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The '''Ottoman Empire''' was formed by turkic people who had migrated from central Asia during the latter part of the first millennium to the Black and Eastern Mediterranean Sea areas. By the late part of the first millennium the Seljuk Turks had established hegemony over ancient Persia and Anatolia. At the end of the thirteenth century Osman I declared his independence from the Seljuk Turks and established himself as the leader of the Ottoman Turks, who took their name after him. Over the following centuries the Ottomans established an empire that encompassed not only the lands of the Seljuk Turks, but extended into and beyond the Balkans in Europe, including the [[Christians|Christian]] lands of the three ancient Eastern [[Patriarch]]s.