beyliks

Beyliks were Turkish principalities in Anatolia ruled by beys. They emerged in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries after the decline of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum and amid Mongol influence, forming a patchwork of frontier polities in western and central Anatolia. Each beylik was typically centered on a city or region, with a hereditary dynasty providing the ruling bey. They combined local governance with military leadership and often operated with a degree of de facto independence while acknowledging the suzerainty of larger powers when convenient.

Over time several beyliks expanded through conquest or strategic alliances. Notable examples include the Ottoman beylik, which originated near Söğüt and grew into a regional empire; Germiyanoğlu, Aydınids, Menteshe, Karesi, Karasids, Candaroğlu, Ramazanoğlu, and Dulkadirids. These states competed with Byzantine power along the Anatolian and Aegean frontiers and interacted with Mongol and Mamluk authorities as overlords, rivals, or guarantors.

The rise of the Ottoman state reshaped the trajectory of the beyliks. From the late fourteenth through the fifteenth centuries, the Ottomans and other centralized polities gradually absorbed or eclipsed the beyliks, incorporating their territories as provinces of a single imperial system. The beyliks, through their political fragmentation and military culture, helped shape the medieval Anatolian landscape and laid the groundwork for the emergence of the later Turkish empire.