Suleiman the Magnificent
1494 – 1566 · 72 years · Istanbul · Middle East
Reign: 1520 – 1566 (Ottoman Empire)
Sultan under whom the Ottoman Empire reached its peak; at home he was called Kanuni, 'the Lawgiver'.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 16th century
Portrait: Circle of Titian · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Contemporaries around the world
Europe
- Michelangelo — sculptor, painter and architect, 19 years older
- Martin Luther — church reformer, 11 years older
- Nicolaus Copernicus — astronomer, 21 years older
- Elizabeth I — Queen of England, 39 years younger
- Leonardo da Vinci — painter, scientist and inventor, 42 years older
- Miguel de Cervantes — Spanish novelist, 53 years younger
Eastern Europe & Russia
- Ivan the Terrible — first Tsar of Russia, 36 years younger
- Vasily III — grand prince who completed the unification of the Russian lands, 15 years older
- Yermak Timofeyevich — Cossack conqueror of Siberia, 38 years younger
- Ivan III — Grand Prince of Moscow, 54 years older
- Boris Godunov — Tsar of Russia, 58 years younger
- Vasily Shuisky — boyar tsar of the Time of Troubles who died in Polish captivity, 58 years younger
Middle East
- Hurrem Sultan (Roxelana) — wife of Sultan Suleiman I, 11 years younger
- Selim II — sultan who took Cyprus and lost at Lepanto, 30 years younger
- Selim I the Grim — sultan who took Cairo and Mecca, 24 years older
- Taqi ad-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf — Ottoman astronomer and engineer, 32 years younger
- Murad III — sultan who won the Caucasus from the Safavids, 52 years younger
- Bayezid II — sultan who took in the Jews expelled from Spain, 47 years older
Africa
- Askia Muhammad I — Emperor of Songhai, 51 years older
- Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi — Adal imam and general, 12 years younger
- Ahmad al-Mansur — Sultan of Morocco, 55 years younger
- Ahmed Baba — Timbuktu scholar, 62 years younger
Asia
- Akbar the Great — Mughal emperor, 48 years younger
- Tokugawa Ieyasu — first Tokugawa shogun, 49 years younger
- Guru Nanak — founder of Sikhism, 25 years older
- Babur — founder of the Mughal Empire, 11 years older
- Oda Nobunaga — Japanese warlord, 40 years younger
- Vasco da Gama — navigator, 25 years older
Americas
- Christopher Columbus — navigator, 43 years older
- Bartolomé de las Casas — friar and defender of Native Americans, 10 years older
- Hernán Cortés — conquistador, 9 years older
- Atahualpa — last Inca emperor, 8 years younger
- Ferdinand Magellan — navigator, 14 years older
- Moctezuma II — Aztec emperor, 28 years older
The world in their lifetime
- 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas — aged 0, Europe
- 1498 Vasco da Gama reaches India — aged 4, Asia
- 1501 Founding of Safavid Iran — aged 7, Middle East
- 1508–1512 Sistine Chapel ceiling — aged 14, Europe
- 1511 Portuguese capture of Malacca — aged 17, Asia
- 1517 Luther's Ninety-five Theses — aged 23, Europe
- 1519–1522 Magellan's circumnavigation — aged 25, Americas
- 1520–1566 Reign of Suleiman the Magnificent — aged 26, Middle East
- 1521 Fall of Tenochtitlan — aged 27, Americas
- 1526 First Battle of Panipat — aged 32, Asia
- 1526 Battle of Mohács — aged 32, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1529–1543 Ahmad Gragn invades Ethiopia — aged 35, Africa
- 1532 Capture of Atahualpa at Cajamarca — aged 38, Americas
- 1534 Henry VIII breaks with Rome — aged 40, Europe
- 1542 Orellana sails down the Amazon — aged 48, Americas
- 1543 Copernicus publishes heliocentrism — aged 49, Europe
- 1545–1548 Cocoliztli epidemic — aged 51, Americas
- 1547 Ivan IV crowned Tsar — aged 53, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1555–1561 Saint Basil's Cathedral — aged 61, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1556 Shaanxi earthquake — aged 62, Asia
- 1556 Akbar and the Second Battle of Panipat — aged 62, Asia