Ottoman Turks

The Ottoman Turks (Turkish: Osmanlı Türkleri) were a Turkic ethnic group. They founded the Ottoman Empire in the early modern era and remained sociopolitically the most dominant group in the Empire for the duration (c. 1299/1302–1922).

"Ottomans" redirects here. For the dynasty that ruled the Ottoman Empire, see Ottoman dynasty. For the modern descendants of the ethnic group, see Anatolian Turks. For the eponymous empire in which they predominated and ruled over, see Ottoman Empire.

Ottoman Turks
Osmanlı Türkleri
1299–1922
Painting of an Ottoman Turk sipahi
Total population
7,000,000, 1831
12,590,352, 1884
15,044,846, 1914
Languages
Old Anatolian Turkish
Ottoman Turkish
Religion
Predominantly Sunni Islam, partly Alevism
Related ethnic groups
Turkish people
  1. Muslims of Anatolia and some parts of Balkans
  2. Muslims of Ottoman Empire exluding Vilayet of Hejaz
  3. Muslims of Ottoman Empire exluding Vilayet of Hejaz
  4. Among peasantry and non-elite urban population
  5. In literature and by elites

Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, but they take their Turkish name, Osmanlı ("Osman" became altered in some European languages as "Ottoman"), from the house of Osman I (reigned c. 1299–1326), the founder of the House of Osman, the ruling dynasty of the Ottoman Empire for its entire 624 years. Expanding from its base in Söğüt, the Ottoman principality began incorporating other Turkish-speaking Muslims and non-Turkish Christians. Crossing into Europe from the 1350s, coming to dominate the Mediterranean Sea and, in 1453, conquering Constantinople (the capital city of the Byzantine Empire), the Ottoman Turks controlled all major land routes between Asia and Europe. Western Europeans had to find other ways to trade with the East.

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