Cities

Istanbul

iss-tan-BOOL (English); Turkish [isˈtanbuɫ], colloquial [ɯsˈtambuɫ]

Also Known As Constantinople (historic name, in common use until the 1930s)

Citation Formats

General Reference

Geography Atlas. "Istanbul." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-geography.interactiveatlas.org/cities/istanbul.

APA Style

Geography Atlas. (n.d.). Istanbul. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-geography.interactiveatlas.org/cities/istanbul

BibTeX

@misc{geographyatlas-istanbul,
  author = {Geography Atlas},
  title = {Istanbul},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-geography.interactiveatlas.org/cities/istanbul},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

The only city in the world built across two continents, straddling the Bosphorus Strait, the narrow waterway that separates Europe from Asia and connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and, beyond it, the Mediterranean. Its site controls the shortest sea route between the Black Sea basin and the Mediterranean, making it a chokepoint for maritime trade between the two for as long as ships have made the crossing, and its natural harbor, the Golden Horn, is one of the finest deep-water anchorages on either strait shore.

Facts

Population

15,754,053 1

As of 31 December 2025.

Area (sq km)

5343.22 1

Metropolitan area, coterminous with Istanbul Province.

Founding Year

330 1

11 May 330, dedication of Constantinople per the infobox's own Established field; the earlier Greek colony of Byzantion (7th century BC) predates this administrative founding and is not the value stored here.

Population Estimate Year

2025 1

Latitude

41.01361 degrees north 1

Longitude

28.955 degrees east 1

Cross-Tradition Connections