The Ottoman Empire: Six Centuries of Conquest, Rule, and Decline

From Beylik to Empire

In 1299, Osman I established a small principality in northwest Anatolia — a tiny beylik bordered by other Turkoman states and the crumbling Byzantine Empire. What followed was one of the most remarkable expansions in world history. Within 150 years, the Ottomans had crossed into Europe, conquered the Balkans, and in 1453, Mehmed II took Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire after more than a thousand years.

The map begins with that 1299 founding: a single polygon of just nine coordinate points representing Osman's domain. By the time Selim I conquered the Mamluk Sultanate in 1517, adding Egypt, Syria, and the Hejaz to the empire, the territory had grown to span three continents.

The Golden Age

Under Suleyman the Magnificent (1520–1566), the Ottoman Empire reached its cultural and political zenith. The victory at Mohács in 1526 brought Hungary under Ottoman control, and although the First Siege of Vienna in 1529 failed, it marked the empire's furthest northwest push into Europe. By 1566, when Suleyman died during the siege of Szigetvár, the empire stretched from Algeria to the Persian Gulf, from Hungary to Yemen.

The map shows the empire at its maximum territorial extent around 1683, just before the disastrous Second Siege of Vienna. At that point, the Ottoman domain encompassed 28 distinct polygon rings spanning from latitude 12° to 49° — parts of three continents, dozens of modern nations, and hundreds of distinct peoples and cultures.

The Long Decline

The Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 marked the first major territorial cession: Hungary, Transylvania, and Croatia went to Austria. It was the beginning of a pattern that would continue for over two centuries. The map traces each contraction — the loss of the Crimea, Greek independence in 1830, the devastating Treaty of Berlin in 1878 that saw Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro gain independence.

The collapse accelerated in the 20th century. The Balkan Wars of 1912–1913 stripped away nearly all remaining European territory. World War I proved fatal: the Armistice of Mudros in 1918 left only Anatolia and a sliver of Thrace. The Treaty of Sèvres in 1920 sought to carve up even that — reducing the empire to a rump state in north-central Anatolia.

End of Empire, Birth of a Republic

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's War of Independence rejected the terms of Sèvres. The Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 recognized Turkish sovereignty over Anatolia and Eastern Thrace, and on October 29, 1923, the Republic of Turkey was proclaimed. The map ends with the modern Turkish borders after the annexation of Hatay Province in 1939 — a successor state to an empire that had endured for 624 years.

Key Events in the Timeline

• 1299 — Osman I founds the Ottoman beylik in northwest Anatolia
• 1326 — Bursa captured, becomes the first Ottoman capital
• 1354 — Ottomans cross into Europe at Gallipoli
• 1389 — Battle of Kosovo Polje: Serbia becomes a vassal state
• 1402 — Battle of Ankara: Timur defeats Bayezid I, triggering the Ottoman Interregnum
• 1453 — Mehmed II conquers Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire
• 1517 — Selim I conquers the Mamluk Sultanate: Egypt, Syria, and the Hejaz fall
• 1526 — Battle of Mohács: Hungary falls to Suleyman the Magnificent
• 1529 — First Siege of Vienna: the northwest limit of Ottoman expansion
• 1566 — Death of Suleyman the Magnificent at Szigetvár
• 1571 — Battle of Lepanto: Ottoman naval myth broken by the Holy League
• 1683 — Second Siege of Vienna fails; the European offensive is over
• 1699 — Treaty of Karlowitz: first major territorial cessions to Austria
• 1821 — Greek War of Independence begins
• 1878 — Treaty of Berlin: Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro gain independence
• 1912–1913 — Balkan Wars: nearly all European territory lost
• 1915 — Gallipoli Campaign; Armenian Genocide begins
• 1918 — Armistice of Mudros: the empire surrenders
• 1922 — Sultanate abolished by the Grand National Assembly
• 1923 — Treaty of Lausanne and proclamation of the Republic of Turkey