The Bosporus

Steven Dutch, Professor Emeritus, Natural and Applied Sciences, Universityof Wisconsin - Green Bay

	The Bosporus at Rumeli Hisar.
	This single picture encapsulates the history of this region for the past 300 years. A Soviet freighter sails past a Turkish fort at the narrowest point of the Bosporus, only 700 meters wide. The Turks controlled access to the Black Sea and a long-time Russian strategic objective was to get control of the straits.
	Looking north up the Bosporus. There is now a bridge just north of the fortress.
	Rumeli Hisar is an archetypical pre-artillery fort. With only 700 meters separating the opposing shores here, this fort, built on a slope, offers no cover and would be a death trap if the enemy had even rudimentary artillery.

The First Bosporus Bridge

	The first bridge across the Bosporus since Xerxes' pontoon bridge. By modern standards there's nothing especially challenging about bridging the Bosporus. It was mostly bureaucratic wrangling that postponed the project so long.

Dolmabahce Palace

	As the Sultans became more Europeanized, their palaces became more European. Thus the sprawling and open Topkapi Palace, reminiscent of the Turks' nomadic past, gave way to the typically European Dolmabahce Palace.

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Created 19 December 2003, Last Update 24 May 2020