Jerusalem - Ottoman

Ottoman took Jerusalem in 1517 by Selina the Grim who killed most of his kins as an ottoman tradition. His only surviving son Suleiman the great. He ordered a large number of building projects in Jerusalem and the population tripled including the growth of Jewish as refugees from west. Most of city walls and gates today attribute to him as well as some other constructions. Sinan might have supervised some projects personally on his way back from Mecca. Suleiman never stepped into Jerusalem himself like the other great builder of the city, Constantine. 

The end of 15th and beginning of 16th century saw the expel of the last Muslim and Jews from Iberian, the rise of protestants,  the dawn of the discovery age, and much more. In the Ottoman Empire, a Jew called Joseph gained trust in Istanbul, gather a fortune and build a Jew city close to galilee. In Jerusalem Jews were allowed under permission to pray under the wall. Christians were largely expelled by Suleiman but give some privilege to Franciscan when he needed France as an ally. Christians kept fighting teeth to teeth among them with as many as 8 sects trying to take the holy sepulcher. Armenians had some advantage with heir influence in Istanbul. Some Jews turned to mysticism. Ottoman once banned Jews from a main synagogue as persecution.

An English visited Jerusalem before he headed to American. He was amused by the nodding pray style of Jews and angered by the frenetic catholic ceremony. But he felt strongly to the tomb of Jesus and crusade kings. Charlie was beheaded by Cromwell who was a puritan Zionist who believed Jews should go back to Jerusalem and convert to Christianity before Jesus could rise again. He also allowed Jews to England as these filthy people should scattered to all corners in the world before going back to Zion.

Jews were continuously persecuted across Europe. Cossack killed tens of thousands Jews in Poland and Ukraine in the 17th century. A sled-claimed Messiah called Sabbatai became a phenomenon. He would be considered as crazy but hailed by a large number of Jews all over Europe in the apocalyptic atmosphere. His claim of apocalypse in 1666 did not happen and he died soon after. 

A great Muslim traveler and writer Evliya depicted Jerusalem in his 10 volume travel dairies. He was amazed by the Dome and claimed it as a pavilion in Heaven with no equal on earth. He enjoyed the Sufi activities which had always been popular in Jerusalem. He visited the Holy Sepulcher during Easter and figured out the secret of the holy fire. Evliya also recorded the conflict between Catholic and Orthodox. He made fun on Islam himself which is unusual today. 

Christians kept fighting in the holy land with Russia as a new power. In 1699, Ottoman was defeated in battlefields and signed treaty. The Turkish empire kept declining. In 1702, Jerusalem was cracked by rebelled peasant. The rebellions gained independence of Jerusalem and they were much less tolerant and more cruel to Jews and Christians with ridiculous fines. The head of the rebellions are Hussenis whose name was stolen by another family of the Ghudayyas which took control later. The power of the family continued all the way to the 20th and 21st century. 
                              
Families started controlling the city by inheriting important jobs. Jews were hit hard without anyone backing them up in Europe. Christians, as usual, hated each other than the infidels. The holy sepulcher was described as a filthy place. Orthodox launched an ambush on the Franciscan and gained control of the Holy Sepulcher (until today?).  In 1770s, a Bedouin, as the only Palestinian Arab ruler of Jerusalem, ruled a large area in the region.  

In 1774, Cathrine the Great forced Ottoman to recognize Russia as the protector of the Orthodox in Jerusalem. 

In 1798, 28 year old Napoleon sailed to conquer Egypt with 35000 troops. From Egypt, he marched north to secure Syria since the French fleet was obliterated by English in Mediterranean. On his way, he would pass Jerusalem.