Istanbul straddles two continents
A single city sprawls across both Europe and Asia, split by one of the world's busiest waterways.
Istanbul is divided not by a city limit but by a continental boundary. The Bosporus strait — the narrow channel linking the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara — slices the city in two, leaving one half in Europe and the other in Asia.
The historic old walled city stands on a triangular peninsula on the European shore, while bustling districts spread across the water in Anatolia. About two-thirds of Istanbul’s residents live on the European side, with the remaining third on the Asian side.
Commuters here can cross between two continents in minutes — by bridge, by undersea tunnel, or by ferry across the Bosporus.
This crossroads position made the city a strategic prize for the Byzantine and Ottoman empires, and it remains one of the few major metropolises in the world to span two continents at once.
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