Lorde Kinross - Os Séculos Otomanos

A momentous modern classic about an empire that changed the face of our world.
In 1453, the year that marks the beginning of the Modern Era, the Turks conquered Constantinople, the grand capital of the Byzantine Empire. It was the culmination of a centuries-long process, the development of which is nonetheless an impressive story: that of a nomadic people – the Seljuk Turks – who came from the steppes of Central Asia and who, in their westward advance, subjugated various populations and evolved from a simple tribe into a principality. The best known was created by Osman in Northwest Anatolia. It would become the origin of the Ottoman Empire.

Although not usually included among the great empires of history, the Ottoman Empire became one of the largest political and social structures, on a scale not seen in the West since the disintegration of the Roman Empire: it ruled Eastern Europe, Western Asia, and much of the Maghreb, as well as territories with very different political traditions, many ethnic groups – Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians, Romanians, Armenians, Turks, and Arabs – and diverse religious communities – Sunni and Shia Muslims, Christians of all historical Churches, and Jews. In some cases, the Empire ruled most of them for about 400 years, and some for more than 600.