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| Istanbul (Turkish:
İstanbul) is
Turkey's
largest city, and its cultural and economic center. It is located on the
Bosphorus
strait, and encompasses the natural harbor known as the
Golden Horn (Turkish:
Haliç), in the northwest of the country. Istanbul extends both on the
European
and on the Asian
side of the Bosphorus, and is thereby the only metropolis in the world which
is on two continents. Its 2000 Census population is 8,803,468 (city proper)
and 10,018,735 (metropolitan area), making it, by some counts, one of the
largest cities in Europe. Census bureau estimate of
July 20,
2005 is
11,322,000 for the metropolitan area. Istanbul is located at 41° N 28° E,
and is the capital of
Istanbul Province. The city was officially known as
Constantinople until 1930 when its name was changed to Istanbul. Due to
its three-thousand-year old history it is considered as one of the oldest
still existing cities of the world. Istanbul has been chosen as the
European Capital of Culture for 2010. Istanbul encloses the southern Bosphorus which divides it into a western, European and into an eastern, Asiatic area. The Golden Horn, a Bosphorus bay running to the west, separates the European part into a southern, between Marmara Sea and Golden Horn lying peninsula which is the historical Istanbul and the northern quarter to the historical Galata. Both to the west, to the north and the east Istanbul exceeds far over historical quarters. In the southeast the Prince's Islands belonging to Istanbul lie. The city boundaries cover a surface of 1.538,77 km². The Metropol region Istanbul (= province Istanbul) has a surface of 5,220 km². Istanbul has two international airports: The larger is the Ataturk International in Yesilkoy, 24 kilometers from the city center which used to be at the edge of the European part but now inside of the city, the more modern is the airport Sabiha Gokcen, 20 kilometers east of Asiatic side and 45 kilometers eastern from the European city centre.
Source: Wikipedia |
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