Boğaziçi (Istanbul) Boğaziçi (Istanbul) Boğaziçi is the general term, specific to İstanbul and overlapping administrative divisions, used to denote those parts of the city with view of the Bosphorus. The respective nuances of the two terms (the strait itself and the urban area of Boğaziçi) being somewhat similar to those between San Francisco Bay and the Bay Area, they are not used interchangeably in correct parlance. The term Boğaziçi is used with particular emphasis relating to those parts of İstanbul which are situated north of the Golden Horn (Haliç), starting with the district of Beşiktaş on the European side of the Bosphorus.
Istanbul Islam") was sometimes colloquially used to refer to the city, and was even engraved on some Ottoman coins, but the belief that it was the precursor to the present name, "İstanbul", is belied by the fact that the latter existed well before the former and even predates the Ottoman conquest of the city. The name "İstanbul" (, colloquially ) is commonly held to derive from the Medieval Greek phrase (pronounced ), which means "to the city" and is how Constantinople was referred to by the local Greeks. This reflected its status as the only major city in the vicinity. The