Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Turkey), it is a thousand-year-old capital. Before 330 AD, the name of the city was Byzantium. In 330 AD, the Emperor of the Roman Empire, Constantine I, established a new capital here, named "New Rome", and from then until 1922 AD, for nearly 1600 years, it has been the capital of different empires, which is basically no interval, which can be called the capital "professional household".
Roman
In 395 AD, the Roman Empire split into the Western and Eastern Roman Empires (also known as the Byzantine Empire, 395 AD – 1453 AD), and Constantinople became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. In 1204, the feudal lords and knights of western European countries launched the Fourth Crusade at the call of the Pope, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, Constantinople, was captured, the Crusaders established the Latin Empire (1204-1261), and Constantinople became the capital of the Latin Empire.
Crusades
After the fall of Constantinople by the Crusaders, the nobles of the Eastern Roman Empire established three "regimes in exile", namely the Empire of Nicene, the Empire of Trabzon, and the Absolutist monarchy of Epirus. In 1261 AD, the Forces of the Empire of Nicea recaptured Constantinople, the "Eastern Roman Empire" was restored, and Constantinople continued to serve as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire).
Latin Empire
In the 15th century, with the continuous encroachment of the Ottoman Empire (1299-1922) on the Eastern Roman Empire, the eastern Roman Empire was basically left with only Constantinople and its surrounding areas. By around 1440 AD, Constantinople, the isolated city of the Eastern Roman Empire, was basically under the "siege" of the Ottoman Empire.
Scope of the Early Ottoman Empire/
In 1453, the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II led 170,000 infantry and 320 ships to surround Constantinople from land and sea, after which the Ottoman army launched a fierce attack on Constantinople, Constantinople was captured, and later became the capital of the Ottoman Empire, the Ottomans called the city Istanbul.
Eastern Roman Empire in 1440
The Strait of Turkey (also known as the Black Sea Strait), the only natural passage connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea, is also the boundary between Asia and Europe, and includes three parts: the Bosphorus Strait (also known as the Istanbul Strait), the Marmara Sea and the Dana nier Strait (also known as the Canakkale Strait). In the 7th century BC, immigrants from Greece established a city called Byzantium on that small peninsula-shaped hill between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara. In the fourth century AD, the Roman Emperor Constantine I decided to build a new capital in the eastern part of the empire, he visited several places, and finally decided to establish a new capital in This obscure small city of Byzantium, after six years of construction from 324 to 330 AD, a large new capital was built.
Turkish Straits
Why did Constantine I want to build a new capital in the eastern part of the Roman Empire? The city of Rome is the birthplace of the ancient Roman Empire, the Roman Empire is the ancient Roman City as the center of the expansion of the empire formed, in the heyday of the Roman Empire, the area of more than 500 square kilometers, the Mediterranean Sea basically became the "inland sea" of the Roman Empire, its land across Europe, Asia and Africa, its heyday population of 70 million, accounting for about one-fifth of the world's population at that time. The city of Rome, on the other hand, was the political, economic and transportation center of the Roman Empire.
Constantinople
With the expansion of the Roman Empire, the differences between the eastern and western parts of the empire were clearly manifested. With the expansion of the Roman Empire, in addition to Latin, Greek also became one of the main languages, especially in the eastern part of the empire, Greek and Greek culture had a wide influence. Not only linguistically and culturally, but also economically, by the late Roman Empire, the resource poverty of the west was in stark contrast to the wealth of the east. It was clear that Constantine I's establishment of a new capital in the eastern part of the Roman Empire would strengthen effective control and control over the eastern part of the Roman Empire.
Peninsula of Asia Minor
So why did Constantine I choose to build a new capital in this part of Byzantium? In terms of large geographical scope, it is located in the eastern part of the Roman Empire and later the central area of the Eastern Roman Empire, which at its peak reached more than 3.5 million square kilometers, also spanning three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa. The western Asia Minor Peninsula in Asia, greece and the Thracian plains were the core strategic areas of the Eastern Roman Empire and important population concentrations, as well as important agricultural areas, and Constantinople was in this core strategic area.
istanbul
Overland, it was the meeting point of the Egnadia Avenue, an important military avenue of the Roman Empire, with the military roads of Asia Minor. In terms of sea routes, the Golden Horn north of Constantinople is a natural harbor, since ancient times it has been a gathering of merchant ships, trade is developed, the Turkish Strait is the only natural passage connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, whether it is the navy of the Eastern Roman Empire, or later the navy of the Ottoman Empire, from here, to the black sea coastal area in the north, to the mediterranean coastal area in the south, especially in the eastern Mediterranean region, there is a considerable deterrent and radiation.
From a small geographical extent: the narrowest part of the Bosphorus, the waterway north of Constantinople, is only more than 700 meters wide, and the narrowest part of the Dardanelles in the south is only 1.2 kilometers wide, and their navies can easily and effectively block these two entrances and exits, whether it is the Eastern Roman Empire or the later Ottoman Empire. Topographically, Constantinople and its surroundings are located on small hills on relatively high terrain, commanding the Thracian plains to the west.
Constantinople in 1572
In addition, when the Roman Empire built Constantinople, it built a tall wall around the city in all directions, and later after continuous construction and repair, under the siege of the walls of more than ten meters high and countless city towers, Constantinople was like a copper wall and an iron wall, which could effectively cope with attacks from land and sea. For thousands of years, Constantinople was rarely captured. This is also one of the reasons why in 1453 AD, the effective territorial scope of the Eastern Roman Empire was basically only under the isolated city of Constantinople, and the Eastern Roman Empire army in Constantinople still dared to face the Ottoman Empire's attack head-on.
Territory at the height of the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire roughly covered and surpassed the original Eastern Roman Empire in terms of territory, and the Ottoman Empire, which was headquartered in the peninsula of Asia Minor, naturally made Constantinople its capital the same choice. Located in the southeast of the European continent, this city was the largest city in Europe from the mid-4th century to the early 13th century AD. Later, Istanbul's urban area expanded to the Asian part on the east coast of the Bosphorus, becoming a large city spanning Europe and Asia, and is still the economic, cultural, and transportation center of Turkey today.
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