Suleiman the Magnificent

Suleiman I reigned for 46 years, the longest reign in Ottoman history. In his time the empire stretched from Hungary to Iraq and from North Africa to Crimea: Belgrade fell in 1521, Rhodes in 1522, and the Battle of Mohács was won in 1526.

Turks call him "Kanuni", the Lawgiver, for his reforms of law and administration; Europeans called him "the Magnificent". At sea, Hayreddin Barbarossa's fleet dominated the Mediterranean.

Suleiman wrote poetry under the pen name Muhibbi, and Mimar Sinan built the Süleymaniye complex in Istanbul for him. He died in 1566 during the siege of Szigetvár in Hungary.