When Istanbul came under Turkish rule Mehmet is known to have brought people from various parts of his empire and settled them in the deserted and devastated city so that it could be rebuilt. Thus the names of some of its districts,such as Aksaray, Karaman and çar~amba, are related to the places from where these settlers came. In the first years after the conquest there were areas within the city almost entirely populated by Christians. Then gradually the non-Muslims became concentrated in certain parts of the city, such as Samatya, Edirnekapi and Fener and the remaining area of the city was populated by Turks. In the late Ottoman period the Galata district was preferred by non-Muslims and the protective presence of foreign embassies meant that this part of Istanbul became almost a new city. This is how the Beyo~Iu district was created. The Turks settled in certain places along the Bosphorus, (isküdar (Scutari), on the bank of the Golden Horn between Tophane and Kasimpa~a and within the city walls while the non-Muslims preferred the islands, some of the villages along the Bosphorus and the villages on the outskirts of the city

From the period of the conquest onwards the city was rebuilt on entirely Turkish lines. Running water was brought to the city by means of supply lines coming from outside its boundaries, public fountains and baths were built. The great mosques, which made Istanbul look a truly Turkish city and were great Turkish works of art,and the complexes surrounding them,were erected as well. After the construction in Bayezid of a palace known as Eski Saray (old palace), another palace then known as Yenisaray (new palace), and now known as the Topkapi Palace was built. In order to increase trade, rows of shops known as ‘arasta' were built under archways,as were large buildings referred to as ‘hans,in which the goods were stored. In this new centre of Ottoman-Turkish civilisation madrassas and libraries were set up so that scholarly activities could take place and hospitals (darussifa) were built. A concept of town planning completely different from that of the Byzantines dominated all of this construction and development. In a short space of time the new palaces,water distribution systems, mosques, shipyard, Janissary barracks, markets and shopping centres, shrines, graveyards and dwellings endowed the city of Istanbul with an entirely different aspect.

Together with the great mosques and surrounding complexes built by the sultans, its leading citizens built mosques both large and small, madrassas, hans, public baths, public fountains and charity fountains, all of which made Istanbul into a Turkish city. The wealthy founders of charitable trusts also played their part in this development. However, during the Turkish period the terrible earthquake which took place in 1509, known as “the Little Day of Judgement”, dealt a terrible blow to the city's brick and stone houses. Fearing the effects of further earthquakes people began to build their houses of wood instead and in a short space of time Istanbul became a city of wooden houses. In keeping with this trend, the palaces and mansions of the artistocracy were all made of wood. In spite of decrees regarding fire precautions which even aimed at preventing the construction of wOoden buildings in the commercial and shopping centres, the use of wood could not be halted. This inevitably led to a rapid increase in the number of fires in the city. As well as the earthquakes of 1765 and 1894, which also caused terrible destruction, Istanbul's greatest enemy has always been fire. If one of these fires, which were fanned and driven south-wards by the north wind, happened to start anywhere on the banks of the Golden Horn this meant that the city would be doomed to burn for days, leaving thousands of people homeless, and that priceless treasures and magnificent mansions would be reduced to ashes.

Sometimes these fires would start from the banks of the Golden Horn and burn until they reached Aksaray or even the Sea of Marmara. The last great fires of Istanbul were the Hocapa~a fire of 1865, the Beyo~lu fire of 1870, the Laleli fire of 1911, the Gedikpa~a fire of 1912 and the Cibali-Eatih-Alttnmermer fire of 1918. The establishment of a modern fire-fighting organisation in the city and the prevention of further construction in wood meant that fires were contained to a given area. The last big fire of this kind destroyed a large part of the Fener district in 1941. The effects of the fire of 1782, which reduced almost half of the city to ashes, can be judged be looking at a map of that period published by a Spaniard. However, it should be stated that after these big fires leading statesmen paid for the rebuilding of pious foundation buildings out of their own pockets. Wooden houses were built to replace the ones that had been destroyed and within a few months the traces of the fire had,to a great extent,been removed. It was only the effects of the fires that took place between 1908 and 1918 that could not rapidly be removed, due to the fact that the country was then at war.

In is known that apart from the destructive effects of these frequent fires and the major earthquakes that strike the city at intervals of between 120 and 150 years, Istanbul has also occasionally been affected by hurricanes. One of these took place shortly after the conquest in 1492, leaving in its wake many casualties and a great deal of destruction. In Hartmann Schedel's book 'World History", mentioned in the preceding paragraphs the writer describes this event, recounted to him by "reliable" Italian traders and brings it to life in an engraving. In Turkish records of this event mention is made of a thunderbolt which fell onto an old Byzantine church then being used as a powder arsenal, causing a violent explosion. This event is also depicted in Schedel's engravings.