From Pera to Beyoglu

6 Pages 1594 Words

“From Pera to Beyoglu”

Beyoglu, especially for the past century, has been a very important settlement and is one of the most valuable parts of the big and historical Istanbul (Arkan, 1993, p. 15). Istanbul has been a meeting point for many different cultures and religions throughout the history; “... connected religious and ethnic groups; Turks, Russian, Ermenian, Rum, Nasturi, Arabian, Gypsy, French, Catholic, Levanten, Sirbian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Tatarian, Jewish, Italian, Maltiz and many more in this neighborhood which little girls took little walks...” (Dorsay, 1993, p.107). These cultures lived together in peace in Beyoglu unlike the rest of the world. Beyoglu first emerged in the 8th century with the name “Galata” while Istanbul was the capital of the Roman Empire (Coruk, 1995, p. 21). Second emerging name was “Pera” meaning “above” in Greek language (Arkan, 1993, p.13). Today Beyoglu is the combined name of these two places since in 1925 after the Independence War (Arkan, 1993, p. 13!
). With time, with influences of different cultures; cultural, political, social changes occurred in Beyoglu.
Beyoglu is first known with its most important settlement Galata in 13th Century (http://www.beyoglu.net/bilgi.htm). Galata was ruled by Italian colonies that were trying to gain the trade over Mediterranean area (Arkan, 1993, p. 149). Since trade was important, Galata had become the political and economical power of the time because it was between Kasimpasa and Tophane where most of the trade took place (Arkan, 1993, p. 149). Also “Halic”, which was known as “Golden Horn” was the harbor of the city and it was settled in the south part of Beyoglu, was important for trade, so with Galata and Halic areas, trade got bigger and the population got larger in Beyoglu (Beyoglu Muzesi Ýcin Oneriler,2000, p. 11).
In 1477, a census was made in Galata and there were % 35.2 Muslims, % 38.9 Ortodox, %...