Ottoman Empire

Proper noun

the Ottoman Empire

1. (historical) A large former Turkish empire which began as a sultanate centered in modern Turkey and at its height ruled over much of Southeastern Europe, West Asia and North Africa; founded in the late 13th century, it lasted until the 1920s.
   • Under their fluctuating rule an Ottoman Empire was indeed to survive, with varying fortunes, for a further three and a half centuries. But it was an empire in the continual throes of a decline which, despite periods of respite and glimpses of momentary recovery, was to prove irreversible.1979, Lord Kinross, The Ottoman Centuries: the Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire, page 616
   • It does not seem very convincing to view a major world empire, with the most modern arms at its disposal, as merely the helpless victim of circumstances beyond its control. Even less attractive are "stage theories," which assume that at a given point in time the Ottoman Empire, its economy...1997, Suraıya Faroqhı, Bruce McGowan, Donald Quataert, Şevket Pamuk, with Halil İnalcık as editor, An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire: Volume Two, 1600-1914, page 470

   Synonyms:

   Osman Empire, Osmanian Empire, Osmanic Empire, Osmanli Empire, Ottomanian Empire, sick man of Europe, Sublime Ottoman State, Turkey