Which peninsula contains Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul, and is also called Asia Minor?

The Anatolian Peninsula contains Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul, and is also called Asia Minor.

Anatolia forms most of the Asian part of modern Turkey and is bounded by the Black Sea, the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The Bosporus, Sea of Marmara and Dardanelles separate it from European Turkey and create a major intercontinental corridor.

The peninsula has hosted major civilizations, including the Hittites, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and Seljuks. Istanbul’s historic core lies on the European side, but the city also extends across the Bosporus onto Anatolia.

Asia Minor is a historical name rather than the official modern name of the landform. Anatolia is the usual geographic term, derived from a Greek word meaning “east” or “sunrise.”