The Ottoman Empire began during the late 13th century AD as a small principality in Eastern Turkey. In the late 14th and early 15th century the Ottoman dynasty expanded its territory into Europe through Greece and the Balkans. Following the capture of Constantinople (modern Istanbul) from the Byzantines in 1453, the Ottoman Empire became a world superpower.

The Empire reached its height during the reign of Süleyman I, the Magnificent (1522-1566). During this period the superior Ottoman force took lands in South-eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. One of the reasons for the Ottoman success was the Janissary corps – an elite group of Christian conscripts who were forcibly converted to Islam and rigorously trained.

Manufacture and trade was vital to the Ottoman economy, and the government tightly controlled the workshops of the Empire. They fixed the workmen’s salaries and production quotas, and the palace studios created designs which were transferred to textiles, pottery and metalwork.

From the 18th century onwards, the Empire suffered a series of rebellions and wars which diminished its economic, political and military power. The Crimean War (1853-56) and World War I (1914-18) further hastened the break-down of the Empire, and in 1922 the Turkish government abolished the Ottoman caliphate.