After the Peace of Turin, the Venetians ruled the eastern Mediterranean unopposed until the mid-15th century. However, with the capture of Constantinople by 19-year-old Mohammed the Conqueror in 1453, Venetian sea power was put under serious threat. From this point, their status as one of the foremost powers of Europe began to decline.
The Turks continued to intimidate the Venetians and threaten their trade routes. With the Ottoman conquest of Syria and Egypt in 1517, and Rhodes in 1522, the Venetians began to lose control of their overseas lands. The Ottoman Empire grew in strength and with the capture of Algiers in 1529, Christian European interests were threatened by Turkish domination of the coast from Albania to Morocco.
