Mostafa Minawi is an associate professor of history at Cornell University and the director of the Critical Ottoman and Post-ottoman studies. He is the author of "The Ottoman Scramble for Africa: Empire and Diplomacy in the Sahara and the Hijaz", as well as the very recent "Losing Istanbul: Arab-Ottoman Imperialists and the End of Empire". His short video ‘The rise of the Ottoman Empire’ he made with TED-Ed has almost a million views on Youtube and is just the coolest introduction into the history of the Ottoman Empire.

We talk about the founding dream of Osman I, the Janissaries, the power of the Imperial Harems and the Golden Age of Istanbul.