Which came first? · Tricky

Which came first: the fall of Constantinople or Oxford University?

Oxford University came first, in 1096 (teaching begins). The fall of Constantinople followed 357 years later, in 1453.

  1. Second1453

    The fall of Constantinople

    event · happened

    Constantinople fell to the Ottomans in 1453, ending the Byzantine Empire.

    Checked against Wikipedia and Wikidata

  2. First1096

    Oxford University

    university · teaching begins

    Teaching at Oxford is recorded from 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world.

    Checked against Wikipedia and Wikidata

All which-came-first pairs · About Older Than You Think · Quiz games

Years from Wikidata, each checked against the item’s English Wikipedia article on 2026-10-18. A year stands for what its label says: a founding, a first patent, a premiere.