Osman I

Osman I or as he is known, Osman Gazi or Osman Bey.(; or ''Osman Gazi;'' died 1323/4) Otoman or Othoman in English.}} was the eponymous founder of the Ottoman Empire. Initially a small Turkoman principality during Osman's lifetime, his beylik transformed into a vast empire in the centuries after his death. It existed until 1922 shortly after the end of World War I, when the sultanate was abolished.

Due to the scarcity of historical sources dating from his lifetime and not a single written source surviving from his reign, very little factual information is known about Osman. The Ottomans did not record the history of his life until the 15th century, more than a hundred years after his death, because of this, historians find it very difficult to separate fact from myth, with one historian going so far as to declare it impossible, describing the life of Osman as a "black hole".

According to later Ottoman tradition, Osman's ancestors were descendants of the Kayı tribe of Oghuz Turks. However, many scholars of the early Ottoman period regard it as a later fabrication meant to reinforce dynastic legitimacy.

The Ottoman principality was one of many Anatolian beyliks that emerged in the second half of the 13th century. Situated in the region of Bithynia in the north of Asia Minor, Osman's principality found itself particularly well placed to launch attacks on the vulnerable Byzantine Empire, which his descendants would eventually go on to conquer. Provided by Wikipedia