emirate · Anatolia and the Levant

Karasids

1297 CE – 1360 CE (approx.) · capital Balıkesir

A beylik on the Sea of Marmara and Aegean whose annexation gave the Ottomans the soldiers and ships to cross into Europe.

Origins

Around the end of the 13th century the Turkmen leader Karesi Bey took the former Byzantine region of Mysia, with Balikesir and Pergamon, as Byzantine defences in western Anatolia collapsed.

Rule and society

The Karasids raided across the Dardanelles into Thrace and the Aegean, sometimes as allies of Byzantine factions. Ibn Battuta met the ruler of Pergamon, Yakhshi Bey, in the 1330s. After Karesi Bey's death his sons, Demirhan and Yakhshi, divided the lands and quarrelled, opening the way to Ottoman intervention. The beylik's warriors and commanders, such as Haci Ilbey and Evrenos Bey, later served the Ottomans.

Decline and legacy

Orhan annexed the beylik, a process usually dated to around 1345, though resistance continued for some years. Its manpower and Dardanelles coast enabled the Ottoman crossing to Gallipoli in 1354.

Connections (1)

More states of Anatolia and the Levant →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Karasids. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/karasids
MLA
“Karasids.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/karasids. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Karasids.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/karasids.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Karasids’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/karasids (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻