How Big Was the Ottoman Empire?
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The story in brief
How did a small state in Anatolia end up on three continents? This Short runs through how big the Ottoman Empire got, and how it shrank, in under a minute.
It began around 1300 as Osman's small Anatolian state. In 1453 its armies took Constantinople and made it their capital. Under Süleyman, in the 1500s, its power peaked, and it came to stretch from southeast Europe to the gates of Vienna, and along North Africa to Algeria. At its height, around 1683, it covered about 5.2 million square kilometres on three continents, by one widely used estimate.
The high-water mark ended with the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, and a long decline followed. By the 1850s it was called the sick man of Europe, and the sultanate was abolished in 1922, more than 600 years after the empire began.
Sources
- Britannica, "Ottoman Empire": https://www.britannica.com/place/Ottoman-Empire
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre, "Historic Areas of Istanbul": https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/356/
- Turchin, Adams & Hall 2006, Journal of World-Systems Research 12(2): https://doi.org/10.5195/jwsr.2006.369
- Taagepera 1997, International Studies Quarterly 41(3): https://doi.org/10.1111/0020-8833.00053
Maps
- J.J. Hellert, Nouvel atlas physique, politique et historique de l'Empire Ottoman (Paris: Bellizard, Dufour et Cie, 1843-44; atlas to Hammer-Purgstall, Histoire de l'Empire ottoman, trans. Hellert). Scan: RCIN digital repository (Central Library of Geography and Environmental Protection, IGiPZ PAN, Warsaw), via Internet Archive, image 0014.
- William R. Shepherd, Historical Atlas (New York: Henry Holt, 1923 ed.), p. 93, via University of Texas Libraries PCL Map Collection
- G. Droysen, Allgemeiner historischer Handatlas (Bielefeld & Leipzig: Velhagen & Klasing, 1886); scan: Internet Archive DroysensHistoricalAtlas1886
- F.W. Putzger, Historischer Schul-Atlas zur alten, mittleren und neuen Geschichte (Bielefeld & Leipzig: Velhagen & Klasing, 1895 ed.); scan: Polona (National Library of Poland)
- William R. Shepherd, Historical Atlas (New York: Henry Holt, 1923 ed.), p. 164, via University of Texas Libraries PCL Map Collection
- James Wyld, Map of the Ottoman Empire, the Black Sea, and the Frontiers of Russia and Persia (London: Jas. Wyld, 1853; imprint dated November 9th 1853), folding map on linen. Scan: Getty Research Institute, via Internet Archive mapofottomanempi00wyld, image 0005.
Borders on the maps in this Short are approximate.
Full image and music credits are in the video description on YouTube.
Narration is AI-generated. Scripts are AI-assisted and fact-checked against the sources listed.
Card artwork: Ink Before Dust (own work).
