Osman I

Founder of the Ottoman Empire, establishing a powerful Turkish principality.

Chronology: 1258-08-23 – 1326-08-01

Origins & Early Life

Osman I or Osman Ghazi (Ottoman Turkish: عثمان غازى, romanized: ʿOsmān Ġāzī; Turkish: I. Osman or Osman Gazi; died 1323/4) was the eponymous founder of the Ottoman Empire (first known as a beylik or emirate). While initially a small Turkoman principality during Osman's lifetime, his beylik transformed into a vast empire in the centuries after his death. It existed until 1922 shortly after the end of World War I, when the sultanate was abolished.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

Owing to the scarcity of historical sources dating from his lifetime, very little factual information about Osman has survived. Not a single written source survives from Osman's reign, and the Ottomans did not record the history of his life until the fifteenth century, more than a hundred years after his death. Because of this, historians find it very challenging to differentiate between fact and myth in the many stories told about him. One historian has even gone so far as to declare it impossible, describing the period of Osman's life as a "black hole". According to later Ottoman tradition, Osman's ancestors were descendants of the Kayı tribe of Oghuz Turks.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

However, many scholars of the early Ottomans regard it as a later fabrication meant...

Source: Wikipedia