The district is mainly built on the land owned by Ekrem Ömer Paşa in the 19th century. The name Esenyurt drives from one of the land owners Eşkinoz. The area received migration from Romania and Bulgaria between 1920 and 1938, and had more recent migration mainly from Ardahan and Kars, as well as Erzurum and Artvin.
Esenyurt is a district of the Istanbul Province and is a part of the metropolitan municipality of Istanbul. Located in the European side of Istanbul, Esenyurt borders with Avcilar and Küçükçekmece Lake on the east, Büyükçekmece on the west, Başakşehir, Arnavutköy and TEM road on the north and Beylikdüzü and E-5 motorway on the south. The district covers an area of 2.770 hectares and has its own municipality since 1989.
With the construction boom of large residential complexes in the area in the past few years, Esenyurt benefited from a major development. It now has four cultural centres, which are Esenyurt Cultural Centre, Saadetdere Cultural Centre, Yenikent Cultural Centre and Yunus Balta Cultural Centre. Four parks built in Esenyurt (Recep Tayip Erdoğan Park, Şehitler Park, Gaziler Park and Kadir Topbaş Park) are also situated among the complexes.
