Ahmed I

The structural problem running beneath all of this was the Kafes the Cage.

Ahmed I, who came to power in 1603 at age 13 and died at 27, made a decision that seemed humane at the time and turned out to be deeply consequential.

He ended the Ottoman practice of executing all princes upon a new sultan's accession.

Fratricide had been brutal, but produced rulers who had at least survived a competitive environment.

But the immediate aftermath of Pasrowitz brought something unexpected, a pause.

a genuine stretch of relative peace, during which the ruling class of Istanbul discovered that it rather enjoyed not being perpetually at war, and began spending its energy and resources on other things.

The grand vizier of this period was Nevşehirli Damat Ibrahim Paşa, son-in-law of Sultan Ahmed III, and he had a sensibility that was unusual in Ottoman political history.

He was curious about Europe.

Be careful what you wish for.

I always had dreamed of doing a bird's eye view from Sultan Ahmed, but I never knew quite how to get permission.

And then I was introduced to somebody that worked there and they said, oh, I'll try and get you permission.

But Friday came and I didn't hear from him.

The Blue Mosque in Istanbul has six minarets, which caused controversy when it was built in 1616 because the mosque in Mecca also had six.

Sultan Ahmed I resolved the issue by funding a seventh minaret for the mosque in Mecca.

The Chrysler Building’s distinctive stainless steel crown was made by the Krupp steel company in Germany, and each of the triangular windows in the arches is set at a slightly different angle to catch and reflect light throughout the day.

A ha-ha wall around an English country house typically drops about one point five meters below ground level, enough to keep livestock out of the garden while remaining invisible from the main windows of the house.