Beşiktaş is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and on the east by the Bosphorus. Directly across the Bosphorus is the district of Üsküdar.
The district includes a number of important sites along the European shore of the Bosphorus, from Dolmabahçe Palace in the south to the Bebek area in the north. It is also home to many inland (and relatively expensive, upper-middle class) neighborhoods such as Levent and Etiler. Some of its other well-known neighborhoods include Yıldız, Kuruçeşme, Ortaköy, and Arnavutköy.
Beşiktaş' historic commercial centre is the Beşiktaş quarter and Çarşı (literally, "marketplace"),which adjoins the small Abbasağa Park. Running in the north-south direction, Barbaros Boulevard is a major feeder road for the inner-city motorway Otoyol 1 and the Bosphorus Bridge, terminating at the important public transport hub of Zincirlikuyu. Büyükdere Avenue also runs through the district.
Although it is a relatively small district of Istanbul, both in terms of population and area, Beşiktaş is one of the city's most important areas due to its business and shopping areas, historic sites, universities, scenic views of the Bosphorus strait, and feeder roads for the Bosphorus and Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridges passing through it. The district is also the leading financial center of Turkey.
In a 2013 ranking of Turkish districts, Beşiktaş placed first overall due to its high quality of life, prosperity, and cultural level. Beşiktaş is also the highest ranking Turkish district in terms of the Human Development Index, with an HDI of 0.864, while also ranking first in the individual indexes for income and education. The municipality is taking part in the Cities4Europe campaign[8] and has qualified as a "European 12 Star City".
Name
The district takes its name from the Beşiktaş quarter located in the modern-day Sinanpaşa neighborhood. Along with Çarşı, this historic center is sometimes referred to as Köyiçi (roughly "inner village") by locals.
The word beşik means "cradle" in Turkish, while taş means "stone".
According to one story, there was a Byzantine church in modern-day Beşiktaş with the name Kounopetra, Greek for "stone cradle". The church was built to honor a relic, a stone reportedly taken from the stable in Bethlehem where Jesus was born. This stone was later relocated to Hagia Sophia and disappeared during the Fourth Crusade, possibly to be sold in Europe's relics market.
Another story states that a cleric from a Saint Menas (Aya Menas) Church where Beşiktaş now is returned from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with a cradle-shaped stone used in the baptism of Jesus and placed it in the church.
One other explanation is that the name is a corruption of beş taş, Turkish for "five stones", referring to the five stone pillars built to moor ships by Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha.
History
Beşiktaş circa 1850
New Istanbul Naval Museum building
The Bosphorus has been settled for a long time, and there are many places of historical interest in Beşiktaş. The area is believed to have been settled by Constantine the Great during his reign (306-337 CE).[4] This stretch of the Bosphorus shore is somewhat sheltered from the strong northeasterly winds that bring storms to Istanbul, and thus it forms an ideal mooring place for ships.
In Byzantine times, the area was called Diplokionion, meaning "double pillar" in Greek, as it was the location of a set of twin pillars marking a key entry from the water into Constantinople. These columns would later provide the model for the twin pillars at the water's edge in Venice.
In ancient times the villages on the Bosphorus shore were isolated communities in the forest that lined the water-side. The Bosphorus, however, was prominent in the history and mythology of the ancient Greeks, and villages like Beşiktaş would have had their place in traditional tales such as Jason and the Argonauts. In the Byzantine, era churches and a monastery were built and the tradition of having a summer palace on the Bosphorus was begun by the Byzantines with their Ayios Mamas palace complex. The Bosphorus settlements, however, being outside the city walls, were vulnerable to raiders from the Black Sea coasts, and little of this architecture or the statuary that would have decorated it so gloriously has survived.
In the Ottoman period, once the Sultans had established control of the Black Sea coasts, the Ottoman navy was docked in the Bosphorus and the Bosphorus villages became safe and attractive again. One man, in particular, the sailor Barbarossa Hayreddin, built his palace and mosque in Beşiktaş, making it his home. By now Beşiktaş was an established Bosphorus crossing for caravans trading across Anatolia and along the Silk Road, and for Ottoman armies.