View source for Cihangir

{{about|the neighborhood|its namesake, the Ottoman prince|Şehzade Cihangir|other uses}}
{{More footnotes|date=December 2017}}
{{Infobox Turkey place
| type                 = neighbourhood
| province             = Istanbul
| district             = Beyoğlu
| name                 = Cihangir
| population_total     = 3739
| population_as_of     = 2022
| coordinates          = {{coord|41|01|59|N|28|59|07|E|display=it}}
| image_skyline           = Istanbul (8425285534).jpg
| leader_name             = Adnan Bal
}}

'''Cihangir''' is an affluent neighbourhood in the municipality and district of [[Beyoğlu]], [[Istanbul Province]], [[Turkey]].<ref>[https://www.e-icisleri.gov.tr/Anasayfa/MulkiIdariBolumleri.aspx Mahalle], Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 12 July 2023.</ref> Its population is 3,739 (2022).<ref name=tuik/> It is located between [[Taksim Square]] and [[Kabataş, Istanbul|Kabataş]].<ref name=":0" /> It has many narrow streets, two parks, and many street cafes especially in and around Akarsu Yokuşu Sokağı.  

The neighbourhood has a [[Bohemianism|bohemian]] reputation.<ref name=":1" /> It is known for its artists, writers, actors, and expatriates – as well as its large army of street cats. It was also a stronghold for protesters during the [[Gezi Park protests]].<ref name=":0">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2013/dec/09/a-day-in-cihangir-istanbul-turkey|title=A day in … Cihangir, Istanbul|last=Delin|first=Sevil|date=2013-12-09|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-05-23|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

Cihangir was named after [[Şehzade Cihangir]] whose heartbroken father, [[Suleiman the Magnificent]], had [[Mimar Sinan]] build a mosque overlooking the Bosphorus to commemorate his death. The name means "conqueror" in Turkish and, in turn, comes from the Persian compound word ''jahan'' + ''gir'' (جهانگیر), meaning "conqueror of the world". Today, the Cihangir Mosque, originally built in 1559 but reconstructed in 1889, offers views across the [[Bosporus|Bosphorus]] to [[Sarayburnu]].<ref name=":1">{{cite web|url=https://www.cornucopia.net/guide/listings/sights/cihangir-mosque/|title=Cornucopia Magazine|website=www.cornucopia.net|access-date=2019-05-23}}</ref>

In 2012, British newspaper ''[[The Guardian]]'' included Cihangir and neighbouring [[Çukurcuma]] in the list of the five best places in the world to live, next to [[Santa Cruz de Tenerife]], in [[Spain]]; the district of [[Sankt Pauli]], in [[Hamburg]], the north coast of [[Maui]], in [[Hawaii]] and [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]], in the U.S. state of [[Oregon]].<ref name="abc.es">{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.es/20120127/sociedad/abci-mejores-sitios-vivir-mundo-201201271128.html#.UytJQvd1cNw.facebook|title=Santa Cruz de Tenerife, uno de los cinco mejores sitios del mundo para vivir, según "The Guardian"|work=ABC.es|access-date=25 May 2015}}</ref>

[[Ece Temelkuran]] wrote that this neighbourhood is like [[Soho, Manhattan]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Temelkuran|first=Ece|author-link=Ece Temelkuran|title=[[How to Lose a Country: The Seven Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship]]|publisher=[[HarperCollinsPublishers]] |location=London|isbn=978-0-00-829404-5|year=2019|page=131}}</ref>

== Demographics ==
{{Historical populations
|align = none
|percentages = pagr
|source = TÜIK (2007-2022)<ref name=tuik>{{cite web|url=https://biruni.tuik.gov.tr/medas/?kn=95&locale=en |title=Population Of Municipalities, Villages And Quarters|publisher=[[Turkish Statistical Institute|TÜIK]] |access-date=24 March 2023}}</ref>
|2007|3641
|2012|3653
|2017|3482
|2022|3739
}}

== History ==
During [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] times, the area of the present neighborhood was probably not settled, although there were Byzantine buildings near present-day [[Tophane]] and [[Fındıklı, Beyoğlu|Fındıklı]] below Cihangir.

During the reign of [[Suleiman the Magnificent]], the area was a forested hunting ground.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cornucopia Magazine: A Connoisseur's Guide to Cihangir |url=http://www.cornucopia.net/guide/cihangir-cukurcuma|website=www.cornucopia.net |access-date=2020-03-02}}</ref> It was one of the favourite places of Suleiman's son [[Şehzade Cihangir|Cihangir]] after whom it is named.

In the second half of the 19th century, the increasing influx of non-Ottoman Europeans into Istanbul drove up real estate prices in the nearby Pera district in [[Beyoğlu]], to which they were officially confined. Some Europeans, however, acquired land in areas outside Pera such as Tophane, Fındıklı, and Cihangir, leading to a great deal of upmarket residential development in those neighbourhoods.

Starting in the 1930s, non-Muslim residents of Cihangir and the rest of Beyoğlu left or were forced out. They were replaced by Muslims from other Istanbul neighbourhoods and by internal migrants from eastern Turkey. As the character of the neighbourhood changed, middle-class Muslims also began leaving it. By the 1970s, Cihangir was known as an area where Anatolian migrants lived alongside artists and intellectuals. Steady gentrification pushed up house prices in the area during the 2010s but after the inconveniences inflicted on local residents by the troubles around the [[Gezi Park protests]] of 2013, there was something of an exodus from the area. In particular, younger more bohemian people started to move across the Bosphorus to [[Kadıköy]]. Since 2020, however, the exodus has gone into reverse and house prices were once again soaring by 2021. 

In the early twenty-first century, Cihangir became well known for its cafes, artists, and bohemian culture.<ref name=":0" /> In addition, the neighborhood is known for its street cats, and local residents help feed and take care of the cats.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dailysabah.com/feature/2016/12/08/cihangir-cool-for-cats-the-unsung-heroes-giving-hope-to-istanbuls-street-animals|title=Cihangir Cool for Cats: The unsung heroes giving hope to Istanbul's street animals|last=Dark|first=Gülşah|date=2016-12-08|website=Daily Sabah |access-date=2020-03-03}}</ref> The documentary [[Kedi (2016 film)|Kedi]], which profiles street cats, was largely filmed in Cihangir.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/02/07/the-alley-cats-of-istanbul/|title=The Alley Cats of Istanbul|last=Hartman|first=Darrell|date=2017-02-07|website=The Paris Review |access-date=2020-03-03}}</ref> The neighborhood is used as a nickname to designate upper class leftists called "Cihangir leftist" (Turkish: ''Cihangir solcusu''),<ref>{{cite news |last=Uğantaş |first=Damla |date=31 July 2015 |title='Beyaz Kürt' durağı mı? Soldan sağa, ovadan dağa 'Cihangir solcuları' tartışması... |work=T24 |url=https://t24.com.tr/haber/beyaz-kurt-duragi-mi-soldan-saga-ovadan-daga-cihangir-solculari-tartismasi,304650 |access-date=6 January 2023}}</ref> or the Turkish version of the term "[[champagne socialist]]".

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
; Printed Sources

* {{cite book |last=Hürel|first=Haldun |title=Semtleri, Mahalleri, Caddeleri ve Sokakları A'dan Z'ye İstanbul'un Alfabetik Öyküsü |year=2008|publisher=İkarus |isbn=978-975-999-290-3}}
* {{cite book |last=İlkuçan|first=Altan|title=Gentrification, Community and Consumption: Constructing, Conquering and Contesting "The Republic of Cihangir" |year=2004|publisher=Master's thesis, Dept. of Management, Bilkent University, Ankara}} http://www.thesis.bilkent.edu.tr/0002485.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303174447/http://www.thesis.bilkent.edu.tr/0002485.pdf |date=2016-03-03 }}
* {{cite book |last=Karpat |first=Kemal H. |title=Studies on Ottoman social and political history: Selected articles and essays  |year=2002|publisher=Brill|isbn=9789004121010}}
* {{cite book |last=Kleiss|first=Wolfram |title=Topographisch-archäologischer Plan von Istanbul: Verzeichnis der Denkmäler und Fundorte |year=1965 |publisher=Verlag Ernst Wasmuth}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://wowturkey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1976 Images of Cihangir] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211173134/http://wowturkey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1976 |date=2009-02-11 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110726225828/http://www.beyoglu.bel.tr/images/haritalar/MAHALLE-CIHANGIR.jpg Map of Cihangir neighborhood]

{{European neighborhoods of İstanbul by the Bosphorus}}

[[Category:Neighbourhoods of Beyoğlu]]


{{Istanbul-geo-stub}}