Constantinople

Constantinople (Greek: Κωνσταντινούπολις, Constantinopolis, or Πόλις, Polis) was the capital of the Roman Empire (330-395), the Byzantine/East Roman Empire (395-1204 and 1261-1453), the Latin Empire (1204-1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453-1922). It was officially renamed to its modern Turkish name Istanbul in 1930 as part of Atatürk's Turkish national reforms. This name was already in common use among the city's Turkish inhabitants for nearly five centuries. Strategically located between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the point where Europe meets Asia, Byzantine Constantinople had been the capital of a Christian empire, successor to ancient Greece and Rome. Throughout the Middle Ages Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city, known as the Queen of Cities (Vasileuousa Polis).

The city had many names throughout history. Depending on the background of its rulers, it often had several different names at any given time; among the most common were Byzantium (Greek: Byzantion), New Rome (Greek: Νέα Ῥώμη, Latin: Nova Roma), although this was an ecclesiastical rather than an official name, Constantinople and Stamboul (see etymology).