🏰 From a Small Beylik to a World Empire

Hello! Today we will watch a small beylik, a little principality, grow into a very large state over time: the Ottoman state. Let’s look at the years and the map together.

The year is 1299. In the north-west of Anatolia, around Söğüt, there is a small beylik. Its leader is Osman I, also called Osman Bey. This small beylik will one day become the Ottoman State.

The year is 1326. Osman’s son Orhan Bey takes Bursa and adds it to the beylik. Bursa becomes the first important capital of this state. The borders have grown a little wider.

The year is 1353. The Ottomans cross the Dardanelles and step into Rumelia, the European side. New villages are founded and families settle there. This is called settlement, or iskan in Turkish.

The year is 1452. The young sultan Mehmed II has the Rumeli Fortress built on the European shore of the Bosporus. Together with the Anatolian Fortress on the opposite shore, it makes it easier to watch the ships passing through the strait.

The year is 1453. A chain is stretched across the entrance to the Golden Horn, so ships cannot enter. The Ottomans find a solution: they drag the ships over the land and lower them into the Golden Horn behind the hill. A clever plan!

29 May 1453. Constantinople is conquered. The sultan, Mehmed II, known as Mehmed the Conqueror, is only 21 years old. The city becomes the new capital of the Ottoman State, and in time it is known as Istanbul. The people who live in the city stay in their homes.

Let’s put it all on a timeline: 1299 Söğüt, 1326 Bursa, 1353 crossing into Rumelia, 1452 Rumeli Fortress, 1453 the conquest of Constantinople. The smaller the year, the older the event.

Three things helped the Ottomans grow. The first is fair rule: treating the people of newly joined lands kindly, which is called istimalet in Turkish. The second is settlement: families moving to new lands. The third is trade routes: cities like Bursa grew rich.

To sum up: in 1299 the Ottomans were a small beylik at Söğüt. They grew with Bursa, Rumelia and Constantinople. Fair rule, settlement and trade routes helped this growth. Now try it in the game!