Mehmed II

Mehmed II was the seventh sultan of the Ottoman Empire who ruled from 1444 to 1446 and from 1451 to 1481. He is best known for his conquest of Constantinople in 1453, which ended the Byzantine Empire and made Istanbul the new capital of the Ottoman Empire. He also claimed the title of Caesar of Rome, based on the fact that Constantinople had been the seat and capital of the surviving Eastern Roman Empire. Mehmed II viewed the Ottoman state as a continuation of the Roman Empire and sought to expand his domains in Anatolia, the Balkans, and the Middle East. He fought against the Venetians, the Mamluks, the Hungarians, the Albanians, the Wallachians, and the Moldavians. He also patronized the arts and sciences, and transformed Istanbul into a cultural and political center. He is considered a hero in modern-day Turkey and parts of the wider Muslim world. He is also known as Mehmed the Conqueror or Fatih Sultan Mehmed in Turkish.