Ottoman Empire

Origins

The Ottoman Empire began as one of many small Turkic warrior principalities (beyliks) in Anatolia during the late thirteenth century, emerging from the fragmentation of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum under Mongol pressure. According to tradition, Osman I (r. c. 1299-1326) established the dynasty that would bear his name in the frontier zone between the weakening Byzantine Empire and the Turkic-Muslim interior. The early Ottomans were ghazis—warriors for the faith—attracting followers through successful raids against Christian territory.

The Ottomans’ strategic position on the Byzantine frontier proved decisive. While other beyliks faced each other or distant enemies, the Ottomans could expand into depopulated Byzantine lands, attracting warriors seeking glory and spoils. Orhan (r. 1326-1362) captured Bursa, which became the first Ottoman capital, and crossed into Europe in 1354. Murad I (r. 1362-1389) conquered much of the Balkans, created the Janissary corps from enslaved Christian youths, and died victorious at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389.

The empire’s transformation into a major power came under Mehmed II “the Conqueror” (r. 1444-1446, 1451-1481), who captured Constantinople in 1453, ending the Byzantine Empire after over a millennium. Mehmed made the city—now Istanbul—his capital and explicitly claimed the mantle of Roman emperors alongside his Islamic titles. This conquest marked the Ottoman transition from frontier principality to universal empire, claiming sovereignty over both Islamic and Christian worlds.

Structure & Function

The Ottoman Empire developed distinctive administrative institutions that enabled it to govern diverse populations across three continents for over six centuries. At its apex stood the sultan, theoretically possessing absolute power but in practice constrained by Islamic law, dynastic tradition, and the interests of powerful groups. From the sixteenth century, sultans also claimed the title of caliph, asserting leadership of the Sunni Muslim world.

The imperial government (Sublime Porte) was staffed largely by the kul system—slaves of the sultan, many recruited through the devshirme, the periodic levy of Christian boys from Balkan villages. These boys were converted to Islam, educated, and placed in military or administrative positions. The Janissary corps, elite infantry forming the sultan’s household troops, and the palace pages who became governors and viziers all came from this system. Paradoxically, slaves held the empire’s highest positions, their servile status ensuring loyalty to the sultan alone.

Religious and ethnic diversity was managed through the millet system, which granted recognized religious communities (Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Jewish) internal autonomy in matters of personal status, education, and community affairs under their own religious leaders. This pragmatic pluralism allowed diverse populations to coexist under Ottoman rule, though Muslims held clear political supremacy. The empire’s legal system combined Islamic sharia with sultanic law (kanun), administered through a sophisticated hierarchy of courts and judges (kadis) appointed by the state.

Historical Significance

The Ottoman Empire was one of history’s longest-lasting and most influential states. At its height under Suleiman the Magnificent (r. 1520-1566), it controlled southeastern Europe, western Asia, the eastern Mediterranean, and North Africa—a domain rivaling Rome’s. For centuries, the Ottomans were Europe’s most powerful neighbor, shaping European politics, driving the age of exploration (as Europeans sought routes around Ottoman-controlled trade), and influencing everything from coffee culture to military music.

The empire’s gradual decline from the seventeenth century onward became a central problem of European diplomacy—the “Eastern Question” of how to manage Ottoman weakness without triggering great-power conflict. The Ottomans’ nineteenth-century reform efforts (Tanzimat) introduced constitutional government, legal equality for non-Muslims, and modernized education and administration, making the empire a laboratory for combining Islamic and European institutions. These reforms inspired later modernization efforts across the Muslim world.

The empire’s dissolution after World War I reshaped the Middle East fundamentally. The British and French carved new states from Ottoman territories, drawing borders that created enduring conflicts. The Turkish Republic under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk abolished the sultanate (1922) and caliphate (1924), establishing aggressive secularism as an alternative path for Muslim societies. The Ottoman legacy remains contested: source of nostalgia for some, symbol of oppression for others, but undeniably formative for the modern Middle East and southeastern Europe.