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Growth of
Ottoman Power
Meanwhile the
Ottoman power was extending in all directions. Constantinople
had already fallen in 1453. Now the island of Rhodes, in 1522,
was captured by the Turks after a gallant defence, and the
Knights of Hospitallers left the island with all the honours of
war. Finally, the Ottomans seized Egypt and Syria from the
Mamelukes.
Cyprus had,
since the reign of King Janus, paid tribute to the sultan of
Egypt, and now the Ottomans, by conquering Egypt, took over the
suzerainty of Cyprus. From this time the Ottomans looked upon
Cyprus as forming part of their empire, and this claim was
tacitly admitted by the Venetians, who sent to Constantinople
the annual tribute which had hitherto been paid to Cairo.
Every
extension of the Ottoman Empire made it more clear to Venice
that she would have eventually to defend Cyprus by force of
arms, and that the attack when it came, as they had seen in the
case of Rhodes, would be a very serious affair.
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