![]() ![]() By 1481 the Ottoman Empire territory included most of the Balkan Peninsula and all of Anatolia. (Ottoman is derived from Uthman, the Arabic form of Osman.)įrom its small bridgehead in Anatolia, Osman and his son Orhan (1288-1362) began expanding their lands northwest into Byzantine Empire territory and east into the rest of Anatolia. Around 1290, Osman I (1258-1324), a Muslim warrior and leader of a small principality inside Seljuk Turk territory, declared his independence from the Seljuk sultan. In the 13th century, the region of Anatolia (most of the Asian part of present day Turkey) was controlled by the Byzantine Empire in the northwest and the Seljuk Turks in the southwest. ![]() At its height, the Empire controlled much of southeastern Europe, most of the area of the present day Middle East, and parts of North Africa. Over a time span of six hundred years, from about 1300 to 1923, the Ottoman Empire expanded into the largest political entity in Europe and western Asia and then imploded and disappeared into the back pages of history. Only 80 years separate the modern Middle East from the forgotten and long-lived Ottoman Empire. ![]()
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