Constantinople

Timeline

1. 330Constantinople · Eastern Roman EmpireConstantine the Great expanded the ancient city of Byzantium, moving the imperial capital to the Bosphorus and calling it New Rome, later commonly known as Constantinople, which became the political and religious center of the Eastern Roman Empire.
2. 900–1204Constantinople · Byzantine EmpireThe city maintained a large population and wall defenses; Hagia Sophia was the symbol of Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Golden Horn plus overland trade routes made it a hub of Eurasian trade and diplomacy.
3. 1341–1350Constantinople · Byzantine EmpireAfter Andronikos III died in 1341, the young emperor John V and regent Anna of Savoy clashed with the general Kantakouzenos, sparking the Second Byzantine Civil War. The capital repeatedly became the focus of factional struggle, with finances and population steadily shrinking, yet it remained the nominal center of the empire.
4. 1453Constantinople · Ottoman EmpireIn May 1453 Mehmed II breached the Theodosian Walls after a 53-day siege, ending the Byzantine Empire. The city became the Ottoman capital and gradually came to be known as Istanbul.