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Anatolian Turkish Beyliks (Anadolu beylikleri also Turkmen beyliks, Tevâif-i mülûk (in Ottoman Turkish)) were small Turkish emirates or muslim principalities (beylik) governed by tribal beys, which were founded in several locations of Anatolia as of the end of the 13th century.
Following the Battle of Malazgirt or Manzikert (1071 Seljuq triumph over the Byzantine empire) and the conquest of Anatolia by the Seljuqs, Oghuz clans - fighting for the Seljuqs - began settling in present-day Turkey. The Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate's central power established in Konya employed these clans especially in border areas, in order to ensure safety against the Byzantines, under Beys called uj begi (uj is a Turkish term for a border territory, compare marches). These clans led by beys would receive military and financial aid from the Seljuks in return for their services, and acted as if owing full allegiance to their sovereignty. However, during the end days of the reign of Ala ad-Din Kay Qubadh I, especially with the Mongol invasions from the east, the Seljuk power deteriorated and instead Ilkhanate commanders in Anatolia gained strength and authority, which encouraged the beys openly to declare sovereignty. Following the fall of the Seljuk empire, many uj begi joined forces with the atabegs (former Seljuk leaders) and other religious Muslim leaders and warriors from Persia and Turkistan fleeing the Mongols, invading the Byzantine empire where they established emirates. To maintain control of their new territory, these reestablished emirs employed Ghazi warriors from Persia and Turkistan who also fled the Mongols. The ghazis fought under the inspiration of either a mullah or a general, trying to assert Islamic power, their assaults of the reestablished emirs upon the Byzantine Empire reaching even further expanded the power sphere of the beyliks.
When the Byzantine empire weakened, their cities in Asia Minor could resist the assaults of the beyliks less and less, and eventually many Turks settled in western parts of what now was known as Anatolia. As a result, many more beyliks were founded in these newly conquered western regions. However, power struggles and conflicts arose between them.
In the beginning, the most powerful states were the Karamanoğlu (or Karamanid) and the Germiyan, whereas the Osmanoglu (who were to found the Ottoman Empire, and ensure Anatolian Turkish unity) were relatively quite weak. But with their annexation of the Beylik of Karesi and their advance into Roumelia, they became the main rivals of Karamanoğlu, who were then thought to be the strongest. The Ottomans advanced further into Anatolia by acquiring towns, either by buying them off or through marriage alliances. Meanwhile the Karamanoğlu assaulted the Ottomans many times with the help of other beyliks, Mamluks, Ak Koyunlu (White Sheep) Turkmens, Byzantines, Pontics and Hungarians, failing and losing power every time. The early Ottoman leaders conquered large parts of land from Karamanoğlu and other less prominent beyliks, which were restored to them after the Ottoman defeat suffered against Tamerlane in 1402 in the Battle of Ankara.
But the Ottoman state quickly collected itself under Mehmed I and his son Murad II re-incorporated most of these beyliks into Ottoman territory in a space of around 25 years. The final blow for the Karamanoğlu was struck by Mehmed II who conquered their lands and re-assured a homogeneous rule in Anatolia. The further steps towards a single rule by the Ottomans were taken by Selim I who conquered Ramazanoğlu and Dulkadir territories in 1515 during his campaign against the Mamluks, and his son Süleyman the Magnificent who more or less completely united the present territories of Turkey (and much more) in his 1534 Irakeyn ('the two Iraks', i.e. Arab and Persian).
Many of the former Anatolian beyliks became the basis for administrative subdivisions in the Ottoman Empire.
List of the Anatolian beyliks
In the list below, a distinction should be made between the beyliks that were founded immediately after the Battle of Malazgirt (1071), mostly situated towards the Eastern Anatolia, and who were vassals (or sometimes at war) to the centralized power of Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate based in Konya, and between those beyliks that emerged as a result of the weakening of this central state under the Mongol blow with the Battle of Köse Dag in 1275. toward the end of the 13th century, extending the Turkish aire in Western Anatolia. For one specific case (Çaka Bey's Beylik of İzmir), it should be remembered that, immediately after the Battle of Malazgirt, Turkish forces had spread as far as the western tip of Anatolia, in immediate vicinity of the Byzantine capital, and had established their capital in İznik for 20 years (1077-1097), before ebbing back to the inland. A parallel offshoot of this first foray had been the Beylik of İzmir.
Founded after the Battle of Malazgirt
- Artuklu (three different branches with different durations covering Diyarbakır, Hasankeyf, Mardin, Silvan, Harput)
- Danishmend (covering Sivas, Malatya, Kayseri, Tokat, Amasya; 1071-1178)
- Dilmachoglu (covering Bitlis and Erzurum; 1085-1192)
- İnaloglu (short-lived; centered in Diyarbakır)
- Mengüdjek (covering Erzincan, Kemah, Divriği; 1071 - mid 13th century)
- Saltuklu (centered in Erzurum; 1092-1202)
Founded after the Battle of Kose Dag
- Alaiye (vassals to Karamanoğlu; centered in Alanya; 1293-1471)
- Aydınoğlu (covering Aydın and İzmir; around 1300-1425)
- Candaroğlu (also called İsfendiyaroğlu; centered in Kastamonu; 13th century)
- Chobanoglu (also centered in Kastamonu)
- Dulkadir (centered in Maraş; 1348-1507)
- Eretna (covering Sivas and Kayseri; 14th century)
- Eshrefoglu (covering Beyşehir and Seydişehir; 13th century)
- Germiyan (centered in Kütahya; 1300-1429)
- Hamidoglu (centered in Isparta and Eğirdir; around 1300-1391)
- Karamanoğlu (centered in Karaman; 13th century - 1487)
- Karesi (centered in Balıkesir; 1303-1345)
- Kadı Burhaneddin (centered in Kayseri; 1381-1398)
- Ladik (also called İnanchoglu; centered in Denizli; 13th century - 14th century)
- Menteşe - (centered in Milas; 1261-1414)
- Osmanoglu (Ottomans) (first centered in Söğüt, then Bursa)
- Pervaneoglu (centered in Sinop)
- Ramazanoğlu (centered in Adana; 1352-1517)
- Sahipata (centered in Afyonkarahisar; 1275-1341)
- Saruhan (centered in Manisa; around 1300-1410)
- Sökmenli (also called Ahlatshah; centered in Ahlat; 1100-1207)
- Teke (centered in Antalya; 1321-1423)
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