Besiktas

Besiktas is a district of Istanbul, located on the European side of the city, by the coast of the Bosphorus.

Besiktas district council administers a number of communities running up the Bosphorus on the European side (from Dolmabahce Palace up to Bebek) and the land on the hills behind these settlements. The district includes some of Istanbul's best-known locations, such as Arnavutkoy, Balmumcu, Bebek, Etiler, (parts of) Levent, Ortakoy, Ulus, and Yildiz. Besiktas has a population of 190,813 (2000 census).

The Bosphorus has been settled for a long, long time and there are many places of historical interest. This stretch of the Bosphorus shore is slightly sheltered from the strong north-easterly winds that bring storms to Istanbul and thus ships have always been moored here. Indeed in Greek and Byzantine times the area was called Diklopion, meaning 'two pillars'. Furthermore one theory of the origin of the current name Besiktas is that it has mutated from Bestas (meaning "five stones"), referring to the pillars to which ships were moored in the time of Barbaros Hayreddin Pasa.Nevertheless, 'Besiktas' literally means 'cradle-stone' in Turkish; 'besik' being 'cradle' and 'tas' being 'stone', and there is an alternative story about how the area got this rather absurd name: this being that a church was built above a relic, a stone said to have been taken from the stable in Nazareth where Jesus was born (the stone being later removed to Hagia Sophiain Sultanahmet). Apparently there are Byzantine records of this church, named 'konapetri' (cradle-stone ).

In ancient times the villages on the Bosphorusshore 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 Besiktas 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 emperors 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 legendary sailor Barbarossa, built his palace and mosque in Besiktas, making it his home. By now Besiktas was an established Bosphorus crossing for caravans trading across Anatolia and along the silk road, and of course for the great Ottoman armies.This coast was of course very attractive to the Ottoman rulers, who built hunting lodges and then great palaces in the area, and the Besiktas district contains some of the most important and attractive Ottoman buildings. The area was thus the scene of great intrigues of the late Ottoman period such as the dethronement of Sultan Abdulaziz at Dolmabahce Palace in a coup in 1876 and the announcement of the founding of the Ottoman parliament in 1908, and the deposal of Sultan Abdulhamid II at Yildiz Palace in 1909.

Following the foundation of the Turkish Republic in 1924, the Ottoman ruling family was deported and the palaces and mansions along the coast were emptied out. Some were given to new government ministries, some used as schools and other public buildings, other were pulled down.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org