Description
For more than six centuries, the Ottoman Turks ruled over a vast swath of Asia Minor, establishing one of the world’s greatest and most influential empires. Founded in 1299 by Osman I—who gave the empire its name—the Ottomans achieved imperial status in 1453, when they conquered the Roman capital of Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire, and establishing an Islamic city on Europe’s southeastern front. At its height during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Empire included today’s Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and much of Saudi Arabia and the Maghreb. At a time when much of Europe was in the Dark Ages, the Ottomans made enormous advancements in art, science, mathematics, and, especially, medicine. After a long decline, the empire fell after the Great War.–This is a silver para that circulated in the Ottoman Empire during the 18th century. Obverse shows the tughra, the official insignia of sultan