Turkish emir Tzachas conquers İzmir and founds…

Turkish emir Tzachas conquers İzmir and founds a short-lived principality, emerging as the first sea power in Turkish history.

Tzachas had been taken as a prisoner during a war with the Empire by Emperor Nikephoros III Botaneiates, who had taken an interest in the youth and brought him to live in the palace, granted him the title of protonobilissimus.

After Alexios I Komnenos becomes emperor in 1081, Tzachas returns to Anatolia and begins a war against the empire.

Intent upon expanding his power, he orders the construction of a fleet at the shipyards of Smyrna and Ephesus.

This fleet, which consists of thirty-three sail ships and seventeen oar ships, is the first Anatolian Turkish navy.