User:Kansas Bear/Sultanate of Rum
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The Sultanate of Rum or Sultanate of Seljuk (Persian: سلجوقیان روم, Saljūqiyān-e Rūm, Modern Turkish: Anadolu Selçuklu Devleti) was a Turko-Persian Sunni Muslim state in Anatolia, of Seljuk Turk origin[4] that existed from 1077 to 1307, with capitals first at İznik and then at Konya. Since the court of the sultanate was highly mobile, cities like Kayseri and Sivas also functioned at times as capitals. At its height the sultanate stretched across central Anatolia from the Antalya–Alanya shoreline on the Mediterranean coast to the territory of Sinop on the Black Sea. In the east, the sultanate absorbed other Turkish states and reached Lake Van. Its westernmost limit was near Denizli and the gates of the Aegean basin.
Sultanate of Rûm سلجوقیان روم Saljūqiyān-e Rūm | |
---|---|
1077–1307 | |
Status | Sultanate |
Capital | Nicaea Iconium |
Common languages | Persian (official)[1] Turkish[2] Greek[3] |
Sultans | |
• 1060-1077 | Kutalmish |
• 1303-1308 | Mesud II |
History | |
1077 | |
1307 | |
Area | |
1243 | 400,000 km2 (150,000 sq mi) |
The term "Rûm" comes from the Arabic word for the Roman Empire. The Seljuqs called the lands of their sultanate Rum because it had been established on territory long considered "Roman", i.e. Byzantine, by Muslim armies.[5] The state is occasionally called the Sultanate of Konya (or Sultanate of Iconium) in older western sources and was known as "Turkey" by its contemporaries.[6]