Sultanate of Rum

The Sultanate of Rum (Turkish: Anadolu Selçuklu Devleti, meaning "Anatolian Seljuk State" or Turkish: Türkiye Selçuklu Devleti meaning "Turkey Seljuk State";Persian: سلجوقیان روم‎‎ Saljūqiyān-i Rūm), was a medieval Turko-Persian,Sunni Muslim state in Anatolia. It existed from 1077 to 1307, with capitals first at İznik and then at Konya. However, the court of the sultanate was highly mobile, and cities like Kayseri and Sivas also temporarily functioned as capitals. At its height, the sultanate stretched across central Anatolia, from the shoreline of Antalya and Alanya on the Mediterranean coast to the territory of Sinop on the Black Sea. In the east, the sultanate absorbed other Turkish states and reached Lake Van. Its westernmost limit was near Denizli and the gates of the Aegean basin.

The term "Rûm" comes from the Arabic word for the Roman Empire. The Seljuqs called the lands of their sultanate Rum because it had been established on territory long considered "Roman", i.e. Byzantine, by Muslim armies. The state is occasionally called the Sultanate of Konya (or Sultanate of Iconium) in older Western sources.