Dina Al-Sabah family; she is close lineage because her grandfather was the son of Salim Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, ruler of Kuwait from 1917 to 1921. The Al-Sabahs have ruled Kuwait for over more than two centuries. Al-Sabah was raised in Egypt, Morocco, Italy and the United Kingdom, so she was exposed to many different cultures at a young age. A natural athlete, she started horseback riding at the age of five. She continued her active lifestyle throughout her high school years, competing in equestrian shows and participating in track, volleyball and basketball at the American School of Tangier in Morocco. Al-Sabah is fluent
Rise of the Ottoman Empire and vassals. When the Ottoman polity first emerged at the end of the thirteenth century under the leadership of Osman I, it had a tribal organization without a complex administrative apparatus. As Ottoman territory expanded its rulers were faced with the challenge of administering an ever-larger population. Early on the Ottomans adopted the Seljuks of Rum as models, and by 1324 were able to produce Persian-language bureaucratic documents in the Seljuk style. The early Ottoman state's expansion was fueled by the military activity of frontier warriors (), of whom the Ottoman ruler was initially merely "primus inter pares". Much of