If trade through Ottoman rules lands and seas had just been a matter of "pay the fee and get through", a lot of the pressures that defined the boundaries of Eur

If trade through Ottoman rules lands and seas had just been a matter of "pay the fee and get through", a lot of the pressures that defined the boundaries of European life would not have been there. Now, the fact that the Ottoman Empire could not capitalize on its quick successes is a symptom of the limits of how far one can go with feudal+warlord structures. Do bear in mind that the "empire" was still a going concern for 400 years after that. Had the Portuguese not had an incentive to circumnavigate Africa and had Columbus not had an incentive to try to get to India by traveling West, would the settlement of the Americas have happened at the pace it did?