page_title: Caput Mundi
section_title: Constantinople (Istanbul)
hierarchical_section_title: Caput Mundi / Constantinople (Istanbul)
caption_attribution_description: English: İstanbul view from İstanbul Sapphire observation deck Aug 2014. Beşiktaş, Kristal Kule Finansbank, İş Kuleleri, Yapı Kredi Plaza, Levent, Kanyon, Metrocity, Özdilek Park, Akmerkez, Ulus, Nispetiye, Akatlar, Zorlu Center, Büyükdere Caddesi, Boğaziçi Köprüsü, Bosphorus, Çamlıca
context_page_description: Caput Mundi is a Latin phrase used to describe a city as the Capital of the World. Some major cities since the ancient times have been described as the Caput Mundi, the first being Rome and Jerusalem, and then Constantinople. Other important cities to have been called as the "Novum Caput Mundi" after the medieval period include London and New York.
context_section_description: Constantinople, also known as Eastern Rome of the New Rome, was built as the second Caput Mundi by Emperor Constantine in 330 AD, the first Roman Emperor to openly convert to Christianity. By 500 CE, Constantinople had somewhere between 400,000 and 500,000 people, edging out its predecessor, Rome, for world's largest city. It served as an imperial capital for almost 16 centuries From the mid-5th century to the early 13th century, Constantinople was one of the wealthiest cities in Europe. From the mid-5th century to the early 13th century, Constantinople was the wealthiest city in the world.
  The Byzantine Empire lasted for over a thousand years with the center always at Constantinople, except between 1204 and 1261, when it was centered in the capitals of Nicaea, Trebizond, and Arta.
  The city was seen as the "Capital of the World" because of its prime trading position in the center of the medieval world. This privileged position continued after its Islamic conquest, even as the capital of the Ottoman Empire. The city was also the center of half of the Christian world as the seat of the Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox church and an essential city of the Islamic Gunpowder Empires.
  French-Italian emperor Napoleon Bonaparte is quoted as saying, "If the Earth were a single state, Constantinople would be its capital."
  Today, the city's name is Istanbul, based in Turkey. It is a megacity of 15 million people and the economic and cultural centre of Turkey, but not the capital, which is Ankara. The Patriarch of Constantinople has been designated Ecumenical Patriarch since the sixth century, and has come to be regarded as the leader of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians. Istanbul is Europe's largest city and the 4th in the world.
caption: A view of Levent, one of the main business districts in Istanbul and home to the city's tallest buildings
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