Member-only story

How a Man’s Strange Dream Became a 600+Years Empire

The fascinating chronicles of the Ottoman Empire

Lioness Rue
5 min readJan 30, 2021
Mehmed II, Entering to Constantinople —image by Fausto Zonaro (Wikimedia.org)

TThe Ottoman Turks’ history recognizes a ruler of the Turkish tribes in Anatolia who had a mystic dream, and this was Osman I. He saw a mighty tree growing out of him and covering the whole world. With the help of his successors, they built the mightiest Middle East Empire of their time.

This dream was the main foundation of the ultimate power of the Ottoman’s house. According to holy interpretation, God had given imperial power to Osman I and his descendants. Thus, the dream’s meaning gave the Ottoman’s house a great following and support for their claim. The term Ottoman originates from “Uthman,” which is Arabic for Osman.

Foundations of the Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire’s history began with Osman I in 1299 AD. He was the Turkish tribe’s leader in Anatolia who established a formal government. This gave the Ottoman Turks foundation.

He and his son Orhan started expanding the territory to the north-west and captured Bursa in 1326 AD. Bursa became the Ottoman state’s new capital, and the Byzantine Empire lost control over northwestern Anatolia.

The Ottoman Turks continued their expansion by conquering the critical city of…

--

--

Lioness Rue
Lioness Rue

No responses yet