Who the heck is Buddha?

To understand Buddhism, one logically has to go to the man that started it all, Siddhattha Gotama.
Historians can't accurately pinpoint the exact year, but its commonly accepted that he was born between 563-483 BCE, approx 2500'ish years ago.  Born in what is now known as Modern Day Nepal, he was the son of a wealthy King who was foretold by far seers that his son would either be a great ruler or a wise sage.  However, in order for him to attain this ascended state, he was to be raised in the comfort of luxury, to never need for anything or be without pleasure.  


For the first 29 years of his life, he was sheltered from the realities of the outside world, protected in his palace, married to a beautiful and kind wife, and a son of their own.  Then one day, he ventured outside the Palace and was affronted with 3 things.  He first saw a diseased man, laying on the ground in pain.  Secondly, he saw a dead corpse on the side of the road, and thirdly he witnessed an Ascetic man meditating and starving himself.  This harsh reality made him realize that life was limited, suffering, and by essence filled with what Buddhists call 'Dukkha', meaning suffering, or an "uneasy discontentment".


Deciding to investigate further in this condition, he decides to exile himself from paradise, leaving his wife and child to search for wisdom, engaging with India's greatest guru's and sages, mastering all of their meditation techniques.  However, no matter who he met, he found all of their practices somehow lacking in what he was searching for, and left their teachings.  In an attempt for wisdom, he began extreme asceticism, often eating only a grain of rice and practicing painful rituals to cleanse his body through self mortification.  This however, was also found to lack what he needed in his goals of finding true wisdom.


Through these extremes, Buddha came to the realization that perhaps a more moderate approach to this self search would be beneficial, so he began to meditate under a giant tree, now known as the Bodhi tree, and began to penetrate his mind for the truth, and after several days, he found it.  Once he realized what is now known as the "Middle Way", he taught it to his former Ascetic brotherhood counterparts, and began what's known as the 'Sangha' which literally means association or community.


Buddha is a term for the first person to discover the path to self enlightenment, bestowed onto Siddhattha.  Anyone who discovers this on their own in following is known as an Arhat.  He began with his Sangha and taught the Middle Way to anyone who would hear for the remainder of his 45 years of life, eventually dying approx 411-400 BCE.  His teachings would be brought down from generation to generation of monks known as Bhikku's for centuries.


As with many beliefs, separate interpretations of the Tripitaka(Literally means 3 Baskets, the collection of the Buddha's teachings and interpretations) are abound, creating separate factions of Buddhism, be it Xen, Theravada,  Mahayana, Tibetan, etc, all are in general agreement about the basic teachings of the Middle Way, which consists of the 4 Noble Truths, the Eight fold Path and the 3 Jewels(The Buddha, The Sangha, and the Dharma).