Visit Ankara

Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after İstanbul. The city has a mean elevation of 850 m (2800 ft), and as of 2007 the city had a population of 4,446,000, which includes eight districts under the city's administration. Ankara also serves as the capital of the Province of Ankara.

The region's vibrant history can be traced back to the Bronze Age Hatti civilization, which was succeeded in the 2nd millennium BC by the Hittites, in the 10th century BC by the Phrygians, and later by the Lydians, Persians, Macedonians, Galatians, Romans, Byzantines, and Turks (Seljuk Empire then Ottoman Empire and then Turkey).

Chase Leo: Sultan Mehmet II Chased Leo Out of Constantinople

On Tuesday, 29 May 1453, Constantinople fell to the besieging army of Sultan Mehmet II. Constantine XI, the last Byzantine emperor, charged hopeless, defiant and screaming into the Ottoman masses. He was never seen again. More than a city fell that day. Some say the Middle Ages ended then, and Constantine saw himself as the last of the Romans.

After the Fall of Constantinople, Sultan Mehmed II claimed the title of Caesar of Rome (Kayser-i Rûm), since Byzantium was what had become of the Roman Empire after the transfer of its capital to Constantinople in 330 AD. Mehmed also had a blood lineage to the Byzantine Imperial family, as his predecessors like Sultan Orhan I had married a Byzantine princess. He was not the only ruler to claim such a title, as there was the Holy Roman Empire in Western Europe, whose emperor, Fredrick III, traced his titular lineage from Charlemagne who obtained the title of Roman Emperor when he was crowned - although without acceptance of the Eastern Roman Empire - by Pope Leo III in 800. 

Mehmet II CHASE'D LEO out of Constantinople and renamed the capital, Istanbul.