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Siege of Oran and Mers El Kébir (971/1563)

حصار وهران والمرسى الكبير (٩٧١هـ/١٥٦٣م)

Wahran

In 971/1563 Hasan b. Khayr al-Din marched from Algiers with fifteen thousand musketeers, a thousand Sipahi horse under Ahmad Muqran, and twelve thousand Zawawa and Bani Abbas, the fleet carrying supplies to the Mostaganem base; on 13 April he invested Oran and Mers el-Kebir — Spain's last holdings in Algeria. But Spanish and Portuguese relief kept converging in answer to the governor's call, mustering at Malta, with the beylerbey six stages away; Hasan raised the siege before the rest arrived 1.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Gunpowder Empires
Region
Maghreb
Review
Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it

In time

1550156015701580
The Gunpowder Empires

Summary

Hasan b. Khayr al-Din's siege of Oran and Mers el-Kebir, 971/1563 1.

Army and base

Hasan marched from Algiers with fifteen thousand musketeers, a thousand Sipahi horse under Ahmad Muqran, and twelve thousand Zawawa and Bani Abbas, the fleet carrying supplies to the Mostaganem base; he invested the cities on 13 April 2.

The lifting

Spanish and Portuguese relief kept converging at Malta in answer to the governor's call, while the beylerbey lay six stages off; Hasan raised the siege before the rest arrived 1.

Connections

Explore the connections

Had participant
Hasan b. Khayr al-Din Barbarossa· Ahmad Muqran al-Zawawi
Occurred at
Wahran

People and things also explored

Abd al-Aziz b. Abbas· Ahmad Muqran al-Zawawi· Hasan b. Khayr al-Din Barbarossa· Battle of Mostaganem (965/1558)· Great Siege of Malta (973/1565)· Siege of Oran (963/1556)· Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri· Abdallah al-Ghalib bi'llah al-Sa'di

Sources

  1. al-Dawla al-Uthmaniyya — Ali Muhammad al-Salabi (2001) , p. 250-251
  2. al-Dawla al-Uthmaniyya — Ali Muhammad al-Salabi (2001) , p. 250
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Siege of Oran and Mers El Kébir (971/1563)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/sieges-of-oran-mers-el-kebir-1563/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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Abd al-Aziz b. Abbas

Lord of Qal'at Bani Abbas in the Béjaïa country, who declared his independence; he swooped on the Ottoman fort Hasan b. Khayr al-Din had built at M'sila, and in the fighting that followed met his death in 966/1559, succeeded by Ahmad Muqran.