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Istanbul, Turkey is a historic city for many reasons. It is also one of the rarest cities in the world. Because, the city is part of Asia (Middle East) and Europe at the same time. This specialty in terms of location explains why the city has been the center of attraction of empires for hundreds of years. The city was once the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantine Empire. During that time it was named as Constantinople. It later became one of the most important centers of the Ottoman Empire. But how did Constantinople get the name Istanbul? Many may think that the Ottomans changed its name after occupying the city. Not really. For many years the city was known by various forms of the word ‘Constantinople’. For example, the Ottomans spelled the name of the city ‘Kostantiniyy’. The city was known by several names even before Constantinople. The city was founded by the Greeks in 657 BC. At that time it was called Bazantion. The Latin version of this word is Byzantium. The city...