TRENDEAtlas of the Sultans · Cities
Today: Turkey
Bursa came under Ottoman rule in 1326; it remained an Ottoman city until the end of the empire. It changed hands in between; there are 2 separate Ottoman periods. The first major Ottoman capital.
Osman Bey besieged the city after defeating its Byzantine governor at the Dinboz pass; the blockade lasted more than ten years.
Sultan: Osman IStarving after the long blockade, the city surrendered to the Ottomans on 6 April 1326; Orhan Bey made Bursa his capital.
Sultan: Orhan · Event page →On 8 July 1920 the Greek army occupied the city.
On 10–11 September 1922 the Turkish army retook the city.
How the total is counted: years of actual Ottoman rule are added up. Temporary occupations shorter than a year (that were reversed) are not subtracted; they appear as notes in the chronology.
On the atlas map the city lies in the region “Bursa–İznik”. Map colours work at region level, so the city's own dates may differ from the region's by a few years.
Open the map in 1326Source: TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, “BURSA” (Turkish); text written for the atlas.