TURK [M.O.209-2007]

The Ottoman Empire (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِيّهٔ عُثمَانِیّه Devlet-i ʿAliyye-yi ʿOsmâniyye,[5] Modern Turkish: Yüce Osmanlı Devleti or Osmanlı İmparatorluğu) was an empire that lasted from 27 July 1299[6] to 29 October 1923.

At the height of its power, in the 16th and 17th centuries, the empire spanned three continents,[7] controlling much of Southeastern Europe, Western Asia and North Africa.[8] The Ottoman Empire contained 29 provinces and numerous vassal states, some of which were later absorbed into the empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. The empire also temporarily gained authority over distant overseas lands through declarations of allegiance to the Ottoman Sultan and Caliph, such as the declaration by the Sultan of Aceh in 1565; or through the temporary acquisitions of islands in the Atlantic Ocean, such as Lanzarote in 1585.[9]

With Constantinople (now called Istanbul) as its capital city,[10][11] and vast control of lands around the eastern Mediterranean during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (ruled 1520 to 1566), the empire was at the center of interactions between the Eastern and Western worlds for six centuries.

The Ottoman Empire came to an end, as a regime under an imperial monarchy, on November 1, 1922.[12] It formally ended, as a de jure state, on July 24, 1923, under the Treaty of Lausanne.[13] It was succeeded by the Republic of Turkey[14] which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923.

The empire was also known in English as the Osmanic Empire, the Osmanian Empire or the Ottoman State and Osmanlı İmparatorluğu in Turkish.

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