The Rise of the Ottoman Empire
The Rise of The Ottoman Empire
By: Hunter Starr
HIST 130: Muslim History From the Rise of Islam to 1500 CE
Professor Matthee
November 27, 2007.
The Ottoman Turks emerged on the periphery of the Byzantine Empire and the Saljuk Turks. Under a Turkish Muslim warrior named Osman, raids were conducted in western Anatolia on Byzantine settlements and a vast number of Turks were united under his banner. Those Turks who flocked to Osman's banner and followed him into the history books came to be called the Ottomans. The word Ottoman, fits these Turks well as it roughly translates from Turkish as "those associated with Oman."
At its outset, the Ottoman emirate was comparatively weak and of little consequence to its much larger and more powerful neighbors, the Saljuk Turks in the east and the Byzantines in the west. From the modest beginnings of a small, compressed territory on the north-western Anatolian Peninsula, the minor Turkish state grew to unprecedented heights in the fifteenth century, forging the borderland principality into one of history's greatest states, the Ottoman Empire.
Prior to the fifteenth century, the Ottoman sultanate was known only regionally and to the outside eye could not easily be discerned from the many other Turkish sultanates on the Peninsula. Before this, Anatolia was hostile territory to Muslims who had dreams of expanding the Dar al Islam westward, and presented an almost impenetrable barrier for Muslim expansion. In 1071, the barrier broke down when the Byzantines were soundly defeated by the Saljuq army at Manzikert, and for the first time the peninsula was open for migration. The land that marked the frontier of the Christian and Turkish controlled area became home to the revered Muslim warriors known as the gazis.
Turkish immigration onto the peninsula was sparked again in the mid-thirteenth century when the Mongol armies swept across Asia, leaving many displaced and in desperate straits, while others who had
By: Hunter Starr
HIST 130: Muslim History From the Rise of Islam to 1500 CE
Professor Matthee
November 27, 2007.
The Ottoman Turks emerged on the periphery of the Byzantine Empire and the Saljuk Turks. Under a Turkish Muslim warrior named Osman, raids were conducted in western Anatolia on Byzantine settlements and a vast number of Turks were united under his banner. Those Turks who flocked to Osman's banner and followed him into the history books came to be called the Ottomans. The word Ottoman, fits these Turks well as it roughly translates from Turkish as "those associated with Oman."
At its outset, the Ottoman emirate was comparatively weak and of little consequence to its much larger and more powerful neighbors, the Saljuk Turks in the east and the Byzantines in the west. From the modest beginnings of a small, compressed territory on the north-western Anatolian Peninsula, the minor Turkish state grew to unprecedented heights in the fifteenth century, forging the borderland principality into one of history's greatest states, the Ottoman Empire.
Prior to the fifteenth century, the Ottoman sultanate was known only regionally and to the outside eye could not easily be discerned from the many other Turkish sultanates on the Peninsula. Before this, Anatolia was hostile territory to Muslims who had dreams of expanding the Dar al Islam westward, and presented an almost impenetrable barrier for Muslim expansion. In 1071, the barrier broke down when the Byzantines were soundly defeated by the Saljuq army at Manzikert, and for the first time the peninsula was open for migration. The land that marked the frontier of the Christian and Turkish controlled area became home to the revered Muslim warriors known as the gazis.
Turkish immigration onto the peninsula was sparked again in the mid-thirteenth century when the Mongol armies swept across Asia, leaving many displaced and in desperate straits, while others who had
Bibliography: "History." The Ottomans. 2002. 23 Oct. 2007 . Izkowitz, Norman. Ottoman Empire and Islamic Tradition. Phoenix ed. Chicago: University of Chicago P, 1980 Koprulu, Fuad M. The Origins of the Ottoman Empire. Trans. Gary Leiser. Albany: State University of New York P, 1992 "Ottoman Empire." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 30 Oct "Ottoman Empire." Encarta: Online Encyclopedia. 2007. Microsoft Corporation. 1 Nov