Empire · approximate1453 – 1566 · 113 years
Ottoman Empire
A Turkish dynasty that ruled the eastern Mediterranean for six centuries — from a tiny frontier emirate to the largest Islamic empire of the modern era.
What it was
The Ottomans took Constantinople in 1453, conquered Egypt and the Hejaz in 1517, and at their 16th-century peak under Suleiman the Magnificent ruled from Algiers to Baghdad and from Yemen to the gates of Vienna. Defeat in WWI ended the dynasty in 1922.
Why it mattered
Borders the Ottomans drew, populations they moved, and institutions they built still define the politics of the Balkans, the Levant, and North Africa a century after their fall.
From Wikipedia
The Ottoman Empire, historically also known as the Turkish Empire, was a state that spanned much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th century to the early 20th century, centered in modern-day Turkey. It also controlled parts of southeastern Central Europe between the early 16th and early 18th centuries.
Wikipedia: Ottoman Empire·CC BY-SA 4.0
Borders & accuracy
Dashed borders mark empires whose extent we can date but whose precise frontiers are contested or undocumented.
- SOURCEreconstructed from Natural Earth country boundaries
- DETAILreconstructed-clipped-country
- POLITY TYPEstate
Wars of this empire89
Conflicts whose belligerents name this polity, best-documented first.
- Ottoman-Hungarian Wars1500–1606Major conflict · 500K dead
- Ottoman-Austro-Hungarian Wars1529–1699Major conflict · 500K dead
- Major conflict · 300K dead
- Battle of Mohács1526Major conflict · 50K dead
- Major conflict · 40K dead
- Major conflict
- Major conflict
- Major conflict
- Major conflict
- Major conflict
- Major conflict
- Moldavian-Ottoman Wars1484–1812Significant · 500K dead
- Polish-Ottoman Conflicts1500–1720Significant · 500K dead
- Wallachian-Ottoman Wars1456–1777Significant · 300K dead
- Decline of the Golden Horde1480–1550Significant · 300K dead
- Ottoman-Safavid Wars in Caucasus1555–1639Significant · 300K dead
- Ottoman Conquest of Serbia1459–1521Significant · 200K dead
- Significant · 200K dead
- Ottoman-Venetian Trade Wars1489–1540Significant · 150K dead
- Ottoman-Mamluk War1516–17Significant · 100K dead
- Significant · 50K dead
- Turkish-Venetian Wars1463–79Significant · 50K dead
- Significant · 50K dead
- Significant · 50K dead
+ 65 more in the atlas.
Open in the atlas →Seeks the timeline to 1453 and fits the map to these borders.
Cite as: Ottoman Empire (1453 – 1566). War Atlas. https://waratlas.org/e/ottoman-mid · Sources & methodology