Suleiman the Magnificent was alive during the Ottoman Empire.
Ottoman Empire . During the 16th and 17th centuries , at the height of its power under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent , the Ottoman Empire was a multinational , multilingual empire controlling much of Southeast Europe , parts of Central Europe , Western Asia , the Caucasus , North Africa , and the Horn of Africa . Suleiman the Magnificent . Under his rule , the Ottoman fleet dominated the seas from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and through the Persian Gulf . He was a distinguished poet and goldsmith ; he also became a great patron of culture , overseeing the `` Golden '' age of the Ottoman Empire in its artistic , literary and architectural development . In the decades after Suleiman , the empire began to experience significant political , institutional , and economic changes , a phenomenon often referred to as the Transformation of the Ottoman Empire .