<P> The Christian Orthodox city of Constantinople was now under Ottoman control . When Mehmed II finally entered Constantinople through what is now known as the Topkapi Gate, he immediately rode his horse to the Hagia Sophia, where he ordered his soldiers to stop hacking at the marbles and' be satisfied with the booty and captives; as for all the buildings, they belonged to him' . He ordered that an imam meet him there in order to chant the adhan thus transforming the Orthodox cathedral into a Muslim mosque, solidifying Islamic rule in Constantinople . </P> <P> Mehmed's main concern with Constantinople had to do with rebuilding the city's defenses and population . Building projects were commenced immediately after the conquest, which included the repair of the walls, construction of the citadel, and building a new palace . Mehmed issued orders across his empire that Muslims, Christians, and Jews should resettle the city; he demanded that five thousand households needed to be transferred to Constantinople by September . From all over the Islamic empire, prisoners of war and deported people were sent to the city: these people were called "Sürgün" in Turkish (Greek: σουργούνιδες). Two centuries later, Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi gave a list of groups introduced into the city with their respective origins . Even today, many quarters of Istanbul, such as Aksaray, Çarşamba, bear the names of the places of origin of their inhabitants . However, many people escaped again from the city, and there were several outbreaks of plague, so that in 1459 Mehmet allowed the deported Greeks to come back to the city . </P> <P> Constantinople was the largest and richest urban center in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea during the late Eastern Roman Empire, mostly as a result of its strategic position commanding the trade routes between the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea . It would remain the capital of the eastern, Greek - speaking empire for over a thousand years . At its peak, roughly corresponding to the Middle Ages, it was the richest and largest European city, exerting a powerful cultural pull and dominating economic life in the Mediterranean . Visitors and merchants were especially struck by the beautiful monasteries and churches of the city, in particular, Hagia Sophia, or the Church of Holy Wisdom: A Russian 14th - century traveler, Stephen of Novgorod, wrote, "As for Hagia Sophia, the human mind can neither tell it nor make description of it ." </P> <P> It was especially important for preserving in its libraries manuscripts of Greek and Latin authors throughout a period when instability and disorder caused their mass - destruction in western Europe and north Africa: On the city's fall, thousands of these were brought by refugees to Italy, and played a key part in stimulating the Renaissance, and the transition to the modern world . The cumulative influence of the city on the west, over the many centuries of its existence, is incalculable . In terms of technology, art and culture, as well as sheer size, Constantinople was without parallel anywhere in Europe for a thousand years . </P>

Why was constantinople an important center of european trade