278 A Short History of The World last Constantinople remained like an island amongst the Ottoman dominions. In 1453 the Ottoman Sultan, Muhammad II, took Constantinople, attacking it from the European side with a great number of guns. This event caused intense excitement in Europe and there was talk of a crusade, but the day of the crusades was past. In the course of the sixteenth century the Ottoman Sultans conquered Bagdad, Hungary, Egypt and most of North Africa, and their fleet made them masters of the Mediterranean. They very orroAiATsr safest air t^ Ra^ih. or* SuhaxaaXL iuz'magnifieezcb' 1S66A.T>. nearly took Vienna, and they exacted a tribute from the Emperor. There were but two items to offset the general ebb of Christian dominion in the fifteenth century. One was the restoration of the independence of Moscow (1480) ; the other was the gradual recon- quest of Spain by the Christians. In 1492, Granada, the last Moslem state in the peninsula, fell to King Ferdinand of Aragon and his Queen Isabella of Castile. But it was not until as late as 1571 that the naval battle of Lepanto broke the pride of the Ottomans, and restored the Mediter- ranean waters to Christian ascendancy.
