Selman Reis
Selman Reis was an Ottoman admiral and former corsair who was active in the Mamluk Navy of Egypt and later in the Ottoman Navy against the Portuguese in the first half of the 16th century. Selman Reis was originally from the Aegean island of Lesbos.[1]
Mercenary for the Mamluk regime
Selman Reis entered the service of the Mamluks, and led a group of 2,000 Levantines, against the wishes of the Ottoman Sultan Selim I.[2]
Following the disruption of the spice trade between India and Mamluk Egypt by the Portuguese, Selman Reis led a Mamluk fleet of 19 ships into the Indian Ocean in 1515. He left Suez leading the fleet on 30 September 1515.[3] The fleet also included 3,000 men, 1,300 of whom were Turkish soldiers.[3] The fleet built a fortress in Kamaran, but failed to take Yemen and Aden on 17 September 1516.[3]
In 1517, he defended
Selman Reis was sent to Istanbul and imprisoned for disloyalty until 1520.[1]
Ottoman admiral
Shortly after Selman was freed, he returned to
Selman Reis came back in favor with the arrival of
In 1525, Selman Reis was put at the head of an Ottoman fleet of 18 ships and 299 cannons as its admiral, with ships taken from the derelict Jiddah fleet and refurbished in Suez.
This allowed the Ottomans to retake control of the Red Sea, and for the first time, the Portuguese could not send a fleet to the Red Sea in 1527.
By 1528, Ottoman mercenaries were present on Islamic shipping as far as Sumatra.[7] However, Selman Reis fell into a dispute with Hayreddin al-Rumi who had Selman assassinated in September 1528. Selman's nephew Mustafa Bayram avenged his death by having Hayreddin killed, but in the wake of Selman's and Hayreddin's deaths the Ottomans lost control of mainland Yemen.[6]
References
- ^ a b c d e The Ottoman Age of Exploration Giancarlo Casale p.39
- ^ The Ottoman Age of Exploration Giancarlo Casale p.32
- ^ a b c d An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, Volume 1 by Halil İnalcik p.321ff
- ^ a b Qutb ad-Dīn an-Nahrawālī. 1511-1582. al-Barq al-Yamānī fī al-fatḥ al-ʿUṯmānī. p .37-8 [1]
- ^ a b Shah, Azmat Ali. "OTTOMAN DOMINATION IN THE ARAB LAND AND IT’S EFFECTS ON MUSLIM INDIA." p.11.
- ^ a b Casale, Giancarlo. The Ottoman Age of Exploration.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Casale, Giancarlo. The Ottoman Age of Exploration.