text: In 1455, shortly after the conquest of Constantinople, the district had three categories of inhabitants: temporarily sojourning Genoese, Venetian and Catalan merchants; Genoese with Ottoman citizenship; and Greeks, Armenians and Jews. The composition of the population quickly changed: according to a census of 1478, almost half the local population was Muslim. From 1500 on, Sephardic Jews settled here after they were expelled from Spain in 1492.
  The French poet André Chénier was born in Karaköy in 1762; his father was a French merchant and diplomat, his mother an Ottoman Greek.
  Karaköy experienced a second wave of Christian arrivals when British,  French and Italian forces of the Allies came to Istanbul to fight in the Crimean War (1854–1856). The lack of piers made the unloading of troops and military equipment difficult so in 1879, a French company obtained a concession to build  a new quay in Karaköy, which was completed in 1895.
  In the last decade of the 19th century, Karaköy developed into a banking and insurance hub, especially along Voyvoda Street (Bankalar Caddesi). The Ottoman Bank established its headquarters here  while Italian and Austrian insurance companies opened branch offices.
  As trading activity increased in the early 20th century, the port was expanded with customs buildings, passenger terminals and naval warehouses. Karaköy also became famous for the Greek taverns along the quay.
  After 1917, thousands of White Russians fleeing the Bolshevik Revolution landed here and settled in the area.