1494-1566. Ottoman sultan from 1520, known as
the Magnificent and the Lawgiver. Under his
rule, the Ottoman Empire flourished and
reached its largest extent. He made conquests
in the Balkans, the Mediterranean, Persia,
and N Africa, but was defeated at Vienna in
1529 and Valletta (on Malta) in 1565. He was
a patron of the arts, a poet, and an
administrator. Suleiman captured Belgrade
(now in Yugoslavia) in 1521, the
Mediterranean island of Rhodes in 1522,
defeated the Hungarians at Mohacs in 1526,
and was halted in his advance into Europe
only by his failure to take Vienna, capital
of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, after a siege
Sept-Oct 1529. In 1534 he turned more
successfully against Persia, and then in
campaigns against the Arab world took almost
all of N Africa and the Red Sea port of Aden.
Only the Knights of Malta inflicted severe
defeat on both his army and fleet when he
tried to take Valletta in 1565.