CLIMATE

							                             CLIMATE:
Summer weather in Istanbul is moderately warm, with high temperatures in
July and August averaging 28 °C (82 °F). Extreme heat, however, is
uncommon, as temperatures rise above 32 °C (90 °F) on only five days per
year on average. Rainfall is also uncommon during the summer, with only four
or five rainy days per month. Winters are cold, wet and often snowy, with
the temperature in January and February averaging 4 °C (39 °F). Snowfalls
tend to be heavy, but snowcover and temperatures below freezing rarely last
more than a few days. Spring and autumn are mild, but often wet and
unpredictable; chilly winds from the northwest and warm gusts from the
south—sometimes in the same day—have the tendency to cause fluctuations
in temperature.] Istanbul has a persistently high humidity, which can
exacerbate the moderate summer heat. The humidity is especially salient
during the morning hours, when humidity generally reaches eighty percent
and fog is very common. The city receives fog an average of 228 days each
year, with the highest concentration of foggy days being in the winter
months, although it usually dissipates by noontime. Thunderstorms are
uncommon, occurring just 23 days each year, but they occur most frequently
in the summer and early autumn months Istanbul has an annual average of
124 days with significant precipitation, which together generate around
843.9 millimeters (33.2 in) of precipitation. The highest recorded
temperature was 40.5 °C (105 °F) on 12 July 2000, and the lowest recorded
temperature was −16.1 °C (3 °F) on 9 February 1927. The highest recorded
rainfall in 24 hours was 227 millimeters (8.9 in) on 16 October 1985.[ The
highest recorded snow cover was 80 centimeters (31 in) in March 1987.
                            RELIGIONS:
Istanbul has been a cosmopolitan city throughout much of its history, being
at the crossroads of two continents and having been the heart of two world
religions. Most of the religious and ethnic minorities that exist in Turkey are
concentrated in Istanbul.

The vast majority of people across Turkey, and in Istanbul, consider
themselves Muslim, and more specifically members of the Sunni branch of
Islam. Of the Sunnis, most follow the Hanafi school of Islamic thought,
although approximately ten percent of Sunni Muslims follow the Shafi'i
school. The largest non-Sunni Muslim sect, accounting for 4.5 million Turks,
is the Alevis; a third of all Alevis in the country live in Istanbul. Today,
there are around three thousand active mosques across Istanbul.[116]
Istanbul served as the seat of the Islamic Caliphate from 1517 to 1924,
when it was dissolved and its powers were handed over to the Turkish
Parliament. In September 1925, the tekkes (Sufi gathering places) and
tarikat (Sufi religious orders) were banned, as their activities were deemed
incompatible with the characteristics of the new, secular republic. Most
followers of Sufism and other forms of Islamic mysticism practiced
clandestinely (as "cultural associations") afterward, and some of these sects
still boast numerous followers.
                             HISTORY:
What is now called Asian Istanbul was probably inhabited by people as early
as 3000 BC. Eventually, in the 7th century, Greek colonists led by King Byzas
established the colony of Byzantium, the Greek name for a city on the
Bosphorus. Byzas chose the spot after consulting an oracle of Delphi who
told him to settle across from the "land of the blind ones." Indeed, Byzas
concluded, earlier settlers

must have been deprived of their sight to have overlooked this superb
location at the mouth of the Bosphorus strait. This proved an auspicious
decision by Byzas, as history has shown Istanbul's location important far
beyond what these early Greek settlers might possibly have conceived. Byzas
gave his name to the city: Byzantium. In the early 100's BC, it became part
of the Roman Empire and in 306 AD, Emperor Constantine the Great made
Byzantium capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. From that point on, the city
was known as Constantinople.

The mid 400's AD was a time of enormous upheaval in the empire. Barbarians
conquered the western Roman Empire while the Eastern, also called the
Byzantine Empire, kept Constantinople as its capital. In 532 during the reign
of Justinian I, antigovernment riots destroyed the city. It was rebuilt, and
outstanding structures such as Hagia Sophia stand as monuments to the
heights Byzantine culture reached.

The attribute that made the city so desirable, its incomparable location for
trade and transport between three continents, was also its nemesis. For the
next several hundred years Persians, Arabs, nomadic peoples, and members
of the Fourth Crusade (who for a time governed the city) attacked
Constantinople.

Finally, in 1453, when Constantinople was so weakened by almost constant
invasions and battles, the Ottoman Turks led by Sultan Mehmet II were able
to conquer the city. Renamed Istanbul, it became the third and last capital
of the Ottoman Empire. It was the nerve center for military campaigns that
were to enlarge the Ottoman Empire dramatically. By the mid 1500's,
Istanbul, with a population of almost half a million, was a major cultural,
political, and commercial center. Ottoman rule continued until it was
defeated in WWI and Istanbul was occupied by the allies.

When the Republic of Turkey was born in 1923 after the War of
Independence, Kemal Ataturk moved the capital to the city of Ankara. The
city of Istanbul has continued to expand dramatically and today its
population is over 13,6 million and increases at an estimated 700,000
immigrants per year. Industry has expanded even as tourism has grown. It
continues to be a city that creates its own history at the meeting point of
the two continents; Europe and Asia.

Some of the interesting districts of the city are: Sultanahmet, Haydarpasa,
Uskudar, Eyup, Galata, Pera, Ortaköy, Taksim, Eminönü, Fatih, Balat, and The
Bosphorus. Princess Islands are a popular summer resort for local people.