Timeline Explorer · The Gunpowder Empires · Stop 1 of 14
1499 CE · 904 AH† approximate debated before the Hijra
Al-Salabi records Bayezid II's naval victory over the Venetians in the Gulf of Lepanto in 905/1499, and the city's capture the following year; at Venice's plea Pope Alexander VI then raised a league of France and Spain against the Ottomans, who weathered the three fleets until a…
The Lepanto victory over Venice (1499-1500) — 1499 CE · 904 AH†
Al-Salabi records Bayezid II's naval victory over the Venetians in the Gulf of Lepanto in 905/1499, and the city's capture the following year; at Venice's plea Pope Alexander VI then raised a league of France and Spain against the Ottomans, who weathered the three fleets until a peace was made with Venice .
Naval Battle of Diu — 1509 CE · 915 AH
Diu (1509): the Mamluk fleet under Husayn al-Kurdi beat the Portuguese at Chaul in 1508, then was destroyed off Diu when Almeida's reinforcements returned — a turning point that gave Portugal command of the Indian Ocean approaches .
Submission of the Hijaz to the Ottomans — 1517 CE · 923 AH
After the Mamluk collapse the Sharif of Mecca, Barakat ibn Muhammad, submitted to Selim I and handed him the keys of the Kaaba; Selim confirmed him as emir of Mecca and the Hijaz, became guardian of the two sanctuaries and extended Ottoman sovereignty over the Red Sea, repelling the Portuguese threat until the late eighteenth century .
Algiers enters Ottoman sovereignty (1519) — 1519 CE · 925 AH
In early Dhu'l-Qa'da 925/October–November 1519 the notables of Algiers, at Khayr al-Din's order, sent the jurist Ahmad b. Qadi to Sultan Selim I with a letter (Topkapı archive no. 4656) asking to bind the city to the Ottoman state. Selim answered with the rank of beylerbey, artillery and 2,000 Janissaries; his name entered the pulpits and the coinage, and Algiers became the first North African province under Ottoman sovereignty — an entry al-Salabi stresses was by the inhabitants' appeal, not against their will .
Charles V's conquest of Tunis (1535) — 1535 CE · 942 AH
Charles V chose Tunis for his riposte in North Africa, sailing from Barcelona with 30,000 men on 500 ships; in 942/1535 he retook the city and La Goulette — Khayr al-Din's 7,000 Ottomans and ~5,000 Tunisians could not hold it — and reinstalled al-Hasan b. Muhammad, bound to hand over Bône and Mahdia and to keep a 2,000-man Spanish garrison at La Goulette .
Sulayman al-Khadim's expedition against India — 1538 CE · 945 AH
The 1538 Ottoman India expedition: after a pact with the rulers of Calicut and Cambay, a royal firman ordered Egypt's governor Sulayman al-Khadim to sail from Suez, drive Portugal's flag from the sea and keep the Mecca routes open — he garrisoned Aden, besieged Diu, took eighty prisoners and fell back on reinforcements' arrival .
Charles V's Algiers expedition (1541) — 15 October 1541 CE · 28 Jumada II 948 AH
After the Truce of Nice (945/1538) Charles V landed before Algiers on 28 Jumada II 948/15 October 1541. Governor Hasan Agha al-Tushi answered his threat-letter — 'this land gives an invader only death' — then a storm tore up the siege camp, dashed the ships together and wrecked the powder; every assault failed and the emperor withdrew to Italy. Algiers' letter to Süleyman compared it to the rout of the People of the Elephant; a second letter asked for reinforcements and Khayr al-Din's restoration. João III's Ramadan 948 letter to Charles cited Ottoman-supplied Sa'di strength in evacuating Safi and Azemmour .
Ottoman entry into Fez (964/1554) — 8 January 1554 CE · 3 Safar 961 AH
After the Sa'di defeat near Badis, the fall of Taza, and the battle of Kadiyat al-Makhali before Fez, the Ottoman forces with Bu Hasun entered Fez on 3 Safar 961/8 January 1554 (the printed text reads 964); the imam preached in the Ottoman sultan's name and the Porte declared Morocco annexed. Salih Reis stayed four months before Fez later returned to the Sa'dis .
the Sa'di attack on Tlemcen (963/1556) — 1556 CE · 963 AH
With the Ottoman fleet sailed for Istanbul, Muhammad al-Shaykh sent his armies on Tlemcen — whose men had joined the mujahidun in the attempt on Oran — and entered it unawares, setting over it the commander Ibn Ghannam, chief of Bani Rashid; but the Ottoman garrison under Mahmud Safa Bak held until the attack was contained .
Siege of Oran (963/1556) — 1556 CE · 963 AH
The campaign Salih Reis was preparing against Oran and Mers el-Kebir after Ottoman intelligence uncovered the Sa'di-Spanish talks; Süleyman sent forty ships, giving him about seventy ships and forty thousand men, but he died of plague in Rajab 963/1556. The commander Yahya carried on and sailed; en route the sultanic order arrived naming Hasan Corso beylerbey. Oran was closely besieged yet not taken, for Spain's continuous relief convoys .
Siege of Oran and Mers El Kébir (971/1563) — 13 April 1563 CE · 971 AH
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 .
Great Siege of Malta (973/1565) — 1565 CE · 973 AH
Süleyman resolved to take Malta, the greatest Christian stronghold in the central Mediterranean and seat of the Knights of St John; he sent Piyale Pasha with the fleet and ordered Dragut of Tripoli and Hasan b. Khayr al-Din to join — Hasan with twenty-five ships and three thousand men. The fleet stood off Malta on 18 May and pressed a tight siege until Christian relief under the Sicilian viceroy arrived with twenty-eight warships; the Ottoman fleet withdrew on 18 Rabi' I 973/8 December 1565 .
Battle of Wadi al-Makhazin (986/1578) — 4 August 1578 CE · 30 Jumada II 986 AH
The Battle of the Three Kings at al-Qasr al-Kabir, Monday 30 Jumada II 986/4 August 1578. Morocco's sultan Abd al-Malik al-Mu'tasim — Ottoman-backed — met King Sebastian of Portugal, who had massed tens of thousands of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and German troops to restore his deposed ally Muhammad al-Mutawakkil. Abd al-Malik cut the enemy from his fleet and blew the river's only bridge; he died of illness minutes into the battle, his chamberlain Ridwan and brother Ahmad al-Mansur concealing it until victory was complete in four hours and a third. All three kings perished — Sebastian slain, al-Mutawakkil drowned, Abd al-Malik on the field — and Ahmad al-Mansur was acclaimed on the spot; the Sa'di star rose until Europe's embassies 'kept morning and evening at her palace gates' .
Uluj Ali's bid to annex Morocco (989/1581) — June 1581 CE · Jumada II 989 AH
With the Ottoman state settled in Tunis, kapudan Uluj Ali set his sights on annexing Morocco; ordered to march on it, he reached Algiers in Jumada II 989/June 1581 while Ahmad al-Mansur stood camped at the Tensift with his kingdom's passes sealed and shores fortified, an embassy bound for Istanbul and a near-agreement with Spain struck in exchange for Larache. Facing the fait accompli the sultan ordered Uluj Ali and his deputy Jafar Pasha to abandon the Morocco operation and head east, where the Hejaz had grown troubled .
