Selman Reis was an Ottoman admiral and former corsair who was active in the

Mamluk Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-so ...

Navy of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and later in the

Ottoman Navy The Ottoman Navy () or the Imperial Navy (), also known as the Ottoman Fleet, was the naval warfare arm of the Ottoman Empire. It was established after the Ottomans first reached the sea in 1323 by capturing Praenetos (later called Karamürsel ...

against the Portuguese in the first half of the 16th century. Selman Reis was originally from the Aegean island of

Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of , with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, eighth largest ...

. ''The Ottoman Age of Exploration'' Giancarlo Casale p.39/ref>

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 Selim I (; ; 10 October 1470 – 22 September 1520), known as Selim the Grim or Selim the Resolute (), was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520. Despite lasting only eight years, his reign is ...

. ''The Ottoman Age of Exploration'' Giancarlo Casale p.32/ref> Following the disruption of the spice trade between India and Mamluk Egypt by the Portuguese, Selman Reis led a

fleet of 19 ships into the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

in 1515. He left

Suez Suez (, , , ) is a Port#Seaport, seaport city with a population of about 800,000 in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea, near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal. It is the capital and largest c ...

leading the fleet on 30 September 1515. ''An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, Volume 1'' by Halil İnalcik p.321''ff''/ref> The fleet also included 3,000 men, 1,300 of whom were Turkish soldiers. The fleet built a fortress in Kamaran, but failed to take

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

and

Aden Aden () is a port city located in Yemen in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Aden, positioned near the eastern approach to the Red Sea. It is situated approximately 170 km (110 mi) east of ...

on 17 September 1516. In 1517, he defended

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...

against a Portuguese attack, soon before the fall of the Mamluk regime. Selman Reis was sent to

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

and imprisoned for disloyalty until 1520.

Ottoman admiral

Shortly after Selman was freed, he returned to

in the same year and stayed there for 3 years until when Ahmed Pasha, the Ottoman governor of

Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Egypt was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire after the Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–1517), conquest of Mamluk Egypt by the Ottomans in 1517. The Ottomans administered Egypt as a Eyalet, province (''eyalet'') of their empir ...

revolted, Selman escaped from Egypt and headed to

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

and joined with Husayn al-Rumi, the governor of

Qutb ad-Dīn an-Nahrawālī. 1511-1582. al-Barq al-Yamānī fī al-fatḥ al-ʿUṯmānī. p .37-

/ref>Shah, Azmat Ali. "OTTOMAN DOMINATION IN THE ARAB LAND AND IT’S EFFECTS ON MUSLIM INDIA." p.11. and together they proceeded to capture

. During this time, they discovered that the Portuguese recently established themselves in Kamaran, Kamaran island where they raided the coast of Yemen and kidnapping the inhabitants. Selman defeated the Portuguese, captured the island and took parts of the garrison as captives. However, he ran afoul of the ruler of Zebid and had to flee back to Egypt. Selman Reis came back in favor with the arrival of Ibrahim Pasha in Egypt in 1524. He was able to make a detailed report of the situation of the Indian Ocean at the time, suggesting the occupation of

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

, and the

Swahili Coast The Swahili coast () is a coastal area of East Africa, bordered by the Indian Ocean and inhabited by the Swahili people. It includes Sofala (located in Mozambique); Mombasa, Gede, Kenya, Gede, Pate Island, Lamu, and Malindi (in Kenya); and Dar es ...

, and the eviction of the Portuguese from Hormuz, Goa and

Malacca Malacca (), officially the Historic State of Malacca (), is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia located in the Peninsular Malaysia#Other features, southern region of the Malay Peninsula, facing the Strait of Malacca ...

. In 1525, the Portuguese raided the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

, further bringing the threat of their fleet closer to Egypt. 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. He was in association with

Hayreddin Barbarossa Hayreddin Barbarossa (, original name: Khiḍr; ), also known as Hayreddin Pasha, Hızır Hayrettin Pasha, and simply Hızır Reis (c. 1466/1483 – 4 July 1546), was an Ottoman corsair and later admiral of the Ottoman Navy. Barbarossa's ...

, leading around 4,000 infantry. They left Suez in 1526 and returned Jiddah to order. Landing in Mocha in January 1527, they led an expedition into the interior of

to subdue the area, which they succeeding in doing after beheading Mustafa Beg.

remained independent but recognized suzerainty to Ottoman rule. 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., Following these successes, various potentates in the Indian Ocean asked for Ottoman help against the Portuguese: in 1527 the Vizier of Hormuz as well as the

Zamorin The Samoothiri (Anglicised as Zamorin; Malayalam: , , Arabic: ''Sāmuri'', Portuguese: ''Samorim'', Dutch: ''Samorijn'', Chinese: ''Shamitihsi''Ma Huan's Ying-yai Sheng-lan: 'The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores' 433 Translated and Edi ...

Calicut Kozhikode (), also known as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. Known as the City of Spices, Kozhikode is listed among the City of Literature, UNESCO's Cities of Literature. It is the nineteenth large ...

. By 1528, Ottoman mercenaries were present on Islamic shipping as far as

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

. However, Selman Reis fell into a dispute with Hayreddin Barbarossa who had Selman assassinated in September 1528. Selman's nephew Mustafa Bayram tried to avenge his death by having Hayreddin killed although he failed to do so, but in the wake of Selman's and Hayreddin's deaths the Ottomans lost control of mainland Yemen and their naval power gradually began to diminish as seen during the

Battle of Lepanto The Battle of Lepanto was a naval warfare, naval engagement that took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League (1571), Holy League, a coalition of Catholic states arranged by Pope Pius V, inflicted a major defeat on the fleet of t ...

in 1571.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Selman Reis 16th-century Ottoman military personnel Mercenaries from the Ottoman Empire Ottoman Empire admirals People from Lesbos