Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

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Mohammed ash-Sheikh

محمد الشيخ السعدي

Morocco

c. 1490 – 1557 (~67 years old)

First Sultan of a reunified Saadian Morocco, who drove the Portuguese out of Agadir, conquered Fez, and preserved Moroccan imperial sovereignty between Spain and the Ottoman Empire.

Marrakesh, Morocco

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

13

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Ahmad al-Araj

أحمد الأعرج السعدي

Morocco

c. 1486 – 1557 (~71 years old)

Elder Saadian prince who captured Marrakesh in 1524, making it the capital of the emerging dynasty and liberating the Atlantic coastlines from European dominance.

Marrakesh, Morocco

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

34

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Queen Idia

Idia (First Iyoba of Benin)

Nigeria

c. 1475 CE – c. 1550 CE (75 years old)

Celebrated warrior queen and spiritual strategist of the Benin Empire, the first Iyoba (Queen Mother), immortalized worldwide by the famous 16th-century ivory pendant mask chosen as the symbol of FESTAC 77.

Benin City (Edo State), Nigeria

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

29

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Askia Ishaq I

Askia Ishaq I (Ishaq ibn Muhammad)

🌐 Songhai Empire

Unknown – 1549

Fifth monarch of the Askia dynasty of the Songhai Empire (reigned 1539–1549) who restored fiscal solvency, maintained strict central discipline, and famously repelled Moroccan demands for the lucrative Saharan salt mines of Taghaza.

Gao, Mali

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

30

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Francis I of France

François Ier (Le Père et Restaurateur des Lettres)

France

1494 – 1547 (52 years old)

French Renaissance monarch who patronized Leonardo da Vinci, constructed Chambord, and standardized the French language.

Saint-Denis, Paris, France

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

34

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Henry VIII of England

Henry Tudor

Great Britain

1491 – 1547 (55 years old)

Formidable Tudor monarch who broke with the Roman Catholic Church to establish the Church of England, and father of the Royal Navy.

Windsor, Berkshire, United Kingdom

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

31

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Hayreddin Barbarossa

خير الدين بربروس

Greece

c. 1478 – 1546 (68 years old)

Younger brother of Aruj who placed Algiers under Ottoman caliphal protection, destroyed the Spanish Peñón of Algiers, conquered Tunis, and routed Holy League navies at the Battle of Preveza in 1538.

Besiktas (Istanbul), Turkey

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

30

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Askia Muhammad I

Askia Muhammad I (Askia the Great)

Mali

c. 1443 CE – 1538 (95 years old)

Emperor of the Songhai Empire known as Askia the Great, who expanded the empire to its maximum territorial height and made Timbuktu the premier intellectual capital of West Africa.

Gao, Mali

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

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Babur

ظہیر الدین محمد بابر

Uzbekistan

1483 – 1530 (47 years old)

Central Asian conqueror, poet, and founder of the Mughal Empire in India, celebrated for defeating the Delhi Sultanate at the Battle of Panipat and authoring his candid autobiography Baburnama.

Kabul, Afghanistan

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

27

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Babur (Zahir al-Din Muhammad)

بابر / Zahīr al-Dīn Muhammad

Uzbekistan

1483 – 1530 (47 years old)

Founder of the Mughal Empire in India and author of the Baburnama, descended from Timur and Genghis Khan, who revolutionized warfare with artillery.

Kabul, Afghanistan

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

34

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Krishnadevaraya

ಶ್ರೀ ಕೃಷ್ಣದೇವರಾಯ (శ్రీ కృష్ణదేవరాయ)

India

1471 – 1529 (58 years old)

Greatest emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire (1509–1529) who presided over the golden age of South Indian architecture and literature, built the breathtaking temple monuments of Hampi, and authored the Telugu epic 'Amuktamalyada'.

Hampi (Bellary, Karnataka), India

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

29

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Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara

శ్రీ కృష్ణదేవరాయ

India

1471 – 1529 (58 years old)

Foremost emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire whose military prowess and cultural patronage initiated a golden age in southern Indian history.

Hampi, India

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

68

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Shah Ismail I

شاه اسماعیل یکم (Hata'i)

Iran

1487 – 1524 (36 years old)

Founder of the Safavid Empire who unified Iran, established Twelver Shia Islam as the state religion, and was a major Azerbaijani poet.

Ardabil, Iran

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

37

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Selim I (Yavuz Sultan Selim / Selim the Grim)

سليم اول / Yavuz Sultan Selim

Turkey

1470 – 1520 (49 years old)

Ninth Ottoman Sultan who tripled the size of the Ottoman Empire in just eight years, conquered the Mamluk Sultanate, and assumed the Caliphate.

Fatih, Istanbul, Turkey

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

32

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Aruj Barbarossa

عروج بربروس

Greece

c. 1474 – 1518 (44 years old)

Legendary Ottoman-Algerian privateer known as 'Redbeard' (Baba Aruj) who rescued thousands of Andalusian Muslims and Jews from Spain, seized Algiers in 1516, and founded the Regency of Algiers.

El Malah (Aïn Témouchent), Algeria

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

15

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Al-Qaim Bi-Amrillah

القائم بأمر الله السعدي

Morocco

c. 1470 – 1517 (~47 years old)

Founder of the Saadian dynasty, proclaimed sovereign by the Sous tribes in 1511 to organize the armed resistance against Portuguese fortresses on the Atlantic coast.

Sous Region, Morocco

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

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Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghuri

قانصوه الغوري

Russia

1441 – 1516 (75 years old)

Penultimate Mamluk Sultan of Egypt (1501–1516) whose magnificent architectural complex Wekalet al-Ghuri and madrasa remains the heart of medieval Cairo, falling heroically against Sultan Selim I at Marj Dabiq.

Cairo, Egypt

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

25

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Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri

قانصوه الغوري

Russia

1441 CE – August 24, 1516 CE (75 years old)

Penultimate Burji Mamluk Sultan who governed Egypt during the epochal geopolitical struggle against Portuguese maritime hegemony in the Indian Ocean and fell heroically in battle against Ottoman Sultan Selim I at Marj Dabiq.

Cairo, Egypt

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