List of Sultans
The table below lists Ottoman sultans, as well as the last Ottoman caliph, in chronological order. The tughras were the calligraphic seals or signatures used by Ottoman sultans. They were displayed on all official documents as well as on coins, and were far more important in identifying a sultan than his portrait. The "Notes" column contains information on each sultan's parentage and fate. When a sultan's reign did not end through a natural death, the reason is indicated in bold. For earlier rulers, there is usually a time gap between the moment a sultan's reign ended and the moment his successor was enthroned. This is because the Ottomans in that era practiced what historian Quataert has described as "survival of the fittest, not eldest, son": when a sultan died, his sons had to fight each other for the throne until a victor emerged. Because of the infighting and numerous fratricides that occurred, a sultan's death date therefore did not always coincide with the accession date of his successor. In 1617, the law of succession changed from survival of the fittest to a system based on agnatic seniority (ekberiyet), whereby the throne went to the oldest male of the family. This in turn explains why from the 17th century onwards a deceased sultan was rarely succeeded by his own son, but usually by an uncle or brother. Agnatic seniority was retained until the abolition of the sultanate, despite unsuccessful attempts in the 19th century to replace it with primogeniture.
The official full style of the Ottoman Sultans was:
- 'Ala Hazrat-i-Aqdas-i-Hümayun (His Sacred and Imperial Majesty) Sultan N.N. Khan,
- Padishah, i.e. Emperor,
- Hünkar-i Khanedan-i Âl-i Osman, i.e. Sovereign of the House of Osman,
- Sultan us-Selatin, i.e. Sultan of Sultans,
- Khakan, i.e. Khan of Khans,
- Amir ül-Mü'minin ve Khalifeh ül-Rasul Rub al-A’alimin, i.e. Commander of the Faithful and Successor of the Prophet of the Lord of the Universe,
- Khâdim ül-Haramayn ush-Sharifayn, i.e. Custodian of the Two Noble Sanctuaries (i.e. the Holy Cities of Mecca, and Medina),
- Kaysar-i-Rûm, i.e. Emperor of Rome
- Padişah-i thalath şehireha-i Qostantiniyye, Edirne ve Hüdavendigâr, ül şehireyn-i Dimaşq ve Qahira, tamam Azerbayjan, Mağrib, Barqah, Kayravan, Haleb, ül-‘Iraq-i ‘Arab vel ‘Ajam, Basra, ül-dulan-i Lahsa, Rakka, Musul, Partiyye, Diyârbekir, Kilikiyye, ül vilâyatun-i Erzurum, Sivas, Adana, Karaman, Van, Barbariyye, Habeş, Tunus, Trablus-i Garb, Şam, Kıbrıs, Rodos, Girit, ül vilâyet-i Mora, ül Bahr-i Sefid vel Bahr-i Siyah ve i-swahil, Anadolu, Rumeli, Bagdâd, Kurdistân, Yunanistan, Türkistan, Tatariyye, Çerkesyye, ül mintaqateyn-i Kabarda, Gürjistan, ül-Deşt-i Qipçaq, tamam ül-mamlikat-i Tatar, Kefe ve tamam ül-etraf, Bosna, ül şehir ve hisar-i Belgrat, ül vilâyet-i Sırbistan bil tamam ül-hisareha ve şehireha, tamam Arnavut, tamam Eflak ve Boğdan, ve tamam ül-mustamlak vel-hududeha, ve muteaddit mamalekat ve şehireha, i.e. Emperor of The Three Cities of Constantinople, Adrianople and Bursa, and of the Cities of Damascus and Cairo, of all Azerbaijan, of the Magreb, of Barka, of Kairouan, of Aleppo, of the Arabic and the Persian Iraq, of Basra, of Al-Hasa strip, of Ar Raqqah, of Mosul, of Parthia, of Diyarbakır, of Cilicia, of the provinces of Erzurum, of Sivas, of Adana, of Karaman, Van, of Barbary, of Abyssinia, of Tunisia, of Tripoli, of Damascus, of Cyprus, of Rhodes, of Crete, of the province of Morea, of the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea and also their coasts, of Anatolia, Rumelia, Baghdad, Greece, Turkistan, Tartary, Circassia, of the two regions of Kabarda, of Georgia, of the steppe of Kypchaks, of the whole country of the Tatars, of Kefe and of all the neighboring regions, of Bosnia, of the City and Fort of Belgrade, of the province of Serbia, with all the castles and cities, of all Albania, of all Eflak and Bogdania, as well as all the dependencies and borders, and many other countries and cities.
# | Sultan | Portrait | Reigned from | Reigned until | Tughra | Notes |
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— | Ertuğrul Bey |
1230 | 1281 | — |
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— | Osman Bey |
1281 | 1299 | — |
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Foundation of Ottoman Empire |
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1 | Osman I |
1299 | 1326 | — |
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2 | Orhan I |
1326 | 1362 |
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3 | Murad I
|
1362 | 15 June 1389 |
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4 | Bayezid I |
15 June 1389 | 20 July 1402 |
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Ottoman Interregnum |
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— | İsa Çelebi |
1403 | 1405 | — |
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— | Süleyman Çelebi |
20 July 1402 | 17 February 1411 | — |
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— | Musa Çelebi |
18 February 1411 | 5 July 1413 | — |
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— | Mehmed Çelebi |
1403–1406 1406–1413 |
5 July 1413 | — |
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Rise of the Ottoman Empire |
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5 | Mehmed I |
5 July 1413 | 26 May 1421 |
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6 | Murad II |
25 June 1421 | 1444 |
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7 | Mehmed II |
1444 | 1446 |
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— | Murad II |
1446 | 3 February 1451 |
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Growth of the Ottoman Empire |
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— | Mehmed II |
3 February 1451 | 3 May 1481 |
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8 | Bayezid II |
19 May 1481 | 25 April 1512 |
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9 | Selim I |
25 April 1512 | 21 September 1520 |
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10 | Suleiman I |
30 September 1520 | 6 or 7 September 1566 |
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11 | Selim II |
29 September 1566 | 21 December 1574 |
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12 | Murad III | 22 December 1574 | 16 January 1595 |
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13 | Mehmed III |
27 January 1595 | 20 or 21 December 1603 |
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Stagnation of the Ottoman Empire |
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14 | Ahmed I |
21 December 1603 | 22 November 1617 |
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15 | Mustafa I |
22 November 1617 | 26 February 1618 |
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16 | Osman II |
26 February 1618 | 19 May 1622 |
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— | Mustafa I |
20 May 1622 | 10 September 1623 |
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17 | Murad IV |
10 September 1623 | 8 or 9 February 1640 |
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18 | Ibrahim I |
9 February 1640 | 8 August 1648 |
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19 | Mehmed IV |
8 August 1648 | 8 November 1687 |
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20 | Suleiman II |
8 November 1687 | 22 June 1691 |
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21 | Ahmed II |
22 June 1691 | 6 February 1695 |
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22 | Mustafa II |
6 February 1695 | 22 August 1703 |
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Decline of the Ottoman Empire |
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23 | Ahmed III |
22 August 1703 | 1 or 2 October 1730 |
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24 | Mahmud I |
2 October 1730 | 13 December 1754 |
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25 | Osman III |
13 December 1754 | 29 or 30 October 1757 |
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26 | Mustafa III |
30 October 1757 | 21 January 1774 |
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27 | Abdülhamid I |
21 January 1774 | 6 or 7 April 1789 |
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Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire – |
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28 | Selim III |
7 April 1789 | 29 May 1807 |
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29 | Mustafa IV | 29 May 1807 | 28 July 1808 |
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30 | Mahmud II |
28 July 1808 | 1 July 1839 |
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31 | Abdülmecid I |
1 July 1839 | 25 June 1861 |
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32 | Abdülaziz I |
25 June 1861 | 30 May 1876 |
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33 | Mehmed Murad V |
30 May 1876 | 31 August 1876 |
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34 | Abdülhamid II |
31 August 1876 | 27 April 1909 |
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35 | Mehmed V |
27 April 1909 | 3 July 1918 |
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Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire |
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36 | Mehmed VI |
4 July 1918 | 1 November 1922 |
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Republican Caliphate |
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— | Abdülmecid II |
18 November 1922 | 3 March 1924 | — |
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