Ottoman Empire

State · 1299–1922

The Ottoman Empire, also known historically as Turkey or the Turkish Empire, was a state that spanned much of Southeastern Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th century to the early 20th century, centered in modern-day Turkey. It emerged from a principality founded in northwestern Anatolia in c. 1299 by the Turkoman tribal leader Osman I, and Mehmed II's conquest of Constantinople in 1453 ended the Byzantine Empire. During the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent in the 16th century, it became a global power, and it stood at the center of interactions between the Middle East and Europe for six centuries. After defeats by Austria and Russia and the rise of Balkan nationalism, the empire collapsed in the aftermath of World War I.