Seljuk Empire
Turco-Persian Sunni Muslim empire (1037–1194)
The Seljuk Empire ( SEL-jook in BrE, sel-JOOK in AmE), or the Great Seljuk Empire, was a high medieval, culturally Turco-Persian empire established and ruled by the Qïnïq branch of Oghuz Turks. The empire spanned a total area of 3.9 million square kilometres (1.5 million square miles) from Anatolia and the Levant in the west to the Hindu Kush in the east, and from Central Asia in the north to the Persian Gulf in the south, and it spanned the time period 1037–1308, though Seljuk rule beyond the Anatolian peninsula ended in 1194.
The Seljuk Empire was founded in 1037 by Tughril (990–1063) and his brother Chaghri (989–1060), both of whom co-ruled over its territories; there are indications that the Seljuk leadership otherwise functioned as a triumvirate and thus included Musa Yabghu, the uncle of the aforementioned two.
During the formative phase of the empire, the Seljuks first advanced from their original homelands near the Aral Sea into Khorasan and then into the Iranian mainland, where they would become largely based as a Persianate society. They then moved west to conquer Baghdad, filling the power vacuum created by struggles between the Arab Abbasid Caliphate and the Iranian Buyid Empire.
The subsequent Seljuk expansion into eastern Anatolia triggered the Byzantine–Seljuk wars, with the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 marking a decisive turning point in the conflict in favour of the Seljuks, undermining the authority of the Byzantine Empire in the remaining parts of Anatolia and gradually enabling the Turkification of the region.
The Seljuk Empire united the fractured political landscape in the non-Arab eastern parts of the Muslim world and played a key role in both the First and Second Crusades; it also bore witness to the creation and expansion of multiple artistic movements during this period. In 1141, the Seljuk Empire suffered a devastating defeat at the Battle of Qatwan against Western Liao dynasty, resulting in the loss of vast eastern territories. This defeat severely weakened the empire, causing internal division and hastening its decline. The Seljuks were eventually supplanted in the east by the Khwarazmian Empire in 1194 and in the west by the Zengids and Ayyubids.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Seljuk Empire” is turco-Persian Sunni Muslim empire (1037–1194). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Seljuk, Empire and Turco-Persian, not as a finished interpretation.
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Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3708094. Authority coordinates are 36.200, 58.800. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1037, 1308, 1194 and 1063.
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This entry incorporates text from “Seljuk Empire” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.