(Turkish cognomen yavuz meaning "cruel" or "strict")
Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, 1512-1520. Born 1470, died 1520.
With the aid of the military, Selim deposed his father, Sultan Beyazit II, who had been accused of being to passive towards the growing Safavid influence among the Turkomans of Anatolia.
Selim's crushing victory over the Persian Shah Ismail I at Chaldiran in 1514, as well as systematic massacres of Shi'ite Turkomans, ensured Ottoman control of Eastern Anatolia. He continued an aggressive policy of conquest - in 1517 taking Syria and Egypt from the Mamelukes.
Usually reckoned among the most vital and active of the Ottoman sultans, Selim died while preparing for an aggressive military campaign along the European front.