Hello dear steem historians! I myself am not an historian, but rather an enthusiast of history. I am starting a series where i will cover mostly the history of Turks, Anatolia and Balkans. That being said, i want to start with the Sultans of Ottoman Empire, which was a turkic empire, based in Anatolia and Balkans. So with this intro, i will shortly write about the House of Osman and then start writing the sultans with the next post. Enjoy!

The House of Osman (Ottoman Dynasty)

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The Ottomans were a family originated from the Kayı Tribe of Oghuz Turks. Osman, who was the first of this family, gave his name both to the dynasty and the empire. The term "Devlet-i Âli Osman" which was used interchangeably with the term Ottoman Empire, means "State of Osman's Breed". The family migrated west, along with the other turkic families, who fled from central asia after the Mongol invasion. When they reached Anatolia, father of Osman, Ertugrul, was the head of the family and he was appointed by the Seljuks of Rum as a margrave (Uçbeyi) across the Byzantine border, because the Kayı tribe was accustomed to fighting and were quick to adapt to new circumstances. The border they settled was in northwest Anatolia, namely Söğüt and Domaniç.

A Portrait of Ertugrul, father of Osman (Wikipedia)

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After the death of Ertugrul in 1281, Osman became the leader of the family. Osman, who was a great warrior and adept in state affairs, quickly made the borders bigger. By the time Osman became the leader of the family, the authority of Seljuks of Rum was diminished and most of other Bey's declared independence. Osman seized the opportunity and declared independence from the Seljuks, establishing the Ottoman State. Historians argue about the exact date, but 1299 and 1302 are two dates accepted by most of them.

The borders and it's expansion during Osman's reign (Wikipedia)

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Osman was the first of 36 Ottoman Sultans. The dynasty he found ruled over a Anatolia and Balkan based state, for over 600 years. After the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, the members of dynasty were exiled and were forced to live under terrible circumstances. But lately their economic situation got better and they were embraced by the Turkish state. Still, only a small portion of the dynasty members live in Istanbul and most of them still reside in foreign countries. Some of them were married with foreigner and lost their national and religious identity. The dynasty members still uses the titles of "şehzade" (heir), "sultan" and "sultanzade" (child of sultan) to this day.

The family tree of the House of Osman, from Mahmud the second, showing both deceased and alive members of the dynasty. (Source)

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List of Ottoman Sultans

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Place	Sultan	Accession to Throne	End of Reign
1	Osman Gazi	1299	1326
2	Orhan Gazi	1326	1361
3	I. Murad (The Devotee of God)	1360	1389
4	I. Bayezid (The Thunderbold)	1389	1402
-	Ottoman Interregnum	1402	1413
5	I. Mehmet (The Affable)	1413	1421
6	II. Murat	1421	1444
7	II. Mehmet (The Conqueror)	1444	1446
-	II. Murat	1446	1451
-	II. Mehmet (The Conqueror)	1451	1481
8	II. Bayezid	1481	1512
9	I. Selim (The Grimm)	1512	1520
10	I. Suleyman (The Magnificient)	1520	1566
11	II. Selim	1566	1574
12	III. Murat	1574	1595
13	III. Mehmet	1595	1603
14	I. Ahmet	1603	1617
15	I. Mustafa	1617	1618
16	II. Osman (The Young)	1618	1622
-	I. Mustafa	1622	1623
17	IV. Murat	1623	1640
18	İbrahim	1640	1648
19	IV. Mehmet	1648	1687
20	II. Suleyman	1687	1691
21	II. Ahmet	1691	1695
22	II. Mustafa	1695	1703
23	III. Ahmet	1703	1730
24	I. Mahmut	1730	1754
25	III. Osman	1754	1757
26	III. Mustafa	1757	1774
27	I. Abdulhamid	1774	1789
28	III. Selim	1789	1807
29	IV. Mustafa	1807	1808
30	II. Mahmud	1808	1839
31	Abdulmecid	1839	1861
32	Abdulaziz	1861	1876
33	V. Murad	1876	1876
34	II. Abdulhamid	1876	1909
35	V. Mehmet (Reşat)	1909	1918
36	VI. Mehmet (Vahdeddin)	1918	1922

Source

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This was an intro for the Sultans of Ottoman Empire series. Next post in this series will be about the founder of the House, Osman I.

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If you liked this and want more history posts, please be sure to upvote, resteem and comment. I welcome all of the steemit history community to share their thoughts and make this a better work :)