OSMAN I

born 1258 died 1324, Sgt, Ottoman Empire [now in Turkey] also called Osman Gazi ruler of a Turkmen principality in northwestern Anatolia who is regarded as the founder of the Ottoman Turkish state. Both the name of the dynasty and the empire that the dynasty established are derived from the Arabic form ('Uthman) of his name. Osman was descended from the Kayi branch of the Oguz Turkmen. His father, Ertugrul, had established a principality centred at Sgt. With Sgt as their base, Osman and the Muslim frontier warriors (Ghazis) under his command waged a slow and stubborn conflict against the Byzantines, who sought to defend their territories in the hinterland of the Asiatic shore opposite Constantinople (now Istanbul). Osman gradually extended his control over several former Byzantine fortresses, including Yenisehir, which provided the Ottomans with a strong base to lay siege to Bursa and Nicaea (now Iznik), in northwestern Anatolia. The greatest success of Osman's reign was the conquest of Bursa shortly before his death.