Mehmed II the Conqueror

Mehmed II was born in Edirne and took the throne for the second time in 1451. He prepared carefully for the conquest, building the Rumeli Hisarı fortress on the European shore of the Bosphorus and casting giant cannon.

Constantinople was besieged in April–May 1453. The sultan had ships hauled overland into the Golden Horn. On 29 May 1453 the city fell, the Byzantine Empire came to an end and Mehmed took the title "the Conqueror" (Fatih).

He made the city his capital and built Topkapı Palace and the Fatih complex. A ruler who knew several languages and patronised science and art, he was painted by the Venetian Gentile Bellini in 1480. He died in 1481.