Beylik of Menteşe

The Beylik of Menteşe was one of the first Turkish principalities to emerge in Anatolia after the collapse of Seljuk authority, founded in the late thirteenth century by Menteşe Bey and named after him. Its heartland lay in south-western Anatolia, roughly the ancient region of Caria and the modern province of Muğla, and its capital was Milas. The beylik controlled a rugged coast of deep bays and peninsulas, including important ports such as Balat and Mağrı, and it became the first of the Anatolian beyliks to build a significant fleet. Menteşe ships traded with Venetian Crete, exporting grain, horses and alum, while also engaging in piracy. In 1300 the beylik briefly seized part of Rhodes, and in 1311 it joined a Genoese fleet in an unsuccessful attack on the Hospitallers there. A devastating earthquake in 1389 weakened the principality, and Menteşe submitted to Ottoman rule in 1390. After Timur's invasion it was restored to the Menteşeoğlu family, but in 1426 it was finally incorporated into the Ottoman realm. Its shipbuilding traditions survived in the design of the Aegean gulet.