The traditional answer to the question “When was the Ottoman Empire founded?” is 1299: the early chronicles count it as the year of Osman Bey’s conquest of Bilecik and of his independence. Osman’s name, however, first appears in a contemporary source in connection with the Battle of Bapheus (Koyunhisar) in 1302. Born around Söğüt, the state lasted 623 years, from 1299 until the abolition of the sultanate in 1922.
Quick Summary
- The traditional founding date is 1299, and it rests on an account of the conquest of Bilecik.
- The Byzantine historian Pachymeres dates the Battle of Bapheus to 27 July 1302.
- According to Halil İnalcık, 27 July 1302 can also be accepted as the founding date.
- The beylik (principality) was born around Söğüt, today part of Bilecik province, and the Domaniç highland pastures.
- The sultanate was abolished on 1–2 November 1922; taking 1299 as the starting point, the state lasted 623 years.
Contents
- The short answer
- Why is 1299 accepted?
- 1302 and the victory at Bapheus
- Why do the sources give different dates?
- Where was it founded?
- Views explaining the founding
- How long did the Ottoman Empire last?
- Frequently asked questions
When Was the Ottoman Empire Founded? The Short Answer
The answer historians accepted for a long time is 1299. But this is not the date of a treaty or of an official proclamation. It is the year given by an account that was written down long after the events. The founding did not happen in a single day; it took place as a process spread over decades.
In the mid-1280s Osman’s people were a Yörük (nomadic Turkmen) community that spent the winter in Söğüt and went up to the Domaniç pastures in summer. By 1302, however, Osman had grown strong enough to defeat a Byzantine army. According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, the beylik set out on the path to statehood especially from the reign of Murad I onward. Under Mehmed the Conqueror it then entered the imperial phase.
That is why the answer to the question “When was the Ottoman Empire founded?” depends on what is meant by founding. The table below summarizes the most frequently cited thresholds and the evidence behind them.
| Date | Event | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| 1288 | Capture of Karacahisar; Osman’s rise to the rank of sancak bey (banner-holding lord) on the frontier | Early chronicles; İnalcık’s dating |
| 1299 | Conquest of Bilecik; traditional founding date | The account in the early chronicles |
| 27 July 1302 | Victory at Bapheus (Koyunhisar) | Byzantine historian Pachymeres |
| Reign of Murad I | The beylik sets out on the path to statehood | Feridun Emecen (TDV Encyclopedia of Islam) |
The Traditional Founding Date: Why Is 1299 Accepted?
According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, historians, following the old tradition, long regarded 1299 as the founding date of the dynasty and of the state. Ottoman tradition records this year as the year of Osman’s conquest of Bilecik and of his independence. Indeed, by this time Osman controlled a wide area stretching from Eskişehir to Bilecik and Yenişehir. He moved his seat from Karacahisar to Bilecik, and his frontier base to Yenişehir, near Nicaea (İznik).
In the same year Osman distributed part of the lands he had taken among his son and his companions in arms. According to the encyclopedia, he gave İnönü to his son Orhan, Yarhisar to Hasan Alp and İnegöl to Turgut Alp. This distribution shows that the beylik now ruled over many castles and towns. Still, there was no proclamation of a state; what existed was a rapidly growing frontier beylik.
Another reason 1299 stands out is the Mongol turmoil in Anatolia. In May 1299 the Ilkhanid emir Chupan came to Anatolia against Sülemiş, who had rebelled. İnalcık draws attention to the fact that the tradition records 1299 as the year of independence precisely during these events. These years coincide with the period when Osman moved against the local tekfurs (Byzantine lords) without fear of a Mongol intervention.
Yet it is difficult to treat 1299 as a legal founding date. According to İnalcık, in Turkic tradition the founding of a state depends on the appearance of a charismatic khan believed to have received his sovereignty from God. In Islamic tradition, by contrast, the signs of independence are the khutba (the Friday sermon read in the ruler’s name) and the coinage. According to İnalcık, however, the beys of Anatolia gained the khutba and coinage only in 1335, when the Ilkhanid ruler Abu Sa’id Bahadur Khan died.
The First Event Dated by a Contemporary Source: The Victory at Bapheus in 1302
The most reliable contemporary source on Osman is the Byzantine historian Georgios Pachymeres. According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, his work is the oldest written source to mention Osman. According to Pachymeres, after laying siege to Nicaea, Osman defeated the Byzantine forces that came to its relief at Bapheus on 27 July 1302. Local sources, on the other hand, date the battle to the Hijri year 701, that is, 1301–1302, and place it at Yalakova.
This victory raised Osman to the status of a charismatic bey in the region. Pachymeres records that his fame spread as far as Paphlagonia and that gazis (warriors of the faith) flocked to his banner. That is why Halil İnalcık writes that 27 July 1302 can be accepted as the founding date of the dynasty, and therefore of the state. In his view, the victory earned Osman renown as the founder of a dynasty; after him, his son Orhan also succeeded to the throne without a rival.
Feridun Emecen, too, places Osman’s emergence as an independent bey after this victory and his struggles with the tekfurs. Pachymeres also states that Osman was at first a frontier warrior in the service of the Çobanoğulları (Chobanids) of Kastamonu. A small difference in dating also persists: the entry “Gazâ”, written by Cemal Kafadar, dates the battle to 1301. We described the course of the battle in our article on Osman Gazi’s life and conquests.
Why Do the Sources Give Different Dates?
The main reason there is no consensus on the question “When was the Ottoman Empire founded?” is the scarcity of written sources from the founding period. According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, the first local chronicles began to be written at the beginning of the 15th century, that is, 100–150 years after the founding. The information in these works is largely interwoven with legends. Indeed, Byzantine historians such as Pachymeres, Kantakouzenos and Gregoras never mention the name of Osman’s father, Ertuğrul.
Still, it would be wrong to dismiss these chronicles wholesale as legend. According to İnalcık, the main source of Aşıkpaşazade is the lost menakıbname (narrative of deeds) of Yahşi Fakih, son of Orhan’s imam İshak Fakih. Research on place names has shown that this account contains accurate information. İnalcık criticizes the approach of Colin Imber, who regards the early period as a “black hole”, as taking the easy way out.
Another reason for the different dates is that the founding happened in stages. According to İnalcık, Osman took Karacahisar in 1288. According to tradition, with this conquest he rose to the rank of sancak bey and had the khutba read in his own name. İnalcık, however, notes that these claims of independence were added much later by those who believed the dynasty began with Osman.
The origin of the dynasty is also disputed. The earliest historiographical tradition links the family to the Kayı tribe, which was recognized as having the right to found a beylik. Paul Wittek, on the other hand, argues that the dynasty had no connection with the Kayı tribe. In his view, the genealogy linking Osman to Oghuz Khan emerged in the reign of Murad II under the influence of dynastic politics.
Where Was the Ottoman Empire Founded?
The beylik was born around Söğüt, today a district of Bilecik province. The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam introduces Söğüt as the district “known as the place where the Ottoman state was first founded”. The town lies south of the Sakarya River, off the main road between Bilecik and Eskişehir. In the 13th century it was one of the most advanced points of the Seljuk frontier zone facing Byzantium.
According to the common account of the first chronicles, the Seljuk sultan had given Osman’s father Ertuğrul Söğüt as winter quarters and the Domaniç mountains as summer pastures. İnalcık, too, accepts that Ertuğrul was given a yurtluk (home territory) at Söğüt on the foremost line, and summer pastures at Domaniç. The record of a waqf farm founded in Söğüt “for the soul of Ertuğrul” is the oldest document about Ertuğrul. According to the encyclopedia, Söğüt was first Ertuğrul’s frontier settlement and then Osman’s first administrative centre.
The centre later shifted with the conquests: in 1288 it became Karacahisar and in 1299 Bilecik, while the frontier base moved to Yenişehir. Bursa, too, was taken in 1326, under Orhan Bey. Which city should count as the first capital is a separate question; we took it up in our article on the debate over the first capital. Söğüt, for its part, was brought to the fore again as the point of foundation at the end of the 19th century, under Abdulhamid II.
How Is the Founding Explained? The Main Views
As much as the founding date, historians debate how a small frontier beylik turned into a great state. Several main approaches to this question came to the fore in the 20th century. The views below are based on the historians named in the relevant entries of the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam.
The gaza thesis: Paul Wittek
In his work The Rise of the Ottoman Empire, published in 1938, Paul Wittek placed gaza (war for the faith) at the centre of the founding. According to this “gaza thesis”, the fundamental element in the founding of the state was the gazis fighting on the Byzantine frontier. The thesis was widely accepted for a long time in the historical literature outside Turkey. It was, however, criticized by authors such as Lindner.
A multi-causal approach: Fuad Köprülü
Fuad Köprülü balanced gaza against other factors. He examined demographic factors and sociological structures in far greater detail than Wittek. In his view, the Kayı formed the first ethnic core of the state. In an article published in 1943, Köprülü also refuted the thesis of Wittek, who regarded the Kayı lineage as a legend.
Was the gaza motif added later?
Some researchers argued that the concept of gaza did not reflect the outlook of the beylik period. According to this view, the Ottomans, who moved to a settled and orderly social life in the 15th century, retrospectively embellished their ancestors’ raids as heroism for the sake of religion. Indeed, in sources directly related to the beylik and of undisputed authenticity, the concept of gaza does not appear until the İskendername (Book of Alexander), which Ahmedi wrote at the beginning of the 15th century. By contrast, the word is frequently encountered in 13th- and 14th-century works of the neighbouring beyliks; the Aydınids’ 1312 inscription on the Great Mosque (Ulu Cami) of Birgi also calls Mehmed Bey a “gazi”.
Gaza, istimalet and booty: İnalcık and Kafadar
According to Halil İnalcık, two principles guided the frontier beys’ policy of conquest from the very beginning: gaza and istimalet, that is, a conciliatory policy that took care of the local population. Cemal Kafadar, too, writes that gaza was not, as Wittek claimed, almost the sole reason for the state’s existence. In his view, gaza was one of the important factors in growth through conquest; but the gazis were also seeking captives and booty. You can find these factors in detail in our article on the reasons for its rapid growth.
How Long Did the Ottoman Empire Last?
How many years the state lasted depends on which events are taken as its start and its end. In this article the abolition of the sultanate is taken as the end. According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, the sultanate was abolished on 1–2 November 1922 by a decision taken in Ankara. Sultan Mehmed VI Vahdeddin took refuge with the British on 16 November; on 19 November the Assembly elected Abdülmecid Efendi caliph.
| Start | End | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 1299 (traditional date) | 1922 (abolition of the sultanate) | 623 years |
| 1302 (victory at Bapheus) | 1922 (abolition of the sultanate) | 620 years |
| 1299 (traditional date) | 1924 (abolition of the caliphate) | 625 years |
With the traditional starting point of 1299, the state lasted 623 years; if the 1302 date proposed by İnalcık is taken, the span drops to 620 years. The caliphate, for its part, was abolished on 3 March 1924, and the members of the dynasty were forced to leave the country. If this date is counted as the end, the span rises to 625 years. Whichever calculation is chosen, according to the encyclopedia the sultan kept his position in a system based on a single dynasty “for six centuries”.
The encyclopedia, too, limits the late period of the state to the years 1774–1922. Combining this end point with 1299, the date historians long accepted, gives 623 years. In short, how long the state lasted varies between 620 and 625 years according to the calculations in the table. We examined the causes of the collapse in our article on the reasons for its fall.
Frequently Asked Questions
When was the Ottoman Empire founded, and who founded it?
The traditional founding date is 1299, and the founder is Osman Bey, son of Ertuğrul Gazi. Halil İnalcık, however, highlights 27 July 1302, the date of the victory at Bapheus.
Why is there no single answer to “When was the Ottoman Empire founded?”
Because the founding was a gradual process, and the first local chronicles were written 100–150 years after the events. The main contemporary source available is the Byzantine historian Pachymeres.
Where was the Ottoman Empire founded?
It was founded around Söğüt, now part of Bilecik, and the Domaniç highland pastures, in the Seljuk–Byzantine frontier zone.
When did the beylik become a state?
According to Feridun Emecen, the beylik set out on the path to statehood especially from the reign of Murad I onward. Under Bayezid I (Yıldırım), it acquired a strong centralized structure.
Conclusion
The founding is a process that cannot be fitted into a single year. A small frontier community in Söğüt grew by taking Karacahisar in 1288 and Bilecik in 1299; in 1302, with the victory at Bapheus, it wrote its name into the contemporary sources. From the reign of Murad I onward the beylik set out on the path to statehood. So the most honest answer to the question “When was the Ottoman Empire founded?” is this: 1299 according to tradition, 1302 according to the contemporary source. How long the state lasted also depends on this choice; taking 1922, when the sultanate was abolished, as the end, the span is between 620 and 623 years.
Sources
- TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, entry “Osman I” (Halil İnalcık)
- TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, entry “Osmanlılar” (Ottomans)
- TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, entry “Söğüt”
- TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, entry “Ertuğrul Gazi”
- TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, entry “Gazâ” (Gaza; Cemal Kafadar)
- TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, entry “Wittek, Paul”
