This is a very special listing (YEARS in the making) for a specific selection of the most beautiful, and most powerful women who dominated the Ottoman Empire.  Often thought of as a man's world, truly the women behind the men were the most powerful. Consorts are often thought of simply to be there for the sexual pleasure of Sultans.  However; the Sultanate of Women was a period of extraordinary political influence exerted by wives and mothers of the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire. This phenomenon in the early modern period, approximately between the years 1533 and 1656, began during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent with his marriage to Hürrem Sultan/Roxelana. These sultanas were either the wives of the Sultan, referred to as Haseki Sultans, or the mothers of the Sultan, known as Valide Sultans. Many of these women were of slave origins. However; during this time, Haseki and Valide Sultans held political and social power, which allowed them to influence the daily running of the empire, as well as requesting the construction of buildings, and philanthropic works.

Listed in BOLD are the most powerful of all Sultanas.

Hürrem/Roxelana (Considered of the most powerful of all Sultanas; the chief consort and legal wife of Suleiman the Magnificent. She became one of the most powerful and influential women in Ottoman history and a prominent and controversial figure during the era known as the Sultanate of Women.) Ukrainian

Safiye (wife of Murad III; queen mother of Mehmed III, and the grandmother of Sultans: Ahmed I and Mustafa I. One of the most eminent figures during the era known as the Sultanate of Women; Golden Queen of the Ottoman Empire.) Albanian

Nurbanu (Haseki Sultan of the Ottoman Empire as the principal consort of Sultan Selim II, as well as Valide Sultan as the mother of Sultan Murad III; one of the most prominent figures during the time of the Sultanate of Women.) Greek

Kösem (wife of Ahmed; also known as Mahpeyker Sultan – was one of the most powerful women in Ottoman history.) Greek

Malhun (wife of Osman I; Malhun Hatun was the first wife of Osman I, the leader of the Ottoman Turks and the founder of the dynasty that established and ruled the Ottoman Empire; the mother of the next and second ruler of the Ottoman State, Orhan.) Anatolian

Gül?ah (wife of Mehmed II; Valide Sultan to their son Sultan Abdülaziz.) Albanian

Mahidevran (wife of Suleiman the Magnificent.) Armenian

Halime (wife of Ertu?rul Bey; mother of Osman I, the founder of the Ottoman Empire) Origin unknown.

Turhan Hatice (wife of Ibrahim; Turhan meaning “of mercy”); was Haseki Sultan of the Ottoman Sultan Ibrahim and Valide Sultan as the mother of Mehmed IV; was prominent for the regency of her young son and her building patronage.) Ukrainian

Pertevniyal (wife of Mahmud II; Valide Sultan to their son Sultan Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire.) Romanian

Nilüfer (wife of Orhan, the second Ottoman Sultan; Nilüfer Hatun was Valide Hatun; the mother of the next sultan, Murad I. ) Turkish

Hüma?ah (wife of Ibrahim.)

Gülnu? (wife of Mehmed IV; she was Haseki Sultan of Sultan Mehmed IV and Valide Sultan to their sons Mustafa II and Ahmed III.) Greek

Ay?e Hafsa (wife of Selim I, the first Valide Sultan, mother of Suleiman the Magnificent; one of the most influential persons (male or female) in the Ottoman Empire.) Crimean

Mihrimah (Imperial Princess; daughter of Sultan Suleiman and Hurrem/Roxelana; the most powerful imperial princess in Ottoman history and one of the prominent figures during the Sultanate of Women.) Turkey

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Many blessings!