What is Constantinople?
[[File:Byzantine Constantinople.png|right|thumb|300px|Map of Constantinople. [http://www.unc.edu/awmc/downloads/connorConstLblMed.jpg Detailed map] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311012145/http://www.unc.edu/awmc/downloads/connorConstLblMed.jpg |date=2007-03-11 }}.]] '''Constantinople''' ({{lang-el|Κωνσταντινούπολις|translit=Kōnstantinoúpolis}}; {{Lang-la|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]]. == History == For centuries the city was not very large, and was called [[Byzantium]]. In the 4th century, [[List of Roman emperors|Roman emperor]] [[Constantine the Great]] made Byzantium the capital of the Roman Empire and renamed it to '''Constantinople'''. In the 13th century, Constantinople was [[Sack of Constantinople|looted and captured]] by [[Crusades|crusaders]] during the [[Fourth Crusade]]. The crusaders created the [[Latin Empire]] (1204{{Endash}}1261), with Constantinople as the capital city. In 1261, the [[Empire of Nicaea]] successfully restored the Byzantine Empire, under the rule of the [[Palaiologos|Palaiologos dynasty]]. In 1453 the [[Ottoman sultan]] [[Mehmed II|Mehmed the Conqueror]] [[Fall of Constantinople|captured]] Constantinople. The city was renamed [[Istanbul]] and became the capital of the [[Ottoman Empire]] (1453{{Endash}}1922). Over time, the city's short name in {{Lang-grc-gre|Πόλις|Pólis|city}} became the name [[Istanbul]]. This name became the city's official name in 1930, during the government of [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]]. ==Related pages== * [[Istanbul]] == Other websites == * [http://www.pallasweb.com/pantokrator/ Monuments of Byzantium] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060218051306/http://www.pallasweb.com/pantokrator/ |date=2006-02-18 }} - Pantokrator Monastery of Constantinople * [http://www.pallasweb.com/deesis/ Mosaics of Hagia Sophia] - T