Lecture: The Ottoman Empire and Modern Europe

September 16, 2025 7:45 PM - 9:00 PM at Zoom only: https://www.stalbanshistory.org/events/event/lecture-the-ottoman-empire-and-modern-europe

At its height under Suleiman the Magnificent (1520–1566AD), the Ottoman Empire spanned three continents and controlled critical nodes of global trade, religion and geopolitics. While often remembered for their military conquests and imperial dominance, the Ottomans inadvertently triggered one of history‘s greatest turning points – the Age of Exploration and the rise of the West. Through the story of the fall of Constantinople and Europe’s desperate quest for new trade routes, this talk will look at how Ottoman expansion forced Europe to innovate, colonise, and ultimately dominate the globe. Was the Empire an unwitting catalyst for modernity?

Tim Boatswain is a professor of Anthropology and History, whose research, while at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, was on Byzantium and the East Mediterranean. He is a regular contributor to the Adult Education programme at St Albans Cathedral.

To book tickets on Eventbrite (free to members, £5 for non-members): https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-ottoman-empire-and-modern-europe-tickets-1555758628939?aff=oddtdtcreator