THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE.

For more than 600 years, Muslims Ottoman Turks ruled one of the largest empires ever seen. It stretched across the Middle East, central and southern Europe, and Africa. Powerful emperors called sultans rued this huge territory with the help of the janissaries, a personal army of Slave-soldiers.

The ottoman empire began as tiny state in the northwest of present-day Turkey. The Ottoman were skilful warriors and they quickly increased their territory. In 1453, they captured Constantinopole, which had been the capital of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire for 1,100 years.Renamed Istanbul,It became the centre of their islamic empire , and its rulers, the sultans, were leaders of the Muslim world. 

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the empire became very powerful and wealthy. The sultans built grand mosques and palaces, many of which can still be seen today. The different cities became famous for the beautiful decorative arts practised by their craftsmen: Iznik for ceramics, Bursa for silks and textiles, Cairo for carpets, and Baghbad for calligraphy.

Isamic conquerors

The Ottoman Empire was founded by invaders from Central Asia, who carved out a homeland in northwest Turkey around 1300. They soon began to expand, and conquered territory across Europe and the Middle East. However, they were slow to adapt to new military tactics, and from 1700 they started to lose territory to Europe and Russia. A series of weak sultans and corruptions in government caused further damage, and the empire collapsed in 1919 shortly after being defeated in the world war 1.

CITY OF ISLAM 

When the ottomans captured the city of constantinopole, they renamed it Istanbul nd set about remodeling it as their new capital. They built magneficent mosques, and filled the streets with beautiful garden, hans (markets), and grand tombs, A LUXURIOUS complex called teh Topkapi Palace was constructed as the center of government and home of the sultans. 

\OTTOMAN ARTS AND DESIGN 

The religion of islam does not allow realistics pictures of humans and animals to be shown in public places. Instead, the Ottomans created beautiful patterns bsed on plants, flowers, or Arabic script, to decorate their mosques and other buildings. At Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, the most talented artists, designer., weavers, and caligraphers gathered in work shops to produce official product for the sultan and his household. Their design were the height of fashion across the empire. 

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wall tile from iznik 

the ottoman town of iznik, in northwest Turkey, was famous for its beautiful ceramic tiles. 

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