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With the Sea of Marmara, the Golden Horn forms a peninsula with a deep natural harbour. This site was originally settled by ancient Greek colonists as the city of Byzantium. The Byzantine Empire had its naval headquarters there, and walls were built along the shoreline to protect the city (by then renamed Constantinople) from naval attacks. At the entrance to the Horn, there was a large, floating boom-chain (a huge line of logs bound together by chains) pulled across from Constantinople to the fortress of Galata on the northern side, preventing unwanted ships from entering.

There were three notable times when the chain across the Horn was either broken or circumvented. In the 10th century the Kievan Rus' dragged their ships out of the Bosporus, around Galata, and relaunched them in the Horn; the Byzantines defeated them with Greek fire. In 1204, during the Fourth Crusade, VenetianVenice ( Italian Venezia German Venedig , the city of canals, is the capital of the region of Veneto, population 271,073 (2001). The city stretches across numerous small islands in a marshy lagoon along the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy. The saltwater l ships were able to break the chain with a ram. In 1453Events May 29 Fall of Constantinople to Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror, marking the end of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire). July 17 Battle of Castillon. The French under Jean Bureau utterly defeat the English under the Earl of Shrewsbu, OttomanOsmanlı İmparatorluğu Devlet-i Aliye-i Osmaniye The Ottoman Coat of Arms Imperial motto: unknown The Ottoman Empire at the height of its power Official language Ottoman Turkish Capital İstanbul ( Constantinople) Sovereigns Sultans Sultan Mehmed IIMehmed II ( March 30, 1432 May 3, 1481; nicknamed el-Fatih 'the Conqueror') was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire for a short time from 1444 to 1446, and later from 1451 to 1481. Mehmed brought an end to the Byzantine Empire by capturing Constantinople in copied the tactics of the Rus', towing his ships across Galata into the estuary over greased logs.

After the Fall of Constantinople1499) The Fall of Constantinople was the conquest of that Greek city by the Turks under the command of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, on Tuesday, May 29, 1453. This event marked the final destruction of the Eastern Roman Empire, and the death of Constantine XI to Mehmed, Greek citizens, the Greek OrthodoxEastern Orthodox Christianity (Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox) is the modern name primarily applied to the Christian church that claims to be the original historical church started by Christ Jesus and his Apostles 2000 years ago. They claim unbroken apo Church, JewThe word Jew is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to either a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or a member of the Jewish culture or ethnicity. This article discusses the term as describing an ethnic group; for as, ItalianThe Italian Republic or Italy ( Italian: Italia is a country in the south of Europe, consisting mainly of a boot-shaped peninsula together with two large islands in the Mediterranean Sea: Sicily and Sardinia. To the north, where it borders France, Switzer merchants, and other non-Muslims began to live along the Horn in the Phanar ( Fanar) and Balat districts. Today the Golden Horn is settled on both sides, and there are parks along each shore. The Istanbul Chamber of Commerce is also located along the shore, as is a Muslim cemetery. The Galata Bridge, built in 1836, connects Old Istanbul with the districts of Galata and Pera (Beyoglu). Two other bridges, the Atatürk Bridge and the Haliç Bridge, are located further up the Horn. Until the 1980s the Horn was a dumping ground for industrial waste, but has since been cleaned up and is a popular tourist attraction in Istanbul.