As the song by They Might be Giants goes, “Istanbul was Constantinople”... To understand the essence of this city one has to take a journey back in time. The year was 330 AD when Emperor Constantine I decided to transfer the capital of the Roman Empire from the West to the East. He founded New Rome on the site of a city called Byzantium. While the western parts of the Roman Empire gradually fell, the eastern flourished for almost 1000 years. The decline began in the 11th century when Constantinople was conquered by the Crusaders during the 4th crusade. The Latin Empire of Constantinople was short-lived. It lasted until 1261 when the Palaiologan house regained control. Yet, the glorious days were gone and the Empire would from then on be in a state of decline. The final act took place in 1453 when the city was conquered by the Ottomans. The last Byzantine Emperor, Constantine XI, died in battle and Mehmed the Conqueror became the first sultan to reign the Ottoman empire. In 1930, the city, which for centuries had remained the political, financial, and cultural seat of the Ottomans, as well as the gateway of the West to the East, changed its name to Istanbul.