History of the Ottoman Empire | Map and Timeline

The Siege of Constantinople in 1453 marked one of the most pivotal turning points in world history, signaling the fall of the Byzantine Empire and the rise of the Ottoman Empire as a dominant power bridging Europe and Asia. For over a millennium, Constantinople had stood as the enduring capital of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, a bastion of Christian Orthodoxy, and a center of classical learning and culture. Its fall to Sultan Mehmed II after a 53-day siege represented not only the collap