The Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire — page 1
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