Suleiman the Magnificent: Difference between revisions

 

===Mediterranean and North Africa===

Having consolidated his conquests on land, Suleiman was greeted with bad news that the fortress of Koron In Morea had been lost to Charles V’s admiral, Andrea Dorea. The presence of the Spanish in the Eastern Mediterrenean concerned Suleiman, who saw it as an early indiciation of Charles V intention to rival Ottoman dominance in the region. Thus recognising the need to re-assert the navies pre-eminance in the Mediterranean, Suleiman appointed an exceptional naval commander in the form of [[Khair ad Din]], known to Europeans as [[Barbarossa (Ottoman admiral)|Barbarossa]]. Once appointed admiral-in-chief, Barbarossa was charged with re-building the Ottoman fleet, to the point the Ottoman navy equalled in number all those of the other Mediterranean countries put together.<ref>Clot, p. 87</ref>

 

 

Ottoman navies also controlled the [[Red Sea]], and held the [[Persian Gulf]] until [[1554]], when their ships were defeated by the navy of the [[Portuguese Empire]]. The Portuguese would continue to contest Suleiman I's forces for control of [[Aden]], in present-day [[Yemen]].

In [[1533]] [[Khair ad Din]] known to Europeans as [[Barbarossa (Ottoman admiral)|Barbarossa]], was made Admiral-in-Chief of the Ottoman navies which were actively fighting the [[Spanish navy]]. In [[1535]] the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V (Charles I of Spain, ruled 1516–56)) won an important victory against the Ottomans at [[Tunis]], but in [[1536]] Francis I of France allied himself with Suleiman against Charles. In [[1538]], the Spanish fleet was defeated at the [[Battle of Preveza]] by Barbarossa, securing the eastern Mediterranean for the Turks for 33 years (1538–71).