The
Sultanate of Women was the nearly 130-year period during the 16th and 17th centuries when the women of the
Imperial Harem of the
Ottoman Empire exerted extraordinary political influence over state matters and over the (male)
Ottoman sultan, starting from the reign of
Suleiman the Magnificent. Many of the
Sultans during this time were
minors and it was their mothers, the
Valide Sultans, or their wives, the
Haseki Sultans, who effectively ruled the Empire. Most of these women were of slave origin, which was often the case in general for consorts of Ottoman sultans.