The Eternal City: Constantinople to Istanbul

On this day many years ago, Constantinople was renamed Istanbul. To celebrate, let’s look at some other historic city name changes.

Constantinople and Istanbul: The Same City, Different Names

Once the Ancient Greek city of Byzantium, Constantinople came into existence when the Roman Emperor Constantine moved the capital of his Empire to the Bosporus strait. The city was subsequently renamed Constantinople in his honour. Today, Istanbul is the present-day capital of Turkey, and Constantinople was the capital of the former Byzantine Empire.

Constantinople, officially founded by Roman Emperor Constantine in 330, had a rich and storied history. In 1453, the city was captured by the Ottoman Turks under Mehmed II, marking the end of the Byzantine Empire. In 1930, modern Turkey changed the city's name from Constantinople to Istanbul.

As shown in the song “Istanbul Not Constantinople” from 1953, the transition from Constantinople to Istanbul has been a subject of discussion and even mockery. The song’s lyrics reflect the cultural shift during the 1930s as the city adopted its new name.

Understanding the Name Change

The reason for choosing Istanbul as the official name was to sound more Turkish. Despite this, the name 'Istanbul' doesn’t fully conform to Turkish linguistic rules, as it doesn’t follow the vowel harmony rule of Turkish. According to pure Turkish linguistic rules, it should be 'Istenbül' or 'Istanbl' if it were a pure Turkish word.

However, the name 'Istanbul' sounds less un-Turkish than other alternatives like Constantinople or Tzarigrad. This change was part of a broader nationalization process in Turkey. In the 1920s and 1930s, many city names were altered to sound more Turkish. For example, South Tyrol's German name was banned and replaced by the Italian-sounding 'Venezia Tridentina.' Similarly, Reza Shah Pahlavi officially changed the name of his country from Persia to Iran in 1935.

Nationalizing City Names

The Surname Law of 1934, which Turkified surnames, was part of a larger movement to nationalize city names. This was in line with the spirit of the time to promote cultural assimilation and national integration. The same process of renaming occurred in Italy in 1926 with Mussolini's law to Italianize the entire Italian population.

Today, Istanbul is a vibrant city with rich cultural heritage and a fascinating history. It remains the same city, Constantinople was simply reborn as Istanbul, a name that has stood the test of time and continues to captivate the world.

Are you planning a trip to Istanbul? Or perhaps you're simply curious about this city's fascinating history? Whichever the case, you'll find that the city is as enchanting as ever, carrying within its walls the stories of Constantinople and concealing the spirit of Istanbul.