Uskudar District is located on the western part of the Kocaeli Peninsula on the Anatolian side. It is bordered by the districts of Ümraniye to the east, Kadıköy to the south, the Bosphorus to the west and northwest, and Beykoz District to the north. The district covers an area of 35 km within these boundaries. To the west is the sea. Uskudar District, which does not have any rural settlements, consists of 52 neighborhoods. It was established as a separate province in 1918 and 1924 but was connected to Istanbul Province by becoming a district during the administrative arrangements in 1926. Halkedon (Kadıköy), founded as a Greek colony in the 7th century B.C., had its dock and shipyards located in the area where present-day Uskudar is situated, and it was referred to as Hrisopolis (Golden City).

The reason this region is known by this name is interpreted in various ways. It is said that during the Persian occupation, the gold collected as tax from tribes and people in the Anatolian Peninsula was stored in the treasures here, hence the name being attributed to the area. According to another interpretation, Agamemnon’s son, Chryses, fled to Anatolia and died in Uskudar, which is why the city was named after him. Some people say that Uskudar got the name Golden City because the houses appeared gilded from across the water at sunset. The name Uskudar, according to some sources, is derived from the Persian word “Eskudari,” meaning “messenger.” There are many historical artifacts in Uskudar, including the Tabbhaneli Mosque and Tomb built in 1471 by Vezir Rum Mehmed Pasha, which bears the name of the Pasha, as well as a medrese and bath that have not survived to the present day, and primarily the Maiden’s Tower.

Hrisopolis came under the rule of Persian King Darius in 508 B.C., and after the naval battle that ended in victory for the Athenian Alcibiades in 410 B.C., this commander had walls built around the city and collected a toll based on the value of the goods carried by ships passing through the Bosphorus. The writer Xenophon recounts that in 404 B.C., the surviving members of the Ten Thousand came to Hrisopolis via the Black Sea coast on their return from the Asian expedition and sold their spoils to the local population during the week they stayed there. During the time of Alexander the Great and his successors, Halkedon and Hrisopolis, along with the northwest of Anatolia, were within the borders of Lesser Phrygia.

In Constantinople, which the Arabs attempted to besiege many times, the first target and headquarters of the Muslim soldiers coming from land and sea was Uskudar. Harun al-Rashid came to Uskudar in 782, before he became caliph, and stayed there every year. In 783, after being defeated by Empress Irene’s army, he was reportedly forced to pay 70,000 gold coins. On the other hand, sources indicate that after the conquest of Anatolia by the Turks, Turasan Bey from the Danishmendids came as far as Uskudar, built a castle at Alemdağı, and was martyred in front of his castle while fighting against the Byzantines. However, since no trace of the mentioned castle has been found, this information cannot be verified. Uskudar, which continued to exist as a small town during the Byzantine period, has been the starting point for many revolutionary attempts. For example, in 963, Nikephoros Phokas declared himself emperor here and seized power. Furthermore, in 1097, the Crusader army established its camp in the hills of Uskudar, and in subsequent Crusades, the region was consistently used as a base.

Sultan Orhan (reigned 1324-1361), after taking the Bithynia region from the Byzantines, came to the vicinity of Hrisopolis, which was considered the gateway to this empire. In response, III. Andronikos sent his gathered soldiers there, but he was defeated. After a while, Sultan Orhan, who married Byzantine Princess Theodora, came to Uskudar in 1348 to visit his father-in-law Emperor John VI Kantakuzinos, and it is known that a large tent was set up in a dominant position overlooking the Marmara Sea and the Maiden’s Tower, which is still considered one of the indispensable symbols of Uskudar, for the accommodation of his family and the palace staff accompanying him. In 1352, after being defeated by the Venetians, Sultan Orhan sent cavalry forces to Kadıköy and Uskudar to support the Genoese navy that sought his help, thereby settling in these critical points of the Bosphorus and effectively capturing Kadıköy and Uskudar 101 years before the conquest of Istanbul. During the reign of I. Bayezid (the Thunderbolt) (1389-1402), it was decided that the cases of Muslims in Istanbul would be handled by a Muslim judge, thus a judge was appointed in Uskudar, which was under Turkish sovereignty.

After the death of Yıldırım Bayezid, during the period known as the Fetret Devri (Interregnum), when the territories in Bithynia were lost, the Turks were pushed away from Uskudar. However, after I. Mehmed (Çelebi) ascended to the throne, he reclaimed these territories from the Byzantines, thus restoring the old trade freedom of the Turks in the region. After the conquest of Istanbul, II. Mehmed (the Conqueror) settled Turks from Anatolia in place of the Greeks fleeing from Uskudar. However, since Uskudar had been under Turkish control for 100 years during the conquest and there are no documents to allow for a comparison, it is not possible to determine how much the population increased after the conquest. During the reign of II. Mehmed, with the division of the settlement areas of Istanbul into 4 judicial districts, Uskudar also became a district, forming a trio known as Bilad-ı Selase together with the Galata and Haslar districts.

The Tabhaneli Mosque and Tomb, built in 1471 by Grand Vizier Rum Mehmed Pasha and named after him, along with a medrese and bath that have not survived to the present day, are among the oldest Ottoman structures in Uskudar. An important feature of Uskudar during the Ottoman period was the ceremonial sending off of the Surre-i Hümayun, consisting of pilgrims going to Mecca and Medina each year, from here. The ceremonies held before the long convoy of camels carrying the pilgrims and gifts sent by the sultan to the Sharif of Mecca set off, brought great vitality to Uskudar. On the other hand, Uskudar is also laden with traces related to the end of life’s journey. Indeed, the Karacaahmed Cemetery, which began to form in the 14th century and completely became a Muslim cemetery after the conquest, is located here. In addition to the prominent Bektaşi figure Karaca Ahmed, many sheikhs from various Sufi orders established lodges in Uskudar.