Beykoz

About Beykoz

Beykoz is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 310 km2, and its population is 246,833 (2025). It is located in the Anatolian Side, at the northern end of the Bosphorus. The name is believed to be a combination of the words bey and kos, whichmeans "village" in Farsi. Beykoz includes an area from the streams of Küçüksu and Göksu (just before Anadoluhisarı) to the opening of the Bosphorus into the Black Sea, and the villages in the hinterland as far as the Riva creek. Before the Turkish alphabet reform of 1928, it was sometimes Latinized variously as Beicos or Beikos.

The mouth of the Bosphorus in ancient times was used as a place of sacrifice, specifically to petition the Twelve Olympians, including Zeus and Poseidon, for a safe journey across the Black Sea, without which no one would venture into those stormy waters.

The first people to settle the upper Bosphorus were Thracians and Greeks, and the ancient name for the area was Amikos (Αμικός in Greek) or Amnicus (Αμνικός), named after a Thracian king. However, the area has changed hands many times since. As well as being a strategically important crossing...

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.