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intermediate📚 30 articles⏱️ 12 hours

The Ottoman Centuries

Trace the Ottoman state from a frontier principality in Anatolia to a three-continent empire, and follow its long transformation through to 1922.

Start LearningBegins with Ottoman Empire (1299-1922 CE)

Learning Sequence

Articles are ordered so each builds on the one before. You can also read them in any order that suits you.

  1. Ottoman Empire (1299-1922 CE)dynastyOttoman EmpireThe Ottoman Empire ruled for over 600 years, spanning three continents at its height. Founded by Osman I in 1299 CE, it became one of history's most powerful empires, ser…
  2. Ertuğrul Ghazi: Father of the Ottoman DynastypersonMedieval Islamic WorldErtuğrul Ghazi was leader of the Kayı tribe of Oghuz Turks and father of Osman I, founder of the Ottoman Empire. Operating on the Seljuk-Byzantine frontier in thirteenth-…
  3. Osman I: Founder of the Ottoman DynastypersonOttoman EmpireOsman I (c. 1258-c. 1324) was the Turkoman frontier leader from whom the Ottoman dynasty takes its name. No written source survives from his lifetime, and almost everythi…
  4. Orhan Ghazi: The Second Ottoman RulerpersonOttoman EmpireOrhan Ghazi (c. 1281-1362) took Bursa, Nicaea and Nicomedia from the Byzantines, made Bursa his capital, and carried the Ottomans across the Dardanelles into Europe. Unde…
  5. Murad I: The Conquest of the BalkanspersonOttoman EmpireMurad I (1326-1389) ruled the Ottoman state for some twenty-seven years, moving its capital to Edirne in Europe, reducing the Balkan principalities to vassalage, and deve…
  6. Bayezid I: The ThunderboltpersonOttoman EmpireBayezid I (r. 1389-1402), known as Yildirim, the Thunderbolt, expanded the Ottoman state across the Balkans and Anatolia before his defeat and capture by Timur at the Bat…
  7. Battle of Nicopolis (1396 CE)eventOttoman EmpireThe Battle of Nicopolis, fought on 25 September 1396, was a decisive Ottoman victory over a combined Western European crusading army under Sigismund of Hungary. The last …
  8. Murad II: The Sultan Who Twice Left the ThronepersonOttoman EmpireMurad II (1404-1451) completed the recovery of the Ottoman state after its collapse at Ankara in 1402. He reigned twice, abdicating in 1444 and returning to win the Battl…
  9. Mehmed II: The Conqueror and the Making of an EmpirepersonOttoman EmpireMehmed II (1432-1481) took Constantinople in 1453 and spent the following three decades converting the Ottoman state into a centralised empire, codifying its law, rebuild…
  10. Conquest of Constantinople - The Fall of ByzantiumeventOttoman EmpireThe historic conquest of Constantinople by Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II on May 29, 1453 CE, ending the Byzantine Empire and establishing Ottoman dominance in southeastern Eur…
  11. Bayezid II: The ConsolidatorpersonOttoman EmpireBayezid II (1447-1512), eighth Ottoman sultan, followed his father Mehmed II's relentless conquests with three decades of consolidation. He defeated his brother Cem, rest…
  12. Selim I: The Conquest of the Arab LandspersonOttoman EmpireSelim I (1470-1520) ruled for eight years and doubled the Ottoman Empire, defeating the Safavids at Chaldiran in 1514 and conquering the Mamluk Sultanate of Syria, Egypt …
  13. Suleiman the Magnificent: The Golden Age of the Ottoman EmpirepersonOttoman EmpireSuleiman I (r. 1520-1566), known as 'the Magnificent' in the West and 'the Lawgiver' in the Islamic world, presided over the Ottoman Empire at its zenith. His reign marke…
  14. Oruc Reis: The Elder BarbarossapersonOttoman EmpireOruc Reis (c. 1474-1518), known as Baba Aruj and the first of the brothers called Barbarossa, was a corsair captain who seized Algiers in 1516 and ruled it until Spanish …
  15. Hayreddin Barbarossa: Grand Admiral of the Ottoman FleetpersonOttoman EmpireHayreddin Barbarossa (c. 1478-1546) succeeded his brother Oruc at Algiers in 1518, placed it under Ottoman sovereignty, and rose to command the Ottoman navy as Kapudan Pa…
  16. Turgut Reis: The Seaman of TripolipersonOttoman EmpireTurgut Reis (c. 1485-1565), known in Europe as Dragut, rose from gunner to Ottoman admiral and Pasha of Tripoli. A former galley slave of the Genoese, he took Tripoli in …
  17. Piri Reis: Cartographer of the Ottoman SeapersonOttoman EmpirePiri Reis (c. 1465-1553) was an Ottoman captain, cartographer and author of the Kitab-i Bahriye, the most detailed sailing guide to the Mediterranean of its age. His 1513…
  18. Roxelana: The Slave Girl Who Became the Most Powerful Woman in the Ottoman EmpirepersonOttoman EmpireRoxelana (c. 1502-1558), known as Hürrem Sultan, rose from slavery to become Sultan [Suleiman the Magnificent](/articles/suleiman-the-magnificent)'s legal wife and the mo…
  19. Topkapi Palace - Heart of the Ottoman EmpirebuildingOttoman EmpireTopkapi Palace (1459-1856 CE) served as the primary residence and administrative headquarters of Ottoman sultans for nearly four centuries. Located on Seraglio Point over…
  20. Blue Mosque: The Sultan Ahmed Mosque of IstanbulbuildingOttoman EmpireThe Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque) in Istanbul, built between 1609-1616 CE, is one of the most magnificent examples of Ottoman architecture and a masterpiece of Islami…
  21. Murad IV: Discipline, Prohibition, and the Recovery of BaghdadpersonOttoman EmpireMurad IV (1612-1640) became Ottoman sultan at eleven, took personal control at twenty in 1632, and imposed order by force. He banned tobacco, alcohol and coffeehouses, re…
  22. Mehmed IV: The Hunter and the Koprulu RecoverypersonOttoman EmpireMehmed IV (1642-1693) reigned thirty-nine years from the age of six. His reign spanned the near-collapse of the 1650s, the Kopruluu recovery, the capture of Candia, the f…
  23. Koprulu Mehmed Pasha: The Grand Vizier Who Restored Ottoman AuthoritypersonOttoman EmpireKoprulu Mehmed Pasha (c. 1575-1661) became Ottoman grand vizier in 1656 on the condition of unrestricted authority. He broke the factions of the capital by mass execution…
  24. Koprulu Fazil Ahmed Pasha: The Scholar VizierpersonOttoman EmpireKoprulu Fazil Ahmed Pasha (1635-1676) served fifteen years as Ottoman grand vizier, the longest tenure of the era. Trained as a scholar, he took Candia in 1669 after a 24…
  25. Bosnia and Herzegovina: Islamic Heritage in the BalkansplaceOttoman EmpireThe westernmost region of sustained Muslim presence in Europe. Ottoman rule from 1463 until the Austro-Hungarian occupation of 1878 produced a distinctive Bosniak Muslim …
  26. Abdulmecid I: The Sultan of the TanzimatpersonOttoman EmpireAbdulmecid I (1823-1861) became Ottoman sultan at sixteen and presided over the Tanzimat, the empire's most sweeping programme of legal and administrative reform. He issu…
  27. Abdulhamid II: The Last Sultan to RulepersonOttoman EmpireAbdulhamid II (1842-1918) ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1876 to 1909, the last sultan to exercise real power. He promulgated the empire's first constitution, suspended pa…
  28. Mehmed V Resad: The Constitutional SultanpersonOttoman EmpireMehmed V (1844-1918) reigned as Ottoman sultan from 1909 to 1918 as a constitutional figurehead while the Committee of Union and Progress governed. His reign saw the loss…
  29. Mehmed VI Vahideddin: The Last Ottoman SultanpersonOttoman EmpireMehmed VI Vahideddin (1861-1926) was the thirty-sixth and last Ottoman sultan, reigning from 1918 to 1922. He governed under Allied occupation, his government signed the …
  30. Fall of the Ottoman EmpireeventModern EraComprehensive history of the decline and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire from the 19th century through World War I to the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923

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