On May 29, 1453, Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire captured Constantinople after a 53-day siege. The fall of the city, which had been the capital of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire for over a thousand years, sent shockwaves through Christendom. The event is often cited as marking the end of the Middle Ages. Many Greek scholars fled westward, bringing classical texts that helped fuel the Renaissance. The Ottomans renamed the city Istanbul and made it the capital of their empire.
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