His capital the to the former Byzantine city and renamed it 16 Mehmed's first concerns were restoring the city's defenses and repopulation. He ordered the
repair of the gates and walls, the construction of a fortress within the city, and the building of a palace.
To repopulate the city, he encouraged traders to return to their homes, promising money and
protection. Mehmed also demanded that Muslims, Christians, and Jews from across the empire resettle
in Constantinople. He allowed his subjects religious freedom as long as they 17
him.
Additionally, Mehmed created a central government, with loyal officials. Like the Byzantine
emperor Justinian, Mehmed also arranged criminal law and the law for his subjects into a single code. In
the twenty-five years after the fall of Constantinople, Mehmed undertook a number of military
campaigns in the Balkans, modern-day Romania, Hungary, Anatolia, the island of Rhodes, the Crimean
Peninsula, and southern Italy. On a final expedition into Italy in 18 Mehmed became ill and
died, but his legacy continued. The film on the following page covers the rise of the Ottoman Empire
from its beginnings in the 19
th century through the Conquest of Constantinople to its
major defeat by European Catholic states in the 20
th century.