The Ottoman Empire (/ˈɒtəmən/; Ottoman Turkish: دولت عليه عثمانيه‎ Devlet-i ʿAlīye-i ʿOsmānīye, literally "The Sublime Ottoman State"; Modern Turkish: Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti; French: Empire ottoman)^{[note 5][13]} was a state^{[note 6]} that controlled much of Southeastern Europe, Western Asia, and Northern Africa between the 14th and early 20th centuries. It was founded at the end of the 13th century in northwestern Anatolia in the town of Söğüt (modern-day Bilecik Province) by the Turkoman^[14][15] tribal leader Osman I.^[16] Although initially the dynasty was of Turkic origin, it was Persianised in terms of language, culture, literature and habits.^{[17][18][19][20]} After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe and with the conquest of the Balkans, the Ottoman beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror.