Osman I

Osman I (c. 1258-1323/24) was the founder of the small Anatolian beylik that grew, after his death, into the Ottoman Empire, which took its name from him and endured until 1922. He ruled a frontier principality in northwestern Anatolia, expanding it chiefly through warfare against the neighboring Byzantine Empire. Reliable historical evidence about his life is extremely limited: no written source survives from his own lifetime, and Ottoman historians did not begin recording his story until more than a century after his death, so much of what is commonly said about him blends historical fact with later legend. Despite this uncertainty about the details of his life, his role as the founding figure of the Ottoman dynasty is not in question.