The Karasids or Karasid dynasty ( Ottoman قرا صي;

Modern Turkish Turkish ( , ), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (''Türkiye Türkçesi''), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant smal ...

''Karesioğulları'', ''Karesioğulları Beyliği''), also known as the Principality of Karasi and Beylik of Karasi (''Karasi Beyliği'' or ''Karesi Beyliği'' ), was an

Anatolian beylik Anatolian beyliks ( tr, Anadolu beylikleri, Ottoman Turkish: ''Tavâif-i mülûk'', ''Beylik'' ) were small principalities (or petty kingdoms) in Anatolia governed by beys, the first of which were founded at the end of the 11th century. A se ...

in the area of classical

Mysia Mysia (UK , US or ; el, Μυσία; lat, Mysia; tr, Misya) was a region in the northwest of ancient Asia Minor (Anatolia, Asian part of modern Turkey). It was located on the south coast of the Sea of Marmara. It was bounded by Bithynia on th ...

(modern Balıkesir and Çanakkale provinces) from ca. 1297–1360. It was centered in Balıkesir and

Bergama Bergama is a populous district, as well as the center city of the same district, in İzmir Province in western Turkey. By excluding İzmir's metropolitan area, it is one of the prominent districts of the province in terms of population and is l ...

, and was one of the frontier principalities established by

Oghuz Turks The Oghuz or Ghuzz Turks (Middle Turkic: ٱغُز, ''Oγuz'', ota, اوغوز, Oġuz) were a western Turkic people that spoke the Oghuz branch of the Turkic language family. In the 8th century, they formed a tribal confederation conven ...

after the decline of the

Seljuk Sultanate of Rum fa, سلجوقیان روم () , status = , government_type = Hereditary monarchyTriarchy (1249–1254) Diarchy (1257–1262) , year_start = 1077 , year_end = 1308 , p1 = B ...

. They became a naval power in the Aegean and the

Dardanelles The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...

History

The Byzantines tried to incite beyliks like Karasids against the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

. However, routes of conquest and other objectives of beyliks such as Karasids did not initially conflict with the Ottomans. The political situation clearly favored the Ottomans. Karasids were the first beylik to be taken over by the neighboring Ottoman dynasty, who were later to found the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

. The acquisition of Karasi allowed the Ottomans to begin the conquest of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an lands in

Rumelia Rumelia ( ota, روم ايلى, Rum İli; tr, Rumeli; el, Ρωμυλία), etymologically "Land of the Romans", at the time meaning Eastern Orthodox Christians and more specifically Christians from the Byzantine rite, was the name of a hi ...

across the

. The province (''sanjak'', later ''vilayet'') of Balıkesir was called the sub-province (''sanjak'', later ''vilayet'') of Karasi until the early years of the

Republic of Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, after which it was renamed after its central town Balıkesir.

References

* Clifford E. Bosworth, ''The New Islamic Dynasties'', 1996. ''s.v.'' The Qarasï (Karasï) Oghullarï"
p. 219
* ''The

Encyclopaedia of Islam The ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' (''EI'') is an encyclopaedia of the academic discipline of Islamic studies published by Brill. It is considered to be the standard reference work in the field of Islamic studies. The first edition was published ...

'', Second Edition, ''s.v.'' "Ḳarasi̊
(full text requires login)

Notes

Anatolian beyliks History of Balıkesir History of Balıkesir Province History of Bursa Province History of Çanakkale Province History of İzmir Province History of Manisa Province States and territories established in 1286 Sunni dynasties {{Çanakkale-geo-stub

History

See also

References

Notes