page_title: History of Istanbul
section_title: Conquest
hierarchical_section_title: History of Istanbul / Ottoman Empire / Conquest
caption_attribution_description: Melchior Lorck
context_page_description: The city today known as Istanbul has been the site of human settlement for approximately three thousand years. The settlement, whose earliest known name is Lygos, was founded by Thracian tribes. It was colonised by the Greeks in the 7th century BC. It fell to the Roman Republic in 196 BC, and was known as Byzantium until 330, when it was renamed Constantinople and made the new capital of the Roman Empire. During late antiquity, the city rose to be the largest of the western world, with a population peaking at close to half a million people. Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which ended with the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Constantinople then became the capital of the Ottoman Empire.
  Population had declined during the medieval period, but as the Ottoman Empire approached its historical peak, the city grew to a population of close to 700,000 in the 16th century, once again ranking among the world's most populous cities. When the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923, the capital was moved from Constantinople to Ankara.
context_section_description: On 29 May 1453, Sultan Mehmed II "the Conqueror", entered Constantinople after a 53–day siege during which his cannon had torn a huge hole in the Walls of Theodosius II. The city became the third capital of the Ottoman Empire.
  Mehmed had begun the siege on 6 April 1453. He had hired engineers to build cannons and bombs for the occasion. He also acquired scholars and imams to encourage the soldiers. In accordance with Shariah (Muslim Holy Law), Mehmed gave the Byzantine emperor Constantine Palaeologus (1449–1453) three chances to surrender the city. He guaranteed the safety of the city's residents, with their riches, beliefs and honor. Constantine valiantly refused the offer.
  After more than a month of fighting, Mehmed's advisors were beginning to lose hope. Against their counsel, Mehmed continued to fight. The night before the final assault, he studied previous attempts to take the city to distinguish potentially successful approaches. On the morning of 29 May 1453 the sultan ordered  Adzan (the call to prayer). This was not a regular prayer session for religious reasons but rather a scare tactic: the sight of the entire Ottoman army getting on their knees to pray provided an intimidating display of unity to the Byzantine forces designed to overcome their minds before their bodies.
  Once the fighting started, it went on for forty-eight days. The wall was beginning to collapse when Constantine sent a letter to the pope asking for help. In response the Papacy sent five ships full of reinforcements, weapons and supplies. Another defense tactic involved Constantine blocking off the port so that the Ottoman army could not get ships into it. Mehmed had his people pave a path from oiled tree branches in order to bring eighty ships overland, and placed them into the gulf behind the enemy ships. The Ottoman ships burnt the Byzantine ones in a naval battle.
  Since the Byzantine army was still holding on after this defeat, the sultan thought it was time to set up his secret weapon, a huge mobile tower. This tower could hold many soldiers who could be at the same level as the walls of the city, making it easier for them to break into Constantinople. The first group of Ottomans who entered the city were killed almost immediately, with the effect that the other Muslims began to retreat. Witnessing this, the sultan encouraged his soldiers. Soon after the sultan's encouragement the Muslims broke the wall in two places and entered the city. In a last attempt to protect it, Constantine attacked the enemy sword raised; however he was defeated and killed.
  Finally, Constantinople was under Ottoman rule. Mehmed entered Constantinople through what is now known as the Topkapi Gate. He immediately rode his horse to the Hagia Sophia which he ordered to be sacked. He ordered that an imam meet him there in order to chant the Muslim Creed: "I testify that there is no God but Allah. I testify that Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah." He turned the Orthodox cathedral into a Turkish mosque, solidifying Turkish rule in Constantinople.
  Mehmed ordered the city to be plundered for three days; during this time, widespread persecution of the city's civilian inhabitants took place, resulting in thousands of casualties, rapes and forced deportations.
  Following the sack, Mehmed's main concern with Constantinople had to do with rebuilding the city's defenses and re-population. Building projects were commenced immediately after the conquest, which included the repair of the walls, construction of the citadel, and building a new palace. Mehmed issued orders across his empire that Muslims, Christians, and Jews should resettle the city; he demanded that five thousand households needed to be deported to Constantinople by September.
caption: Melchior Lorck - The Prospect of Constantinople (16th century)
exif: {}