\paperw4260 \margr0\margl0 \plain \fs20 \f1 \fs24 Mohammed II (1451-81), the conqueror of Constantinople, now renamed Istanbul, proved to be a tolerant ruler. The new legislation
of the Ottoman empire, the \i kanoun-name\i0 , permitted freedom of worship,\b \cf2 \ATXht11201 language\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 , and trade. The privileges of the Venetians and Genoese were renewed û naturally in exchange for the payment of tributes and the s
igning of pacts of non-aggression. The empire swallowed up the Pelopponesus, Albania, and lands bordering the Black Sea. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Ottomans advanced into Iran, put an end to Mameluke rule over Jerusalem, and landed in
Egypt and the \b \cf2 \ATXht11302 Maghreb\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 . The powerful Ottoman army, now engaged on several fronts, was made up of cavalry units known as \b \i \cf2 \ATXht11906 sipahi\b0 \i0 \cf0 \ATXht0 and a special corps, the \b \cf2 \ATXht11001 J
anissaries\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 , whose name derives from the Turkish \i yan∞ cheri\i0 , or new army. It was made up of young men recruited or abducted from Christian families, who were raised as Muslims and generously paid, but obliged to remain celibate so
as to devote their entire life to the faith and the \b \cf2 \ATXht11909 sultan\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 . Thus a new era began under the rule of \i shariÆah\i0 , Islamic law as the governing principle of the state.\par
