Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/201

 THE CONDITION OF CONSTANTINOPLE IN 1200. 183 colonists ill the twelftli century was to obtain quarters inside the city.* Tiiese quarters, as they are usually called hy the Western writers, consisted of what are known in the East as khans, and what were called tjuPoXoi by the Greeks." All the Latin quarters, with the exception of two small settlements which were destined to grow into the city of Galata, were, as we have seen, inside the city walls, though it is known that inferior houses were built between the walls and the waters of the Golden Horn. All the Latin quarters were on the side of the city which slopes towards this great harbor. The great stmc^ffle between the rival colonies, and indeed with the Bv- zantines, was for the scalas or wharves. Across the harbor, on the slopes of Pera, and in what is now called Galata,' were the settlements of Jews who had been banished from the citv, and probably the dwellings of a few Venetians and Genoese. The political economy of a succession of emperors had en- Poiicyofem- couragcd trade. They rarely sought to place rc- euconragcd strictiou iipou commcrcc. Monopolies were dis- trade. countenanced. Merchants were invited to trade, and their rights were strictly guarded. The imperial govern- ment left traders very much to themselves, and did not harass for Nicaea, Ismidt for Nicomeclia, etc. Another and more popular deriva- tion traces Stamboul to d^ t))v ttSXiv, but I think the evidence is in favor of the Turkish origin. The "Itinerario" of Ohxvigo states that before the Moslem occupation the inhabitants themselves called the city Escom- boli. The Turks allow a few foreigners to have their warehouses in Stamboul, but will not permit them to reside there. All the embassies and legations are in Pera, that is, across the water (Tepav^on the other side); or at Galata, which is a part of what was originally called Pera. ^ Dr. Paspati, the learned archaeologist of Constantinople, has worked out very successfully the topography of Constantinople during the twelfth ccntur}'. I may say that I am greatly indebted to his labors for a good many hints on this part of my subject. ^Several still exist in Constantinople; one in particular, well wortli visiting, is inhabited by Persian merchants. ' There are two versions of the derivation of the name Galata. Dr. Paspati derives it from ya«, milk, and would thus make it the town of the milk-sellers, like some otlier towns of a similar name. I am myself inclined to believe that it is rather the Italian calle or galle, which if Genoa is a slope, and in Venice an enclosed place.