Western History 77: What bought about the Fall of Constantinople?

On the 29^th May 1453, Constantinople, the capital and last stranglehold of the Byzantine Empire fell to the forces of Mehmed the Conqueror, the seventh sultan of the Ottoman Empire. The defeat followed a 53-day long siege that brought to an end the 1500 year old Roman Empire. It also signified the end of the Late Middle Ages and represented a huge blow for Christendom.

The Ottomans would later move their capital from Edirne (historically Adrianople) to Constantinople. The Hagia Sophia Greek Orthodox church was soon converted into a Mosque, although the position of Patriarch of Constantinople, the head of the Orthodox church, was maintained.

From a cultural perspective the fall of Byzantine caused the mass migration of scholars away from Constantinople to Europe proper that historians believe may have accelerated the expansion of Renaissance humanism (Platonic and Neo-Platonic thought) and the revival of Greek and Rome science on the continent.

It also signalled the closing of a land route to India and China whose net effect would provide impetus for the sea driven Age of Exploration that was to follow.