Golden Horn

Overlooking the Golden Horn with the Galata Bridge in the background

The Golden Horn ( Turkish Haliç ) is a 7 km long bay of the Bosphorus in Istanbul. It limits together with the Sea of ​​Marmara to the south located from him peninsula, which was the original place of settlement of Greek colonists, when they founded around 660 BC, Byzantion. For the history of Istanbul the Haliç is of utmost importance. It separates the European part into a southern and northern area. The southern part is located between the Sea of ​​Marmara and the Golden Horn peninsula with the historic core of the city, so the districts of Fatih and Eminönü, where westward, extends beyond the old city walls Eyüp. North of the Golden Horn are the adjoining districts of Galata. The neighborhoods that border directly on the Golden Horn are Ayvansaray where the Blachernenpalast stood, Fener, Çarşamba in the south; north of the Golden Horn are the European-influenced districts Beyoğlu and Beşiktaş, where the last Sultan's Palace, the Ciragan Palace is located.

History

Byzantine Empire

340/339 BC Philip II of Macedon besieged Byzantium; he built a first bridge across the Golden Horn for his troops.

During the Byzantine Empire the Golden Horn was the most important harbor of the capital Constantinople Opel. Walls along the shoreline protected the city from Seeangriffen. In addition, the entrance to the Golden Horn left block against enemy ships with a strong iron chain. She was pulled from the sea wall to the chain house on the north side of the bay.

The name Golden Horn has its origin in the oversized splendor with which presented the ruler of the Roman and later the Eastern Roman Empire its power and wealth on display. On the peninsula south of the horn of the Imperial Palace, Hippodrome ( horse racing track ) and many other government buildings, all of which were equipped with extravagant splendor. Were The widespread use of gold has led to the name.

The wall on the Golden Horn was reinforced several times in the 7th and 8th centuries in the face of the Arab sieges. For a first test it was 626 in the attack of the Persians and Avars, which succeeded the imperial fleet to ten days to repel the invading on dugout canoes in the Golden Horn Slavic auxiliaries. In the north of the Golden Horn, where the Avars had erupted, Emperor Heraclius close the walls and expand the hilly area fort -like. There, the Blachernenviertel arose. Overall, the walls were about 20 km long.

Anastasios II ( 713-715 ) enhanced agricultural and Seemauern on. All residents who could prove no three year's supply of grain, the city had to leave. For the first time found the necklace mentioned, with which you tried to seal off the Golden Horn. A total of three times, serving as a barrier chain was overcome. In the 10th century the Kievan Rus could drag their boats over land, near Galata put back into the water and came in as the horn. The Byzantine Empire received the attacker with the Greek fire and defeated them.

To ensure the supply of goods, ports were rebuilt on the coast of the Golden Horn and the Sea of ​​Marmara off or on. 1082 received the Venetians on the south side of the Golden Horn has its own quarters, 1111 the Pisans, the Genoese in 1155 finally.

On April 13, 1204 during the Fourth Crusade, Venetian ships able to break the chain with a kind of battering ram and so enter into the city. Three -eighths of the capital fell while at Venice, which meant that everything fell into Venice between Central Street ( Mese ) and the Golden Horn. Emperor Baldwin took over the Grand Imperial Palace, his brother Henry went to Blachernenpalast. After Baldwin had already fallen in Bulgarian captivity in 1205, was his brother and successor to the Golden Horn. With the recovery of the capital in 1261, the Venetians lost their economic and political base in the city.

Instead, given the allied with Byzantium Genoese in 1267, a quarter in the district of Pera (today Beyoğlu ), on the northern side of the Golden Horn. Despite imperial ban they fortify the city 1307 1348 they built -. Again against the imperial will - a large tower on the top of the hill, which has been preserved under strong changes until today. Venice could take decades to regain his quarters, but lost the city during the 14th century considerable economic importance.

Ottoman Empire

1453 succeeded Sultan Mehmed II the tactics of the Kievan Rus, the conquest of the city. After the conquest settled mainly Greeks, Jews, Italians and other non-Muslims along the horn. The Topkapi Palace was the seat of the court, so that the policy focus again sparked by Blachernenquartier the Golden Horn. Thus began a decades a decline of imperial palaces and of the great Italian neighborhoods, but attracted many Greeks in the neighborhood southeast of Fener Blachernenquartiers. They called the Phanar district, and after this the Phanariots are named, whereby a group of wealthy and influential noble families meant that in the Ottoman Empire of the 17th/18th. Century formed the upper class of the district.

A major earthquake followed by a tsunami destroyed on September 10, 1509 more than a thousand houses. Four to five thousand people died, 10,000 were injured. The walls of Galata were damaged, as was the tower above the city. The walls around the shipyards collapsed. The magnitude of the earthquake was estimated to be close to 8.0, the height of the waves to more than 6 m.

Nevertheless, the capital of the empire of the Ottomans recovered rapidly, especially under Sulayman I ( 1520-1566 ). The exchange of goods took place in the markets, so especially in the Great Covered Bazaar and the Golden Horn, a commercial structure that had taken over the Ottomans from the Byzantines. In Galata existed between Karaköy and Kasımpaşa also a very lively market. It remained largely intact after 1453 and the population is not migrated. Therefore, it was also the preferred place of residence added later Europeans, the familiar milieu, languages ​​and cultures vorfanden here. In addition to that there were magazines and shops, but also the Ottoman military facilities on the Golden Horn, which are located there until today. The ships came in Tersane, the large shipyard in Kasımpaşa, and weapons originated in Tophane, which gave its name to the district.

1812 met a severe plague the city, which cost about 150,000 inhabitants, is the life, 1836 was followed by another epidemic, in which 80,000 people died. Nevertheless, the city continued to grow and in 1913 counted more than one million inhabitants. From the 17th century there was a considerable influx of Armenians from all areas of the empire. Middle of the 19th century already lived more than 220,000 Armenians in Constantinople Opel, which helped shape the image of the city with its own culture.

Turkey

The Galata Bridge, built in 1836, connects the Old Town with the districts of Galata and Pera ( formerly known as Pera ). Two other bridges, the Atatürk Bridge and the Haliç Bridge, the horn cross in the upper part of the bay. İstanbul by the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits was occupied after the First World War by the Allies; Greece was planning the reconquest of the city, but suffered a severe defeat, which had the expulsion of Greeks from Turkey, with the exception of Istanbul consequence. 1923, heavily influenced by the Greeks district Tatavla or Tataulon in Kurtuluş (liberation) was renamed Istanbul lost its status as the capital of Turkey in Ankara. In September 1955 came to a pogrom in Istanbul, in consequence of the Greeks practically disappeared entirely from Istanbul. The population rose from a low of 680,000 in 1927 again to 1.3 million in 1955 - despite evictions. The influx mainly from Asian regions increased after 1980 by leaps and bounds, until 1985, the population doubled to about 5.5 million.

Until the 1980s, the Golden Horn was an industrial dump. Since the cleansing, it is one of the tourist attractions in Istanbul. At the end of the horn theme park is Miniatürk. Another attraction is the Aynalikavak Palace. Today the Golden Horn is inhabited on both sides and there are parks with promenades along the shore. The Istanbul Chamber of Commerce has its seat there

1998 saw the Haliç University with the Faculties of Arts, Medicine, Business Administration, Engineering, Maintenance and sports schools, a Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture and the Institute of Health Sciences.