Ottoman rule

Rise (c. 1299–1453)

In the century after Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. The Byzantine–Ottoman wars, waged in Anatolia in the late 13th century before entering Europe in the mid-14th century, were followed by the Bulgarian–Ottoman wars and the Serbian–Ottoman wars in the mid-14th century. Osman's son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and made it the new capital, supplanting Byzantine control in the region. The important port of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387 and sacked. The Ottoman victory in Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe. The Battle of Nicopolis for the BulgarianTsardom of Vidin in 1396, regarded as the last large-scale crusade of the Middle Ages, also failed to stop the Ottomans.