What role did the fall of the Byzantine Empire (the Eastern Roman Empire) on May 29, 1453, to the Ottoman Turks under Mehmet II play in Europeans risking dangerous ocean voyages to discover new trade routes to Asia?
Mehmed surrounded Constantinople from land and sea while employing cannon to maintain a constant barrage of the city's formidable walls. The fall of the city removed what was once a powerful defense for Christian Europe against Muslim invasion, allowing for uninterrupted Ottoman expansion into eastern Europe.
