Mehmed II

Mehmed II (Ottoman Turkish: محمد ثانى, romanized: Meḥemmed-i s̱ānī; Turkish: II. Mehmed, pronounced [icinˈdʒi ˈmehmet]; 30 March 1432 – 3 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror (Ottoman Turkish: ابو الفتح, romanized: Ebū'l-fetḥ, lit. 'the Father of Conquest'; Turkish: Fâtih Sultan Mehmed), was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire twice, from August 1444 to September 1446 and then later from February 1451 to May 1481.

During Mehmed II's first reign, he defeated the crusade led by John Hunyadi after Hungarian incursions into his lands violated the Treaty of Edirne and Szeged. When Mehmed II ascended the throne again in 1451, he strengthened the Ottoman Navy and made preparations to attack Constantinople. At the age of 21, he conquered Constantinople and brought an end to the Byzantine Empire. After the conquest, Mehmed claimed the title caesar of Rome (Ottoman Turkish: قیصر روم, romanized: qayṣar-i rūm), based on the fact that Constantinople had been the seat and capital of the surviving Eastern Roman Empire since its consecration in 330 AD by Emperor Constantine I. The claim was soon recognized by the Patriarchate of Constantinople, but rejected by most European monarchs.

Mehmed continued his conquests and reunified Anatolia, and campaigned as far west as Bosnia in Southeast Europe. At home, he implemented many political and social reforms. He was a patron of the arts and sciences, and by the end of his reign, Constantinople had been transformed into a thriving imperial capital. He is considered a hero in modern-day Turkey and parts of the wider Muslim world, with Istanbul's Fatih district, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge and Fatih Mosque being named after him.