From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Constantinople
(
Greek
:
Κωνσταντινο?πολι?
,
romanized
:
K?nstantinoupolis
;
Latin
:
Constantinopolis
) was the
capital city
of the
Roman Empire
from 330 AD and later what historians called the
Byzantine Empire
. Constantinople was located in the
Bosporus
, the
strait
between the
Balkans
and
Asia Minor
.
For centuries the city was not very large, and was called
Byzantium
. In the 4th century,
Roman emperor
Constantine the Great
made Byzantium the capital of the Roman Empire and renamed it to
Constantinople
.
In the 13th century, Constantinople was
looted and captured
by
crusaders
during the
Fourth Crusade
. The crusaders created the
Latin Empire
(1204?1261), with Constantinople as the capital city. In 1261, the
Empire of Nicaea
successfully restored the Byzantine Empire, under the rule of the
Palaiologos dynasty
.
In 1453 the
Ottoman sultan
Mehmed the Conqueror
captured
Constantinople. The city was renamed
Istanbul
and became the capital of the
Ottoman Empire
(1453?1922).
Over time, the city's short name in
Greek
:
Π?λι?
Polis
'city' became the name
Istanbul
. This name became the city's official name in 1930, during the government of
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
.
Media related to
Constantinople
at Wikimedia Commons