Istanbul has a population of 15.034.830 with its autonomously governed 28 municipalities.These municipalities have the initiative to take some decisions but the final decisions are made by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipal Government.

The city lies upon two different continents: Europe and Asia. The continents are connected to each other with two bridges.

Bosphorus Bridge:It was constructed between Ortakoy(Europe)Area and Beylerbeyi Area(Asia).It's approximately 1.1(0.7 miles) kilometers long and 63 m.(180 ft) high. It was constructed in 1973 .It's the first necklace of the strait Bosphorus.

Fatih Sultan Mehmed Bridge:It takes its name from the sultan called "Mehmed (the Conqueror)" who conquered Istanbul (Constantinople) in 1453 from the Byzantine Empire... This bridge was constructed in 1988.

The strait lying between the two continents is called "The Bosphorus" meaning "The Strait of the Cow" in Ancient Greek. According to the myth, God of the Gods Zeus was married to Goddess Hera. However Zeus was not satisfied with only one woman, by using his attraction and skills, he was having affairs with different women. Io was one of them. Once jealous Hera realized the affair between Io and Zeus, she turned Io into a cow. She ordered a bee to chase Io. Io was in pain ,she started to run like crazy and the way she ran along became today's Bosphorus...