A small town, a large claim

The answer to where the Ottoman state was founded is clear: Söğüt. The answer to when and exactly how it was founded is not — and saying so plainly does not weaken the story; it makes it more interesting.

The problem of sources

There are almost no contemporary written documents from the founding period. Most of what we know rests on chronicles written a hundred to a hundred and fifty years after the events, when the state had long since become an empire. Looking back, those chronicles naturally shaped the founding as a story of triumph.

That is why on this site you will meet phrases like "by tradition" and "traditionally accepted" in many sentences about the founding period. They are not hesitation but honesty.

The Kayı tribe and the frontier

By tradition the Kayı tribe of the Oghuz reached Anatolia in the thirteenth century with the Turkmen migration that withdrew westward under Mongol pressure. They settled in the border region of the Anatolian Seljuk state facing Byzantium — the uç, the march.

The marches were places where central authority was weak and movement high. Small principalities emerged there, grew, or vanished. What is striking about the Ottoman principality is that it alone, among dozens like it, survived and expanded.

In this order Söğüt was the winter quarters. In summer the tribe moved up to the highlands of Domaniç. That winter-and-summer pattern speaks of a semi-nomadic life rather than a settled capital: the founding began not in a palace but on a pasture.

Ertuğrul Gazi

Ertuğrul Gazi is known as the father of Osman Gazi. Almost everything about him comes from later sources. By tradition he died in 1281 and was buried at Söğüt.

His importance to Söğüt is not only historical but symbolic: the town's present identity, its flow of visitors and its largest annual event are all built around his tomb.

The dispute over 1299

The founding date in the schoolbooks is 1299. It is disputed among historians. The basic objection is this: the independence of a principality cannot be reduced to a single year. The Ottoman principality became independent step by step, as the Anatolian Seljuk state effectively dissolved and Ilkhanid influence weakened.

That 1299 became standard has much to do with historical writing in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A date, in other words, tells you less about the event than about how the event was meant to be remembered.

The centre moves away

As the principality grew, its centre of gravity shifted westward: Bilecik, then Yenişehir as the seat of the principality, and in 1326 Bursa. With the taking of Bursa, Söğüt ceased to be a political centre.

What follows is a second history for Söğüt: no longer the place where events happened, but the place where they are remembered. It is largely this second history that shapes the town's character today.

The nineteenth century: memory rebuilt

The present appearance of the Ertuğrul Gazi Tomb is largely the product of the thorough restoration under Abdul Hamid II. In the same period the commemoration of the founding was tied to a regular, state-organised ceremony.

This is explained by the need, at a time when the empire was under strain, to return to the founding story. Knowing that much of what you see at Söğüt dates not from the thirteenth century but from the nineteenth does not lessen the visit — it lets you see two layers at once.

Today

Söğüt today is a quiet district of Bilecik. Visitor numbers are low for most of the year; during festival week in September the town changes entirely. The buildings to see are gathered in a small area, so a visit can be completed in half a day.

Some of the dates on this page rest on traditional accounts. For academic work, consult primary sources and the current literature on the Ottoman founding.