Muhammad II

Muhammad II, called The Conqueror (1432-1481), Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1444-1446 and 1451-1481), who captured the Byzantine city of Constantinople (now İstanbul) and made it his capital. Born in Adrianople (Edirne), Muhammad reigned temporarily when his father, Murad II, retired during the 1440s. However, the turmoil caused by the succession of the young sultan and the threat posed by a crusade led the Janissaries to call for the return of his father in 1446. When he came to power permanently after Murad's death (1451), Muhammad made the conquest of Constantinople his first objective. After isolating the Byzantines by securing the neutrality of Venice and Hungary, Muhammad took the city in 1453, thus destroying the last remnant of the Byzantine Empire. In the years that followed he rebuilt much of Constantinople, converting many of its Christian churches, including the Hagia Sophia, into mosques, and repopulating it with colonists drawn from other parts of his empire. At the same time he extended Ottoman rule over Greece, Serbia, Bosnia, and Albania, and over most of the territories around the Black Sea. Muhammad II also codified Ottoman law, and founded a school to train officials for the service of the state. He was succeeded by his son Bayazid II.