Suleyman I
1494 - 1566
Ottoman Sultan
Suleiman the Magnificent ruled from 1520-66. He developed the power of the Ottomans to its greatest extent - from Asia Minor to North Africa. He captured Belgrade, subjugated Hungary after the battle of Mohacs (1526) and besieged Vienna (1529).

After his fleet became the dominant power in the Mediterranean Sea he conquered Tripolis in North Africa. After the abdication of the last Abbasid Caliph he took Persia (1534); Baghdad declined subse-quently to the rank of a provincial city; and the Persian Shiites became the Ottomans' bitter enemies.

In Istanbul Suleiman surrounded himself with poets, architects and lawyers and introduced most of the characteristic achievements of Otto-man civilization, he is therefore also known as Suleiman 'the Lawgiver'.

He died during the siege of Szigeth in his war with Austria.

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