Söğüt was a Seljuk Turkish tribe in western Anatolia that later gave birth to the Ottoman Empire. It was a small but sophisticated tribe (in comparation to other Turkish tribes of the time) that extended from the Kayi branch of the Seljuk Turks that in the 12th and 13th centuries invaded Anatolia. The village of Söğüt was surrounded by three greater Turkish tribes; Eskenderum in the north, Eskişehir in the east, Konyali in the south; and with the Byzantine Empire in the west. Legend has it that the bey (chief) of the tribe in the late 13th century, Ertoğrül, bravely kept the enemies at bay so that his son, Osman, could conquer them all during his reign, 1299 to 1324. When Osman's son, Orhan, came to power after is father's death he renamed the tribe Osmanli in honour of his father. The village of Söğüt later grew into a town that served the Osmanli tribe as capital until the capture of the Byzantine city of Bursa in 1325 when the capital was moved to the far more luxurious palaces of the Byzantines.
Today Söğüt is a small town in the humid river valley of the Sakarya in Turkey. Turkish history and life size statues of the Ottoman sultans are exhibited in the Söğüt Ethnographical Museum.
