Timeline Explorer · السلطان محمد الفاتح · Stop 1 of 10
c. 1432 CE · 835 AH approximate debated before the Hijra
Mehmed the Conqueror, seventh of the Ottoman kings — sultan for thirty-one years from 856, 'the greatest of their sultans in jihad', who laid the Ottoman state's foundations and its statutes.
Birth: السلطان محمد الفاتح — c. 1432 CE · 835 AH
Mehmed the Conqueror, seventh of the Ottoman kings — sultan for thirty-one years from 856, 'the greatest of their sultans in jihad', who laid the Ottoman state's foundations and its statutes. His fame rests on the conquest of Constantinople: he drove ships over land, besieged it fifty days and took it on Wednesday 20 Jumada II 857, prayed Friday in Hagia Sophia, built the Eight Madrasas with endowed stipend-ranks for students, and drew the age's great scholars — Ali al-Qushji, al-Tusi, al-Kurani — till Istanbul became mother of the world .
Conquest of Constantinople in 857 AH — c. 29 May 1453 CE · 857 AH
Mehmed Fatih took Constantinople the Great after the severest fifty-day siege — his ships running over land — opening Istanbul on Wednesday 20 Jumada II 857 and praying the Friday prayer in Hagia Sophia, the dome that 'rivals the sky's dome and emulates the pyramids in strength' .
Siege of Belgrade — 1456 CE · 860 AH†
Three years after Constantinople, Mehmed II besieged Belgrade; the fortress held under John Hunyadi and the campaign withdrew .
Conquest of Trebizond — 1461 CE · 865 AH†
Mehmed II marched in person on Trebizond, the last Byzantine Greek state on the Black Sea, took it and ended the Komnenos empire .
Siege of Negroponte — 1470 CE · 874 AH†
Mehmed II led army and fleet against Venetian Negroponte and took its famed fortress city after a hard siege .
Siege of Shkodra — 1474 CE · 879 AH†
Mehmed II sent a great expedition against Shkodra, Albania's stronghold; the first siege was thrown back .
Siege of Theodoro — May 1475 CE · Muharram 880 AH†
Mehmed II sent Gedik Ahmed Pasha with the fleet to Crimea; Theodoro and Kaffa fell and the Crimean khan became an Ottoman vassal .
Ottoman invasion of Otranto — 1480 CE · 885 AH†
On Mehmed II's order Gedik Ahmed Pasha landed an Ottoman force in Italy and took Otranto — a short foothold that ended after the Conqueror's death .
Siege of Rhodes — 1480 CE · 885 AH†
Mehmed II sent a fleet under Mesih Pasha to besiege Hospitaller Rhodes; the fortress held and the expedition sailed home after months .
Death: السلطان محمد الفاتح — 3 May 1481 CE · 4 Rabi' I 886 AH
Mehmed the Conqueror, seventh of the Ottoman kings — sultan for thirty-one years from 856, 'the greatest of their sultans in jihad', who laid the Ottoman state's foundations and its statutes. His fame rests on the conquest of Constantinople: he drove ships over land, besieged it fifty days and took it on Wednesday 20 Jumada II 857, prayed Friday in Hagia Sophia, built the Eight Madrasas with endowed stipend-ranks for students, and drew the age's great scholars — Ali al-Qushji, al-Tusi, al-Kurani — till Istanbul became mother of the world .
