The Ottoman Empire (1299-1922) was founded in Anatolia, spanned three continents and survived for over 600 years. At its height, the empire's territory spread across Bulgaria, Greece, the Former Yugoslavia, Romania, the Eastern Mediterranean islands, parts of Hungary, Russia, the Ukraine, Caucasus, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, the Northern African territories stretching from Egypt to Algeria, and part of the Arabian Peninsula. Today there are about 35 independent states in the territories that the Ottoman Empire once covered, and this number increases to 64 when we include the states that no longer exist. 

 

Osman Bey was the emir of a border territory of the Anatolian Seljuk State (also known as the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum) and he belonged to the Kayı Tribe of the Oghuz Turks. Osman Bey founded the “beylik”, which means a small emirate, by declaring independence in 1299, and he initially conquered territory  belonging to the Byzantine Empire. The first Ottoman coin was called "ace" and it was introduced during the reign of Orhan Bey, the son and successor of Osman Bey, who came to the throne in 1326 and transformed the beylik into an institutionalized state. He conquered İznik and İzmit and built the first navy, and Bursa was declared its capital after it was conquered in 1326. 

 

Murat I moved to the captured city of Edirne in 1363 and set up the Ottoman capital there. He conquered the majority of the territories in the Balkan Peninsula. In a relatively short period of time, the Ottomans gained control over Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia. His successor Yıldırım Beyazid's got the Anatolian Turkish beyliks, which were small emirates in Anatolia that had followed the Anatolian Seljuk State, to accept Ottoman rule, and he gained control over the majority of Anatolian territory...