TURKISH PROVINCE
The dynasty which in 151 6 so abruptly overran the lands
of the Arabs was no upstart. Beginning modestly about
1300 as a petty Turkish state in western Asia Minor, the
Ottomans had gradually taken over all Anatolia from the
other heirs of the Seljuks, had penetrated into Thrace and
made Adrianople their capital and had entirely recovered
from Timur's catastrophic incursion. In 1453 they con-
quered Constantinople and liquidated the pathetic remnant
of the Byzantine empire. Their next conquests drove west-
ward into the Balkans and eastward into Transcaucasia,
Mesopotamia and Safawid Persia. The sudden stab south-
ward into Syria and Egypt was apparently unpremeditated,
an opportunist assault which led to an unexpected though
not unwelcome accretion of territory, wealth and power for
Selim I and his successors, all twenty-seven of whom were
his direct descendants.
The Ottoman empire attained its height under Selim 3 s son Sulayman I the Magnificent (al-Qanuni, the lawgiver, 1520-1566). Sulayman added most of Hungary, Rhodes and North Africa — except Morocco — to his realm. For a century the borders remained almost stationary, but then a gradual decay set in. Provinces were detached or achieved autonomy ; the authority of the Sublime Porte crumbled and in 1922 dissolved utterly. Syria was among the last to benefit from this trend, however, remaining firmly under Turkish rule until the first World War, four centuries after it had toppled so unceremoniously into Ottoman hands. Lebanon, as will be indicated, was somewhat more fortunate during these centuries, but still was never able completely to shake off the sultans' authority.
