Suleiman the Magnificent succeeds his father, Selim I, as Ottoman Sultan, the tenth and longest-reigning sultan of the Ottoman Empire. His realm extended from Hungary to Iran, and from Crimea to North Africa and the Indian Ocean. As he engaged in bitter rivalries with the Catholic Habsburgs and the Shiite Safavids, he presided over a multilingual and multireligious empire that promised peace and prosperity to its subjects. He died on the night of September 6/7, 1566, at the age of 71 of natural causes. More
