EMPIRES IN THE MIDDLE AGES THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE Edited by Carolyn DeCarlo Britannica Educational Publishing IN ASSOCIATION WITH ROSEN EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
Turkish Osman INTRODUCTION Early in the fourteenth century a tribal chieftain named founded an empire in Asia Minor that continued for almost six hundred years From its center in what is now western Turkey the Ottoman Empire as it came to be known grew by conquering conquering the Byzantine Empire and lands beyond It included at its height all of Asia Minor and most of southeastern Europe portions of the Middle East North Africa as far west as Algeria and large parts of the Arabian Peninsula Osman’s ancestors were bands of horsemen who invaded Asia Minor in the eleventh century from the Central Asian land of Turkistan Among these tribes were the Seljuks who established a small state in Asia Minor called the sultanate of Rum Rome The Seljuks attacked the Arabs in Syria and Palestine Recent converts converts to Islam they also fought against the Christian Byzantine state which occupied much of Asia Minor and lands to the west including Greece In 1071 Seljuk warriors defeated the Byzantine emperor Romanus IV at Manzikert and took him prisoner In the same year they conquered Jerusalem and with it the Holy Land 4
Danube ARAL SEA Vienna Venice Kata ADRIA CASPIAN SEA Rome Belgrade Nicopolis Kosov WALACHIA Varna BLACK SEA Nis Istanbul Sinop Sofia Gallipoli Osküdar Iznik Tabriz Otranto Salonika Bursa lzmit Ankara Chaldiran Algiers P Aydın Konya Dulkadir Antalya Adana RHODES Uphrates Tunis MOREA Spor Antalya MALTA MEDITED ERRANEAN SEA Alexandria 2 Tigris Basra PERSIAN GULF Tripoli de Jerusalem Suez Cairo Nile EXPANSION OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE Ottoman Turks 1300 Acquisitions 1300 59 Acquisitions 1359 1451 Acquisitions 1451 81 Mehmed II Acquisitions 1512 20 Selim I Acquisitions 1520 66 Süleyman I the Magnificent Acquisitions 1566 1683 Boundary of the Ottoman Empire at its greatest extent 1683 99 RED Medina Mecca SEA o 10 250 500 mi 250 500 750 km Encyclopædia Britannica Inc This map shows the expansion of the Ottoman Empire 1300 1699 The Byzantines held most of Asia Minor and their capital at Constantinople now Istanbul appealing to the pope in Rome for help For the next two centuries centuries the Christians of Europe fought the Seljuk Turks in seven Crusades The Seljuks stood their ground throughout the holy wars only to then be attacked by new assailants from Central Asia Among the leaders of the invasion was Osman who established the dynasty that would carry his name as Ottoman across history Expansion characterized the first two hundred years of Ottoman rule as Ottoman control spread
