![[Gennadios_II_and_Mehmed_II.jpg]] *Mehmed the Conqueror and the Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church, who remained in Constantinople* Constantinople had been the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire (also called the Byzantine Empire) since the Emperor Constantine had moved his government there in 330 CE. The city was strategically important because it controlled the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits that connected the Mediterranean Sea with the Black Sea. This made it the gateway between Europe and Asia. Mehmed took the city as his new capital and it later became known as Istanbul. The Sultan allowed Christians and Jews to continue living in Istanbul and granted the Eastern Orthodox Church autonomy as long as they accepted Ottoman authority. But many Christian refugees fled the city and found their ways to cities like Venice and Florence, where they helped ignite the period known as the Renaissance that we'll discuss shortly. ![[Subject_Nationalities_of_the_German_Alliance_(1917)_(cropped).jpg]] *Map of ethnicities within the Ottoman Empire* Istanbul quickly became the largest Eurasian city outside China. Under Sultans like Suleiman the Magnificent (r. 1520-1566), the Ottomans expanded into Europe and nearly captured Vienna in 1529 and again in 1683. They controlled shipping in the western Mediterranean and the trade routes and major markets connecting to the Silk Road such as Cairo and Baghdad. The taxes and charges imposed in the Ottoman-controlled Middle East ultimately created an incentive for European merchants to seek other ways of reaching Asia and trading without these high costs. The Ottomans were actually quite tolerant of ethnic, language, and religious diversity, and their empire was multi-ethnic and multicultural. Local languages, religions, and even self-government were allowed as long as people remained loyal to the empire and paid their taxes. ![[Janissary_Recruitment_in_the_Balkans-Suleymanname.jpg]] *Registration of tribute boys who would become Janissaries, 1558* In regions that were too poor to pay in money or produce, the Ottomans often took a tax in the form of people. For example, young boys were taken as tribute captives from villages in the Balkans. They were converted to Islam, educated, and trained into an elite fighting force called the Janissaries who reported directly to the Emperor. Because they were personally loyal to one man, the Janissaries became politically powerful. Fear that their private army would betray them and name another heir Sultan caused many new rulers to assassinate all their brothers as soon as they took the throne. The Janissaries were the Ottomans’ most effective weapon from 1363 to 1826, when the sultan decided to disband them in favor of a more modern military. The Janissaries resisted this change and mutinied. They marched on the Sultan’s palace, but several thousand were wiped out by modern artillery and the survivors executed. The Ottoman Empire tried to modernize in other ways as well, but fell behind its European neighbors in the nineteenth century and finally met its end during the First World War. We’ll return to that story in a few chapters. ----- Next: [[3.3 - Safavid Empire]] Back: [[3.1 - Nations and Empires]]