The Ottoman Empire lasted from 1299 to 1923.
It is the ancestral state of today's Republic of Turkey and one of the largest empires in history.
It covered 22.9 million km² at its peak in the 16th century, occupying areas from North Africa, the Middle East, the Caucasus to Europe. Albania was also among the occupied countries.
It was the main rival of European states against which it undertook many military campaigns.
Within the empire the military order and elected aristocracy of the padishah or sultan, the sovereign of the state, prevailed.
The capital was Istanbul (Constantinople).
The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were the heyday of this empire, while in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries frequent wars with Russia and Austria-Hungary marked its decline.