w. it was a huge empire dominated by a turkish din a state that had its origins in asia minor they also means were defined as of islam in four hundred fifty three they subjugated the byzantine empire whose capital constantinople became istanbul. during their heyday in the seventeenth century they even laid siege to vienna the ottoman empire stretched across three continents from the black sea to the red sea they ruled a considerable mix of peoples and faiths but then came the century in which the ottoman empire disintegrated its collapse can still be felt in the balkans in the