Ottoman Empire

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"Turkish Empire" redirects here. For empires with Turkic origins, see List of
Turkic dynasties and countries.
Ottoman Empire
???? ???? ???????
Devlet-i ?Aliye-i ?Osmaniye
The Exalted Ottoman State
c. 12991922/1923[dn 1]
Flag
Flag (18441922)
Coat of arms (1882 design)
Coat of arms (1882 design)
Motto
???? ??? ???
Devlet-i Ebed-mddet
"The Eternal State"
Anthem
(various)
(during 18081922)

The Ottoman Empire at its greatest extent in Europe, under Sultan Mehmed IV.
Capital
Sgt[1]
(c. 12991335)
Bursa[2]
(13351363)
Edirne[2]
(13631453)
Constantinople[dn 2]
(Islambol)[dn 3][3][4]
(present-day Istanbul)
(14531922)
Languages
Ottoman Turkish (official)
many others
Religion
Sunni Islam (Creed: Maturidi; Madhab: Hanafi)
Government
Absolute monarchy
(c. 12991876)
(18781908)
(19201922)
Constitutional monarchy
(18761878)
(19081920)
Sultan
c. 12991323/4 Osman I (first)
19181922 Mehmed VI (last)
Caliph
15121520 Selim I (first)[5]
19221924 Abdlmecid II (last)
Grand Vizier
13201331 Alaeddin Pasha (first)
19201922 Ahmet Tevfik Pasha (last)
Legislature General Assembly
Upper house Senate
Lower house Chamber of Deputies
History
 Founded c. 1299
Interregnum 14021414
Transformation to empire 1453
1st Constitutional 18761878
2nd Constitutional 19081920
Raid on the Sublime Porte 23 January 1913
Sultanate abolished[dn 4] 1 November 1922
Republic of Turkey established[dn 5] 29 October 1923
Caliphate abolished 3 March 1924
Area
1683 [6][7] 5,200,000 km2 (2,000,000 sq mi)
1914 [8] 1,800,000 km2 (690,000 sq mi)
Population
1856 est. 35,350,000
1906 est. 20,884,000
1912 est.[9] 24,000,000
Currency Ake, Para, Sultani, Kurus, Lira
Preceded by Succeeded by
Anatolian Seljuks
Adal Sultanate
Anatolian beyliks
Byzantine Empire
Kingdom of Bosnia
Second Bulgarian Empire
Serbian Despotate
Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Croatia
Mamluk Sultanate
Hafsid dynasty
Hospitallers of Tripolitania
Kingdom of Tlemcen
Empire of Trebizond
Principality of Samtskhe
Turkish Prov. Gov.
Hellenic Republic
Caucasus Viceroyalty
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Revolutionary Serbia
Albania
Kingdom of Romania
Principality of Bulgaria
OETA
Mandatory Iraq
Kingdom of Hejaz
French Algeria
British Cyprus
French Tunisia
Italian Libya
Part of a series on the
History of the
Ottoman Empire
Coat of Arms of the Ottoman Empire
Rise
(12991453)[show]
Classical Age
(14531566)[show]
Transformation
(15661703)[show]
Old Regime
(17031789)[show]
Decline and modernization
(17891908)[show]
Defeat and dissolution
(19081922)[show]
Historiography
v t e
The Ottoman Empire (/'?t?m?n/; Ottoman Turkish: ???? ???? ?????????, Devlet-i ?
Aliye-i ?Osmaniye, literally The Exalted Ottoman State; Modern Turkish: Osmanli
Imparatorlugu or Osmanli Devleti; also historically known in Western Europe as the
Turkish Empire,[10] Ottoman Turkey[11][12] or simply Turkey[13]) was an empire
founded at the end of the 13th century in northwestern Anatolia in the town of
Sgt (modern-day Bicelik Province) by the Oghuz Turkish tribal leader Osman.[14]
After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans,
the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans
ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the
Conqueror.[15]

During the 16th and 17th centuries, at the height of its power under the reign of
Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Empire was a multinational, multilingual
empire controlling much of Southeast Europe, parts of Central Europe, Western Asia,
the Caucasus, North Africa, and the Horn of Africa.[16] At the beginning of the
17th century, the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of
these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted
various types of autonomy during the course of centuries.[dn 6]

With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean
basin, the Ottoman Empire was at the centre of interactions between the Eastern and
Western worlds for six centuries. While the empire was once thought to have entered
a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is
no longer supported by the majority of academic historians.[17] The empire
continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, and military
throughout the seventeenth and much of the eighteenth century.[18] However, during
a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind
that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires.[19] The Ottomans
consequently suffered severe military defeats in the late eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries, which prompted them to initiate a comprehensive process of
reform and modernisation known as the Tanzimat. Thus over the course of the
nineteenth century the Ottoman state became vastly more powerful and organised,
despite suffering further territorial losses, especially in the Balkans, where a
number of new states emerged.[20] The empire allied with Germany in the early 20th
century, hoping to escape from the diplomatic isolation which had contributed to
its recent territorial losses, and thus joined World War I on the side of the
Central Powers.[21] While the Empire was able to largely hold its own during the
conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent, especially with the Arab Revolt
in its Arabian holdings. During this time, major atrocities were committed by the
Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks.[22]

The Empire's defeat and the occupation of part of its territory by the Allied
Powers in the aftermath of World War I resulted in its partitioning and the loss of
its Middle Eastern territories, which were divided between the United Kingdom and
France. The successful Turkish War of Independence against the occupying Allies led
to the emergence of the Republic of Turkey in the Anatolian heartland and the
abolition of the Ottoman monarchy.[23]

Contents [hide]
1 Name
2 History
2.1 Rise (c. 12991453)
2.2 Expansion and apogee (14531566)
2.3 Stagnation and reform (15661827)
2.3.1 Revolts, reversals, and revivals (15661683)
2.3.2 Russian threat grows
2.4 Decline and modernization (18281908)
2.5 Defeat and dissolution (19081922)
3 Historical debate on the origins and nature of the Ottoman state
4 Government
4.1 Law
4.2 Military
5 Administrative divisions
6 Economy
7 Demographics
7.1 Language
7.2 Religion
7.2.1 Islam
7.2.2 Christianity and Judaism
8 Culture
8.1 Literature
8.2 Architecture
8.3 Decorative arts
8.4 Music and performing arts
8.5 Cuisine
9 Science and technology
10 Sports
11 See also
12 Notes
13 References
14 Further reading
14.1 General surveys
14.2 Early Ottomans
14.3 Military
14.4 Miscellaneous
14.5 Historiography
15 External links
Name[edit]
Main article: Names of the Ottoman Empire
The word Ottoman is a historical anglicisation of the name of Osman I, the founder
of the Empire and of the ruling House of Osman (also known as the Ottoman dynasty).
Osman's name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ?Uthman (?????). In
Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ?Aliye-yi ?Osmaniye
(???? ???? ???????),[24] (literally "The Supreme Ottoman State") or alternatively ?
Osmanli Devleti (??????? ?????). In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanli
Imparatorlugu ("The Ottoman Empire") or Osmanli Devleti ("The Ottoman State").

The Turkish word for "Ottoman" (Osmanli) originally referred to the tribal
followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to
refer to the empire's military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term "Turk"
(Trk) was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, and was
seen as a disparaging term when applied to urban, educated individuals.[25] As a
sophisticated ruling class, the Ottomans looked down upon the Turkish peasantry,
calling them Esek Turk (the donkey Turk) and Kaba Turk (stupid Turk). Expressions
like "Turk-head" and "Turk-person" were contemptuously used by Ottomans when they
wanted to denigrate each other.[26][27][28] In the early modern period, an educated
urban-dwelling Turkish-speaker who was not a member of the military-administrative
class would refer to himself neither as an Osmanli nor as a Trk, but rather as a
Rumi (????), or "Roman", meaning an inhabitant of the territory of the former
Byzantine Empire in the Balkans and Anatolia. The term Rumi was also used to refer
to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond.[29]
In Western Europe, the two names "Ottoman Empire" and "Turkey" were often used
interchangeably, with "Turkey" being increasingly favoured both in formal and
informal situations. This dichotomy was officially ended in 192023, when the newly
established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name.
Most scholarly historians avoid the terms "Turkey", "Turks", and "Turkish" when
referring to the Ottomans, due to the empire's multinational character.[13]

History[edit]
Main article: History of the Ottoman Empire
See also: Territorial evolution of the Ottoman Empire
Rise (c. 12991453)[edit]
Main article: Rise of the Ottoman Empire
Further information: Osman I, Ottoman dynasty, and Gaza Thesis
As the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia
was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the
Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier
of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman (d. 1323/4), a
figure of obscure origins from whom the name Ottoman is derived.[30] Osman's early
followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but
not all converts to Islam.[31] Osman extended the control of his principality by
conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River. It is not well understood how
the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the
sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular
during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying
religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam. This theory, known as
the Gaza Thesis, is now highly criticised and no longer generally accepted by
historians, but no consensus on the nature of the early Ottoman state has yet
emerged to replace it.[32]

Battle of Nicopolis in 1396. Painting from 1523.

In the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman ru