The city was founded by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great in 330 CE.

It was built on the site of the ancient Greek city of Byzantium.

The location was strategically chosen for its defensibility on a peninsula and its control of the Bosphorus Strait, the key waterway between Europe and Asia.

Constantine established it as the 'New Rome' and the new capital of the Roman Empire.

The city was filled with grand structures modeled on those in Rome, including forums, palaces, and a hippodrome for chariot races.

Constantinople was the first major Christian capital in the world.

Its formidable defenses, particularly the Theodosian Walls, allowed it to withstand numerous sieges for centuries.

The city became the political, economic, and cultural heart of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire.

Its founding marked a significant shift in the Roman Empire's center of power from the Latin West to the Greek East.

The city served as the capital of the Byzantine Empire for over a thousand years until its fall in 1453.