Ottoman Sultans

Osman was a bey (or "chieftain") of the Söğüt tribe (based in western Turkey) who declared independence from the Seljuk Turks in 1299. The name of the Ottoman Empire derives from him. Osman's grandson Murad I was the first to take the title Sultan (derived from an Arabic word meaning "strength, authority"). Murad and his successors expanded the growing realm into Europe, conquering Serbia and Bulgaria and eating into Byzantine territory. Constantinople finally fell in 1453 to Mehmed II, marking the end of the Byzantine Empire, and the city became the Ottomans' new capital.

The empire continued its expansion over the next century. Selim I conquered Egypt and Syria, and his son Süleyman the Magnificent conquered Hungary and portions of Persia and North Africa. The empire reached its peak under Süleyman and began a slow decline after his death in 1566. After Murad IV, who ruled until 1640, the sultans were generally ineffective leaders who left much of the actual governance to their viziers.

Slow to adopt technological advances and having lost much territory in war, the empire was referred to as the "sick man of Europe" in the 19th century. The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 stripped the sultan of power, and the position was officially abolished in 1922.

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category
NameYears
Abdülaziz1861-1876
Abdülhamid I1774-1789
Abdülhamid II1876-1909
Abdülmecid I1839-1861
Ahmed I1603-1617
Ahmed II1691-1695
Ahmed III1703-1730
Bayezid I1389-1402
Bayezid II1481-1512
Ibrahim1640-1648
Mahmud I1730-1754
Mahmud II1808-1839
Mehmed I1413-1421
Mehmed II the Conqueror1444-1445; 1451-1481
Mehmed III1595-1603
Mehmed IV1648-1687
Mehmed V1909-1918
Mehmed VI Vahideddin1918-1922
Murad I1359-1389
Murad II1421-1444; 1445-1451
Murad III1574-1595
Murad IV1623-1640
Murad V1876
Mustafa I1617-1618; 1622-1623
Mustafa II1695-1703
Mustafa III1757-1774
Mustafa IV1807-1808
Orhan1326-1359
Osman I1281-1326
Osman II1618-1622
Osman III1754-1757
Selim I1512-1520
Selim II1566-1574
Selim III1789-1807
Süleyman I the Magnificent1520-1566
Süleyman II1687-1691