Ottoman Constantinople Timeline

Ottoman Constantinople 12

1453 – 1520 Istanbul transformed -- population and architecture Between 1453 and 1520 Constantinople/Istanbul grows from a near-ghost city (perhaps 40,000 at the conquest) to perhaps 400,000 -- making it the largest city in Europe. The growth is driven by forced and voluntary migration: Turks, Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Slavs, Italians and Egyptians all contribute to a genuinely cosmopolitan capital. The physical transformation is equally dramatic: mosques, hans (caravanserais), hammams, medreses (schools) and markets replace or supplement Byzantine churches and palaces. The Grand Bazaar (Kapalıçarşı), begun under Mehmed II, becomes the largest covered market in the world -- a role it maintains for centuries.
1453 – 1481 Mehmed II the Conqueror -- rebuilding Constantinople Mehmed II (1451-1481) is the sultan who makes Constantinople Istanbul. Finding the city almost empty after centuries of Byzantine decline and three days of looting, he embarks on a massive repopulation programme -- forcibly relocating Greeks, Armenians, Jews and Turks from across the empire. He builds the Topkapi Palace (1459-1465) on the promontory overlooking the Bosphorus, the Grand Bazaar (1461), the Fatih Mosque complex (1470) and dozens of other buildings. He commissions a world map, collects a library of Greek and Latin manuscripts, has his portrait painted by Gentile Bellini, and writes poetry in Persian. He is simultaneously a military conqueror and a Renaissance prince.
1453 – 1520 Ottoman Constantinople (1453–1520) The 67 years between Mehmed II's conquest and Suleiman I's accession are the period in which Constantinople is transformed from a ruined Byzantine city into Istanbul -- the imperial capital of a world empire. Mehmed II (the Conqueror) repopulates the city, builds the Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar, patronises scholars from across the Islamic world and pursues further conquests in Greece, Serbia, Bosnia, Crimea and Albania. Bayezid II (1481-1512) absorbs the Jewish and Moorish refugees expelled from Spain (1492) and consolidates the empire's institutions. Selim I (1512-1520) doubles the empire's size in eight years, conquering Safavid Persia, Mamluk Egypt and Syria and assuming the caliphate.
1453 The millet system -- religious community governance Mehmed II formalises the millet system -- the organisation of non-Muslim subjects into self-governing religious communities (millets). The Greek Orthodox millet (led by the Ecumenical Patriarch), the Armenian millet and the Jewish millet each govern their own community's religious, educational, family and civil affairs under their own laws, paying a special tax (jizya) in return. The system preserves religious diversity across the empire and allows efficient administration of an enormously varied population. It also creates separate communal identities that eventually contribute to the empire's fragmentation along ethnic-religious lines in the 19th century.
1456 – 1479 Mehmed IIs further conquests -- Serbia, Greece, Albania After Constantinople, Mehmed II continues conquering. He takes Serbia (1459), the Morea/Peloponnese from Venice (1460), Trebizond -- the last Byzantine successor state (1461), Bosnia (1463), the Genoese colonies in Crimea (1475) and Albania (after the death of Skanderbeg in 1468). He besieges Rhodes unsuccessfully (1480) and lands a force in Italy at Otranto (1480) -- the only Ottoman force ever to occupy Italian soil. His death in 1481 probably prevents a full-scale Italian campaign. By his death the Ottoman Empire controls all of Anatolia and nearly all of southeastern Europe.
1459 – 1465 Topkapi Palace -- the heart of empire Topkapi Palace (Topkapı Sarayı), built by Mehmed II between 1459 and 1465 on the promontory between the Golden Horn, the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara, serves as the administrative centre and royal residence of the Ottoman Empire for nearly 400 years (until 1856). Its four courtyards contain the Imperial Council (divan), the treasury, the harem (added by Suleiman I), the Pavilion of the Holy Mantle (housing relics of the Prophet Muhammad) and the kitchens that fed up to 5,000 people daily. At its height 4,000 people live within its walls. It is now a museum and one of Turkey's most visited monuments.
1481 – 1512 Bayezid II -- the consolidator Bayezid II (1481-1512) is a more cautious ruler than his father -- a poet and mystic who prefers diplomacy to war and consolidation to expansion. His most consequential act is the welcome he extends to the Jews and Moors expelled from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella (1492). He reportedly sends his fleet to bring them to Ottoman ports, saying that Ferdinand had impoverished Spain and enriched the Ottoman Empire. The Sephardic Jews bring printing, medicine, finance and trade connections; their communities in Thessaloniki, Istanbul and Izmir remain significant for centuries. Bayezid is eventually forced to abdicate by his Janissaries in favour of his son Selim.
1481 Succession crisis -- Cem Sultan and Bayezid II Mehmed II's death (3 May 1481) triggers a succession war between his sons Bayezid and Cem. Bayezid reaches Istanbul first and secures the throne; Cem flees to the Knights of St John on Rhodes and then to France and Rome, where he becomes a valuable diplomatic tool -- the Pope and the French king can threaten to release him as a pretender if Bayezid causes trouble. Cem dies in Italy in 1495, probably poisoned at Ottoman request. The Cem episode demonstrates the Ottoman succession problem: the tradition of fratricide (killing brothers on accession) is brutal but prevents the decade-long civil wars of the Interregnum.
1492 The Jews of Spain welcomed to the Ottoman Empire When Ferdinand and Isabella expel the Jews from Spain (Alhambra Decree, 31 March 1492), Bayezid II sends his fleet to bring the refugees to Ottoman ports. Between 100,000 and 200,000 Sephardic Jews settle in the Ottoman Empire -- primarily in Thessaloniki, Istanbul, Izmir and Edirne. They bring with them Spanish language (Ladino, still spoken by some Sephardic communities), printing (the first printing press in the Ottoman Empire is Jewish-operated, 1493), medical knowledge and international trade connections. Thessaloniki becomes the largest Jewish city in the world. Bayezid II reportedly jokes that Ferdinand had impoverished his own kingdom while enriching the Ottoman Empire.
1512 – 1520 Selim I -- the Grim, the Conqueror of the East Selim I (1512-1520), nicknamed Yavuz (the Grim), rules for only eight years but doubles the empire's territory -- the fastest expansion in Ottoman history. He forces his father Bayezid II to abdicate, kills his brothers and nephews, and turns east with ferocious energy. He defeats the Safavid Shah Ismail at Chaldiran (1514), conquering eastern Anatolia and Kurdistan. He destroys the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt at Marj Dabiq (1516) and Ridaniyya (1517), annexing Syria, Palestine, Egypt and the Hejaz (including Mecca and Medina). He assumes the title of Caliph -- protector of the Islamic holy cities -- transforming the Ottoman sultanate into the leading power of the Sunni Islamic world.
1514 Battle of Chaldiran -- the Sunni-Shia divide hardened The Battle of Chaldiran (23 August 1514) pits Selim I's Ottoman army against Shah Ismail I's Safavid forces in eastern Anatolia. The Ottomans' decisive advantage is artillery -- Ismail's cavalry-based army has none. The Safavids are routed; Selim occupies Tabriz briefly. Chaldiran is more than a military victory: it establishes the Sunni-Shia frontier between the Ottoman and Safavid empires that roughly corresponds to the modern Turkey-Iran border. It also hardens the sectarian identity of both empires: the Ottomans as champions of Sunni Islam, the Safavids as champions of Shia Islam -- a division whose consequences endure.
1517 Selim assumes the Caliphate -- Ottoman leadership of Islam After conquering Egypt in 1517, Selim I is presented with the regalia of the Caliphate by the last Abbasid caliph (a puppet maintained by the Mamluks in Cairo since the Mongol destruction of Baghdad in 1258). Whether a formal transfer of the caliphate occurs is debated by historians -- the Ottoman claim to the caliphate is emphasised more in the 18th-19th centuries than in Selim's own time. What is clear: Selim controls Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem, earns the title 'Servant of the Two Holy Mosques' and becomes the pre-eminent Islamic ruler. The Ottoman caliphate endures until Ataturk abolishes it in 1924.