Anatolia and Eastern Europe - the Ottomans

Byzantine Asia Minor was first penetrated on behalf of Islam by the Turkmani Seljuqs who originated nearby. In the 11^th Century under Tugrul they also controlled Baghdad and Azerbaijan. Asia Minor came to be mostly ruled by one or two Seljuq Sultanates (from the late 11^th Century until the 13^th Century the Seljuqs expanded their Anatolian territories).

In the late 13^th Century, under pressure from the Mongols to the East, a smaller Ottoman Emirate (named after its founder, Osman I) was established in North West Anatolia as part of the Seljuq Sultanate which now also welcomed Persian refugees. The famous Rumi, who inspired the Mevlevi Sufi order, appears to have been one of these Persian refugees.

The Emirate began to have expansionary policies from the early 14^th Century probably under the influence of this pressure. Ibn Battuta gives descriptions of these early expansionary Ottomans.

A series of 14^th Century Ottoman conquests therefore ensued including in Ankara and Gallipoli (1354), the Balkans (1370), Salonika (1387) and Nicopolis (1396).

The chief Ottoman, now using the title, Sultan, established trade relations with Genoa (1385) and Venice (1354). Briefly losing Ankara to the Tartar, Timur (Tamerlane), in the early 15^th Century (1402), they nevertheless continued their conquest of the Balkans and finally captured Constantinople itself in 1453. Timur soon withdrew back to the East.

The early 16^th Century then saw Ottoman expansion into Syria and Egypt as they defeated the Mamluk rulers there. Eventually, they also controlled the religiously important Hijaz (including Mecca and Medina). The knowledge of gun-powder gained from the Chinese was especially useful to these early Ottomans. Nevertheless, Asia Minor itself was conquered fully only after large parts of Eastern Europe and a large population of Greek-speaking Christians remained in Asia Minor for some time after the complete political conquest.

The Turks themselves also maintained pre-Islamic beliefs for some time. Sufism, dervishes and Persian culture played major roles in the Islamisation of Asia Minor and other Ottoman territories. Ibn Battuta refers to the dervishes there.