Constantinople

About

Constantinople, the modern Istanbul, was one of the capitals of the Roman Empire and the capital of the Byzantine Empire from 330 until its takeover by the Ottoman Empire in 1453. After this, it continued to function as the Ottoman capital Konstantiniyye until the abolition of the Ottoman sultanate in 1922. It was located at the core of the modern city of Istanbul, on a peninsula at the southeastern tip of Thrace in Europe; with the Bosporus strait and the ancient cities of Chalcedon and Chrysopolis in Bithynia, Anatolia (Asia Minor) to the east; the Golden Horn and the citadel of Galata (Pera) to the north; the Sea of Marmara to the south; and the Princes' Islands to the southeast.

Constantinople was founded on the site of the existing city of Byzantium in 324, during the reign of Constantine the Great, initially as New Rome (Latin: Nova Roma). In 330 it became the new eastern capital of the Roman Empire. The ascendancy of Constantinople marks the empire's "Byzantine" era.