India, May 31 -- From Constantinople's fall to IMEC ambitions, geography continues shaping trade, power, and India-Europe strategic convergence.

Introduction

As the first rays of the sun struck the horizons over the Bosphorus Strait and Ottoman flags rose over the walls of erstwhile Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) on May 29, 1453, the Byzantine singer Manuel Doukas Chrysaphes lamented the fall of his city famed as the "Eye of the World". As the candles in Hagia Sophia flickered for one last time while the city was struck by cannons and imperial ambition, it was not merely a city or dynasty that collapsed; control over trade strategic routes, and memory linking Asia and Europe had shifted. And speaking of memory, the recent meeting ...