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Where was the Ottoman Empire founded?
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Ottoman Empire
Map showing the expansion of the Ottoman Empire from about 1300 to 1700. The empire reached its greatest extent between 1683 and 1699.
The Ottoman Empire was founded in northwestern Anatolia at the end of the 13th century. Its origins are traced to a Turkmen principality centered at Söğüt, which served as the power base for Osman I, the dynasty's founder.12
From this base, Osman and his followers—frontier warriors known as ghazis—expanded their control by capturing various Byzantine fortresses in the region. By 1300, the principality encompassed an area stretching from Eskişehir to the plains of İznik. Following the capture of Bursa by Osman's son Orhan in the early 14th century, the state began to develop the administrative and military infrastructure that would eventually support its growth into a major empire across Eurasia and Africa.123