Üsküdar, İstanbul

Üsküdar Üsküdar Belediyesi
Municipality of Üsküdar
Kız kulesi (Maiden's Tower), off the coast of Üsküdar
Üsküdar
Coordinates (Municipal Building): 41°1′26.36″N 29°0′59.48″E / 41.0239889°N 29.0165222°E / 41.0239889; 29.0165222
Country	Turkey
Province	Istanbul Province
Made a municipality of Istanbul	1984
Neighborhoods	List Acıbadem Ahmediye Altunizade Aziz Mahmud Hudayı Bahçelievler Barbaros Beylerbeyi Bulgurlu Burhaniye Çengelköy Cumhuriyet Ferah Güzeltepe İcadiye Kandilli Kirazlıtepe Kısıklı Küçük Çamlıca Küçüksu Kuleli Küplüce Kuzguncuk Mehmet Akif Ersoy Mimar Sinan Murat Reis Salacak Selamiali Selimiye Sultantepe Ünalan Validei Atik Yavuztürk Zeynep Kamil
Government
• Mayor	Hilmi Türkmen (AKP)
Area
• District	46.41 km2 (17.92 sq mi)
Population (2012)
• District	535,916
• District density	12,000/km2 (30,000/sq mi)
Website	http://www.uskudar.bel.tr

Üsküdar (Turkish pronunciation: [ysˈcydaɾ]), formerly known as Scutari (Scutàrion, Σκουτάριον in Greek), is a large and densely populated district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, on the Anatolian shore of the Bosphorus. It is bordered on the north by Beykoz, on the east by Ümraniye, on the southeast by Ataşehir, on the south by Kadıköy, and on the west by the Bosphorus, with the areas of Beşiktaş, Beyoğlu, and Eminönü on the opposite shore. It is home to about half a million people. Üsküdar is also the usual name for the historic center of the municipality.

Üsküdar was originally called "Skoutarion" (Byzantine Greek Σκουτάριον) during the Byzantine Empire. This word may have been used to describe the scutum shields that guards used that were made of leather. This is believed because the word scutari means "raw tanned leather." Others who visited the area called it Eksüdar or Escutaire.

Üsküdar was founded in the 7th century BC by ancient Greek colonists from Megara as Chrysopolis (Greek: Χρυσόπολις) 'golden city', a few decades before Byzantium was founded on the opposite shore. According to an ancient Greek geographer, the city received the name Chrysopolis because the Persian empire had a gold depository there or because it was associated with Agamemnon and Chryseis' son Chryses., while according to an 18th-century writer it received the name because of the excellence of its harbor. The city was used as a harbor and shipyard and was an important staging post in the wars between the Greeks and Persians. In 410 BC Chrysopolis was taken by the Athenian general Alcibiades, and the Athenians used it thenceforth to charge a toll on ships coming from and going to the Black Sea. Long overshadowed by its neighbor Chalcedon during the Hellenistic and Roman period, it maintained its identity and increased its prosperity until it surpassed Chalcedon. Due to its less favorable location with respect to the currents of the Bosporus, however, it never surpassed Byzantium.