The Ottoman's army, led by Sultan Mehmed II, captured the Byzantine Capital, Constantinople, on 1453. The consequences were the death of Constantine XI, the Byzantine emperor, the complete decline of the Roman Empire and the end of the Medieval period. Among other effects, the event marked a strong impact to Christianism, the rise and spread of Islamism in North Africa, the total Turk control of the trade routes that linked the Black Sea to the Mediterranean and the Greek Christians were forced to escape to Italy, which has been considered a glimpse of the Renaissance.