in the world. | |
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Istanbul is the only transcontinental city in the world. | | |
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