City of Countless Names- Galata p1

Galata (Ghalatah, Gaulata, Justinianopolis, Sykai)

North of the outlet where the waters of the Golden Horn flow into the Bosporus, and south of the steep hill topped with the cemetery known as the Petit Champ-des-Morts, lies the European quarter of Galata. Galata’s streets are narrow, steeply inclined, and the dirtiest in Constantinople. Rotten melons discarded by fruit sellers, the droppings of pack animals, and dead rats are common obstacles on the cracked paving stones. Numerous alleys lead to filthy back streets where cutthroats and conmen wait for unwary travelers. Almost every garden or courtyard, no matter how small, is overrun by poultry tended by locals. Buildings crowd together into an unpleasant squalor of wooden houses, butchers, shops, branch offices for European businesses, and stone warehouses sloping down the hill from the cleaner more elegant avenues of Pera. Walls, both ancient and new, surround Galata. At sunset, its gates close for the night, however as a courtesy to European businessmen the gate in the wall dividing Galata from Pera in the north can always be opened for a small fee. Two bridges cross the Golden Horn connect Galata to Stambul, one to Eumin Eunou and the other to Fatih. A fleet of caiques docks at Galata ready to ferry passengers across the water to Constantinople’s southern shores.

Since the days of the Byzantine Empire, Galata has belonged to foreigners. Its name comes from Gauls settled in the area, “Galatai”, although the Greeks claim it derives from their word for milk, “galaktos” after the herds of goats raised there. During Constantine’s reign, the land was called Sykai, meaning “fig tree”, and was the 13^th region of the Constantinople. The emperor maintained Sykai as military base defending the city from the northern shore. In 1267, Emperor Michael VIII gave Galata to Genoese merchants use as a colony under the stipulation they did not fortify their land. The Genoese rose in power and prominence quickly, and disregarded their agreement, constructing the walls encircling Galata and Galata Tower. The citizens of Galata committed further treachery 200 years later during the Ottoman siege of Constantinople. They helped Mehmed the Conqueror’s forces circumnavigate the Byzantines defenses by letting Ottoman ships portage over their lands into the Golden Horn.

Nothing remains of the Genoese colony’s architecture except Galata Tower and parts of the ancient walls. The devastation of Galata’s frequent city fires and earthquakes hasten its architecture’s modernity, giving the entire quarter the atmosphere of a dockyard belonging to a major European city, rather than the Ottoman Capital. Because of Galata’s heterogeneous population, many sects of the Aluminat Faith have a firm hold in the area. A Dominican convent, a Capuchin monastery, Greek and Armenian churches, and Yehudite synagogues dot the cramped streets. Although some Turks reside in Galata, the population is almost all Greek, Levantine, or European. Many live in poverty, struggling to make an honest wage. Beggars line the streets sloping uphill towards Pera and Kassim Pasha.  The majority are crippled Greeks, dervishes devoted to their vows, and conmen hoping to fool the charitable.