Galata is the former name of theKaraköy neighbourhood inIstanbul, which is located at the northern shore of theGolden Horn. The district is connected to the historicFatih district by several bridges that cross the Golden Horn, most notably theGalata Bridge. The medievalcitadel of Galata was acolony of theRepublic of Genoa between 1273 and 1453. The famousGalata Tower was built by the Genoese in 1348 at the northernmost and highest point of the citadel. Galata is now a quarter within the district ofBeyoğlu in Istanbul.
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There are several theories concerning the origin of the nameGalata. TheGreeks believe that the name comes either fromGalatai (meaning "Gauls"), as theCeltic tribe of Gauls (Galatians) were thought to have camped here during theHellenistic period before settling intoGalatia in centralAnatolia;[citation needed] or fromgalatas (meaning "milkman"), as the area was used by shepherds for grazing in theEarly Medieval (Byzantine) period.[citation needed] According to another hypothesis it is a variant of theItalian wordcalata, which means "a section of the docks of the ports intended for the mooring of merchant ships, for the direct embarkation or disembarkation of goods or passengers, for the temporary storage of goods and marine equipment",[1] since the neighborhood was for centuries aGenoese colony. The nameGalata has subsequently been given by the city ofGenoa to its naval museum,Galata - Museo del mare, which was opened in 2004.
In historic documents, Galata is often calledPera, which comes from the oldGreek name for the place,Peran en Sykais, literally "the Fig Field on the Other Side."
The quarter first appears inLate Antiquity asSykai orSycae. By the time theNotitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae was compiled in ca. 425 AD, it had become an integral part of the city as its 13th region. According to theNotitia, it featured public baths and aforum built by EmperorHonorius (r. 395–423), a theatre, aporticoed street and 435 mansions. It is also probable that the settlement was enclosed by walls in the 5th century.[2] Sykai received full city rights underJustinian I (r. 527–565), who renamed itIustinianopolis, but declined and was probably abandoned in the 7th century. Only the large tower,Megalos Pyrgos (thekastellion tou Galatou) which controlled the northern end of the sea chain that blocked the entrance to theGolden Horn remained.[2]Galata Tower (Christea Turris) was built in 1348 at the northern apex of the Genoese citadel.
In the 11th century, the quarter housed thecity's Jewish community, which came to number some 2,500 people.[2] In 1171, a newGenoese settlement in the area was attacked and nearly destroyed.[3] Despite Genoese averments that Venice had nothing to do with the attack, theByzantine EmperorManuel I Komnenos (r. 1143–1180) used the attack on the settlement as a pretext to imprison all Venetian citizens and confiscate all Venetian property within theByzantine Empire.[3] Thekastellion and the Jewish quarter were seized and destroyed in 1203 by theCatholiccrusaders during theFourth Crusade, shortly before thesack of Constantinople.[2]
In 1233, during the subsequentLatin Empire (1204–1261), a smallCatholicchapel dedicated toSt. Paul was built in place of a 6th-centuryByzantinechurch in Galata.[4] This chapel was significantly enlarged in 1325 by theDominican friars, who officially renamed it as theChurch of San Domenico,[5] but local residents continued to use the original denomination of San Paolo.[6] In 1407,Pope Gregory XII, in order to ensure the maintenance of the church, concededindulgences to the visitors of the Monastery of San Paolo in Galata.[7] The building is known today as theArap Camii (Arab Mosque) because a few years after its conversion into amosque (between 1475 and 1478) under theOttoman SultanMehmed II with the nameGalata Camii (Galata Mosque; or alternativelyCami-i Kebir, i.e. Great Mosque), it was given by SultanBayezid II to theSpanishMoors who fled theSpanish Inquisition of 1492 and came to Istanbul.
In 1261, the quarter was retaken by theByzantines, but EmperorMichael VIII Palaiologos (r. 1259–1282) granted it to theGenoese in 1267 in accordance with theTreaty of Nymphaeum. The precise limits of the Genoese colony were stipulated in 1303, and they were prohibited from fortifying it. The Genoese however disregarded this, and through subsequent expansions of the walls, enlarged the area of their settlement.[2] These walls, including the mid-14th-centuryGalata Tower (originallyChristea Turris, "Tower of Christ", and completed in 1348) survived largely intact until the 19th century, when most were dismantled in order to allow further urban expansion towards the northern neighbourhoods ofBeyoğlu,Beşiktaş, and beyond.[9] At present, only a small portion of the Genoese walls are still standing, in the vicinity of theGalata Tower.
With its design modeled after the 13th century wing of thePalazzo San Giorgio inGenoa,[10] theGenoese Palace was built by thePodestà of Galata, Montano De Marini.[8][11] It was known as thePalazzo del Comune (Palace of the Municipality) in the Genoese period and was initially built in 1314, damaged by fire in 1315 and repaired in 1316.[11][12]
The building's appearance remained largely unchanged until 1880, when its front (southern) façade onBankalar Caddesi (facing theGolden Horn), together with about two-thirds of the building,[13][14] was demolished for constructing the street'stramway line.[14][15] The front façade was later reconstructed in the 1880s with a different style[14] and became a 5-floor office building namedBereket Han,[15] while its rear (northern) façade on Kart Çınar Sokak (and the remaining one-third of the palace building)[13][14] has retained the materials and design of the original structure, but needs restoration.[11][14][15][16] Bankalar Caddesi has rows of Ottoman-era bank buildings, including the headquarters of the Ottoman Central Bank, which is today the Ottoman Bank Museum. Several ornaments that were originally on the façade of the Genoese Palace were used to embellish these 19th-century bank buildings in the late Ottoman period.
WhenConstantinople fell toMehmed the Conqueror in 1453, the neighborhood was mostly inhabited byGenoese andVenetian Catholics, though there were also some Greek, Armenian and Jewish residents. The Christian residents of Galata maintained a formal neutrality during theOttoman siege, neither siding with the Sultan, nor openly against him. One modern historian,Halil İnalcık, has estimated (based on a census from 1455) that around 8% of Galata's population fled after the city fell.[17]
In the 1455 census it is recorded that Jews primarily resided in the Fabya quarter and Samona (which is in the vicinity of present-dayKaraköy). Though theGreek-speakingJews of Galata appear to have retained their homes after the conquest, there are no Jewish households recorded in Galata by 1472, a situation that remained unchanged until the mid-16th century.[18]
Contemporary accounts differ about the course of events that took place in Galata during the Ottoman conquest in 1453. By some accounts, those who remained in Galata surrendered to the Ottoman fleet, prostrating themselves before the Sultan and presenting to him the keys of the citadel. This account is fairly consistent in records fromMichael Ducas and Giovanni Lomellino; but according toLaonikos Chalkokondyles, the Genoese mayor made the decision to surrender before the fleet arrived in Galata and relinquished the keys to the Ottoman commanderZagan Pasha, not the Sultan. One eyewitness,Leonard of Chios, describes the flight of Christians from the city:[19]
"Those of them who did not manage to board their ships before the Turkish vessels reached their side of the harbor were captured; mothers were taken and their children left, or the reverse, as the case might be; and many were overcome by the sea and drowned in it. Jewels were scattered about, and they preyed on one another without pity."
According to Ducas andMichael Critobulus, the population was not harmed by Zaganos Pasha's forces, but Chalkokondyles does not mention this good conduct, and Leonard of Chios says the population acted against orders fromGenoa when they agreed to accept servitude for their lives and property to be spared. Those who fled had their property confiscated; however, according to Ducas and Lomellino, their property was restored if they returned within three months.[20]
Morisco who were expelled from Spain settled in Galata around 1609–1620, their descendants intermingled with the locals.[21]
Galata and Pera in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were a part of theMunicipality of the Sixth Circle (French:Municipalité du VIme Cercle), established under the laws of 11Jumada al-Thani (Djem. II) and 24Shawwal (Chev.) 1274, in 1858; the organisation of the central city in the city walls, "Stamboul" (Turkish:İstanbul), was not affected by these laws. All of Constantinople was in thePrefecture of the City of Constantinople (French:Préfecture de la Ville de Constantinople).[22]
TheCamondo Steps, a famous pedestrian stairway designed with a unique mix of theNeo-Baroque and earlyArt Nouveau styles, and built in circa 1870–1880 by the renowned Ottoman-Venetian Jewish bankerAbraham Salomon Camondo, is also located onBankalar Caddesi.[23] The seaside mansion of theCamondo family, popularly known as theCamondo Palace (Kamondo Sarayı),[24] was built between 1865 and 1869 and designed by architectSarkis Balyan.[25][26] It is located on the northern shore of theGolden Horn, within the nearbyKasımpaşa quarter to the west of Galata. It later became the headquarters of the Ministry of theNavy (Bahriye Nezareti)[25][26] during the lateOttoman period, and is currently used by theTurkish Navy as the headquarters of the Northern Sea Area Command (Kuzey Deniz Saha Komutanlığı).[24][25][26] The Camondo family also built two historic apartment buildings in Galata, both of which are namedKamondo Apartmanı: the older one is located at Serdar-ı Ekrem Street nearGalata Tower and was built between 1861 and 1868;[24] while the newer one is located at the corner between Felek Street and Hacı Ali Street and was built in 1881.[27]
Galatasaray S.K., one of the most famous football clubs of Turkey, gets its name from this quarter and was established in 1905 in the nearbyGalatasaray Square in Pera (nowBeyoğlu), whereGalatasaray High School, formerly known as theMekteb-i Sultani, also stands.Galatasaray literally meansGalata Palace.[28]
In the early 20th century, Galata housed embassies of European countries and sizeable Christian minority groups. At the time, signage in businesses was multilingual. Matthew Ghazarian described Galata in the early 20th century as "a bastion of diversity" which was "theBrooklyn to theOld City’sManhattan."[29]
In the Ottoman era many newspapers in non-Muslim minority and foreign languages were produced in Galata, with production in daylight hours and distribution at nighttime; Ottoman authorities did not allow production of the Galata-based newspapers at night.[30]
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![Surviving section of the Walls of Galata [tr]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aRuins_of_the_Galata_Walls_(1).jpg)
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