Cannons were brought closer to the walls and, on the night of 28–29 May, Ottoman ships were brought as close as possible to the sea walls. By early morning on 29 May, the walls had been breached and defences collapsed.
SkillBuilder discussion Communicating 1. Work in groups or pairs to describe the significance of the cannons during the Ottoman attack on Constantinople. Why were they critical in the final assault? 2. How did the defenders of Constantinople resist the larger Ottoman forces for weeks? What strategies might they have employed? 3. Summarise the sequence
SOURCE7 The taking of Constantinopole by Palma Le Jeune (1544–1620)
of events that led to the fall of Constantinople on the morning of 29 May.
DID YOU KNOW? The city of Constantinople eventually became known as Istanbul. Medieval travellers would sometimes use the phrase ‘ 𝜀 í ς 𝜏̀ην ⊓ ò λ ı ν ’ [is tin polin], meaning ‘into the city’. However, this change didn’t come about until the late 1920s. 4.4.3 After the fall of Constantinople
The fall of Constantinople was a significant event in medieval history. Not only does it mark the official end of the Eastern Roman Empire, but some historians see it as the end of the entire medieval period. Losing Constantinople was also a great blow for Christianity in Europe. The greatest symbol of this change was the conversion of the great Hagia Sophia church into a mosque. However, there were also several positive outcomes from the fall of Constantinople. • The Age of Exploration. The Ottomans now controlled the major trade link between Europe and Asia. This forced European powers, including Spain and Portugal, to consider different methods of reaching the Far East. It is thought that the journeys of discovery of the great European explorers may have occurred because of this need. • The Renaissance . The Islamic focus on academic pursuits (especially mathematics and science) is
SOURCE8 Vasco da Gama’s first voyage to India
Key
PORTUGAL
Azores
Lisbon
Vasco de Gama’s first voyage
Canary Islands
Alexandria
Cairo
Hormuz
INDIA
ARABIA
Diu
Goa
AFRICA
Cannanore
Aden
Calicut Cochin
Cape Verde Islands
Elmina
Mogadishu
Malindi
INDIAN
St. Helena
Kilwa
OCEAN
Mozambique
Sofala
Madagascar
Cape of Good Hope
0
1000
2000
kilometres
Source: Based on http://media.web.britannica.com/eb- media/21/144621-050-B67E1FE0.gif
well documented. After the fall of Constantinople, Ottoman traders and scholars began to interact with their European counterparts more frequently. These interactions are thought to have directly influenced the development of the Renaissance in Europe.
Jacaranda Humanities Alive 8 Victorian Curriculum Third Edition
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