Osman I or Osman Ghazi (Ottoman Turkish: ‫عثمان غازى‬, romanized: ʿOsmān Ġāzī; Turkish:

I. Osman or Osman Gazi; died 1323/4)[1][3][a] was the founder of the Ottoman Empire
(first known as the Ottoman Beylik or Emirate). While initially a small Turkoman[6]
principality during Osman's lifetime, his beylik transformed into a world empire in
the centuries after his death.[7] It existed until shortly after the end of World
War I.

Owing to the scarcity of historical sources dating from his lifetime, very little
factual information about Osman has survived. Not a single written source survives
from Osman's reign,[8] and the Ottomans did not record the history of Osman's life
until the fifteenth century, more than a hundred years after his death.[9] Because
of this, historians find it very challenging to differentiate between fact and myth
in the many stories told about him.[10] One historian has even gone so far as to
declare it impossible, describing the period of Osman's life as a "black hole".[11]

According to later Ottoman tradition, Osman's ancestors were descendants of the

Kayı tribe of Oghuz Turks.[12] However, many scholars of the early Ottomans regard
it as a later fabrication meant to reinforce dynastic legitimacy.[12]

The Ottoman principality was one of many Anatolian beyliks that emerged in the
second half of the thirteenth century. Situated in the region of Bithynia in the
north of Asia Minor, Osman's principality found itself particularly well placed to
launch attacks on the vulnerable Byzantine Empire, which his descendants would
eventually go on to conquer.Some scholars have argued that Osman's original name
was Turkish, probably Atman or Ataman, and was only later changed to ʿOsmān, of
Arabic origin. The earliest Byzantine sources, including Osman's contemporary and
Greek historian George Pachymeres, spell his name as Ἀτουμάν (Atouman) or Ἀτμάν
(Atman), whereas Greek sources regularly render both the Arabic form ʿUthmān and
the Turkish version ʿOsmān with θ, τθ, or τσ. An early Arabic source mentioning him
also writes ‫ ط‬rather than ‫ ث‬in one instance. Osman may thus have adopted the more
prestigious Muslim name later in his life.[13] Turkish historian Halil İnalcık
argued that the hypotheses that Osman was in fact named Ataman (per George
Pachymeres), and that he came from the Desth-i Qipchaq north of the Black Sea, are
both remote possibilities.[14]

Arab scholars like Shihab al-Umari and Ibn Khaldun used the name Othman, while Ibn
Battuta, who visited the region during Orhan's reign, called him Osmancık (also
spelled Othmānjiq or Osmanjiq).[15] The suffix -cık (or -cuk), indicates the
diminutive in Turkish, thus he was known by the name of Osmancik, which means
"Osman the Little", to differentiate between him and the third Rashidun Caliph
"Uthman the Great".[16]

Historical background

Ertuğrul's türbe (tomb) in Söğüt

Most sources agree that the Ottoman Turks belonged to the Kayı Oghuz Turkic clan,
who, according to Ottoman traditions, fled their native homeland in Central Asia,
during the early 13th century, due to the Mongol invasions. The clan settled in
Anatolia, in a region belonging to the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm.[17] Other sources
claim that the Kayı clan moved to Anatolia two centuries earlier than the
previously mentioned date, alongside the Seljuks, when they left Transoxiana to
Khurasan around 1040 CE to reside near the city of Merv. Then, the Kayı clan moved
towards eastern Anatolia after 1071 CE,[18] where it displaced other Turkic clans.
Later, it became involved in the army of Sultan Kayqubad I and fought against the
Khwarazmians, Mongols and Byzantines, who were raiding Seljuk lands. According to
several sources, the Kayı warriors were known for filling first lines in battles,
and their fighting skills and bravery were among the major factors the Seljuks were
victorious in many battles. This fact prompted Sultan Kayqubad to appoint Ertuğrul,
the clan's Emir, as a Moqaddam (Lieutenant), and to reward the Kayıs some fertile
lands near Ankara, where they settled and remained in the s