The 16th century began with the Julian year 1501 and ended with either the Julian or the Gregorian year 1600 (MDC), depending on the reckoning used.
Oran is a major coastal city located in the northwest of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria, after the capital, Algiers, because of its population and commercial, industrial and cultural importance. It is 432 km (268 mi) west-southwest from Algiers. The total population of the city was 803,329 in 2008, while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000, making it the second-largest city in Algeria.
The Zayyanid dynasty or Abd al-Wadids was a Berber Zenata dynasty that ruled the Kingdom of Tlemcen, mainly in modern Algeria centered on the town of Tlemcen in northwest Algeria. The Zayyanid dynasty's rule lasted from 1235 to 1557.
Mers El Kébir is a port on the Mediterranean Sea, near Oran in Oran Province, northwest Algeria. It is famous for the attack on the French fleet in 1940, in the Second World War.
The Italian War of 1551–1559 began when Henry II of France declared war against Holy Roman Emperor Charles V with the intent of recapturing parts of Italy and ensuring French, rather than Habsburg, domination of European affairs. The war ended following the signing of the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis between the monarchs of Spain, England and France in 1559. Historians have emphasized the importance of gunpowder technology, new styles of fortification to resist cannon fire, and the increased professionalization of the soldiers.
Szigetvár is a town in Baranya County in southern Hungary [hu]. The name is a compound word composed of Sziget (Island) + vár (castle). In October 2011, the city received the title Civitas Invicta from the Hungarian Parliament. Today it has a population of 12,000.
MawlayMohammed al-Shaykh al-Sharif al-Hassani, known as Mohammed al-Shaykh, was the first sultan of the Saadian dynasty of Morocco (1544–1557). He was particularly successful in expelling the Portuguese from most of their bases in Morocco. He also eliminated the Wattasids and resisted the Ottomans, thereby establishing a complete rule over Morocco.
Salah Rais was the 7th King of Algiers, an Ottoman privateer and admiral. He is alternatively referred to as Sala Reis, Salih Rais, Salek Rais and Cale Arraez in several European sources, particularly in Spain, France and Italy.
The Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Empire waged a series of wars on the territory of the Kingdom of Hungary and several adjacent lands in Southeastern Europe from 1526 to 1568. The Habsburgs and the Ottomans engaged in a series of military campaigns against one another in Hungary between 1526 and 1568. While overall the Ottomans had the upper hand, the war failed to produce any decisive result. The Ottoman army remained very powerful in the open field but it often lost a significant amount of time besieging the many fortresses of the Hungarian frontier and its communication lines were now dangerously overstretched. At the end of the conflict, Hungary had been split into several different zones of control, between the Ottomans, Habsburgs, and Transylvania, an Ottoman vassal state. The simultaneous war of succession between Habsburg-controlled western "Royal Hungary" and the Zápolya-ruled pro-Ottoman "Eastern Hungarian Kingdom" is known as the Little War in Hungary.
The capture of Mahdia was an amphibious military operation that took place from June to September, 1550, during the struggle between the Ottoman Empire and the Spanish Habsburgs for the control of the Mediterranean. A Spanish naval expedition under the command of the Genoese condottiero and admiral Andrea Doria and the Spaniard Bernardino de Mendoza, supported by the Knights of Malta under their Grand Master Claude de la Sengle, besieged and captured the Ottoman stronghold of Mahdia or Mahdiye, defended by the Ottoman Admiral Turgut Reis, known as Dragut, who was using the place as a base for his piratical activities throughout the Spanish and Italian coasts. Mahdia was abandoned by Spain three years later, and all its fortifications were demolished to avoid a re-occupation of the city by the Ottomans.
Between April and June 1563 the Regency of Algiers launched a major military campaign to retake the Spanish military-bases of Oran and Mers el Kébir on the North African coast, occupied by Spain since 1505. The sieges of Oran and Mers El Kébir of 1563 represented a major Hispano-Algerian episode in the larger Ottoman-Habsburg wars of the Mediterranean. The Kingdom of Algiers, the Principalities of Kabyle, and other vassal tribes combined forces as one army under Hasan Pasha, son of Hayreddin Barbarossa, and Jafar Catania. The Spanish commander brothers, Alonso de Córdoba Count of Alcaudete and Martín de Córdoba, managed to hold the strongholds of Oran and Mers El Kébir, respectively, until the relief fleet of Francisco de Mendoza arrived to successfully defeat the offensive.
The Expedition of Mostaganem occurred in 1558, when Spanish forces attempted to capture the city of Mostaganem. The expedition was supposed to be a decisive step in the conquest of the Ottoman base of Algiers, but it ended in failure, and has been called a "disaster".
Hasan Pasha was the son of Hayreddin Barbarossa and three-times Beylerbey of the Regency of Algiers. His mother was a Moorish woman from Algiers. He succeeded his father as ruler of Algiers, and replaced Barbarossa's deputy Hasan Agha, who had been effectively holding the position of ruler of Algiers since 1533.
The Battle of Wadi al-Laban occurred in March–April 1558 between Saadians and Ottoman Algerian forces under Hasan Pasha, the son of Hayreddin Barbarossa. It took place north of Fes, at Wadi al-Laban, an affluent of the Sebou River, one day north of Fes.
Santa Cruz Fort is one of the three forts in Oran, the second largest port city of Algeria; the other two forts are Fort de la Moune at the western end of the port and Fort Saint-Philippe, a replacement of the old castle of the Saints known in Spanish as Castillo de los Santos, at the centre of Oran. The three forts are connected by tunnels. Fort Santa Cruz was built between 1577 and 1604 by the Spaniards on the Pic d’Aidour above Gulf of Oran in the Mediterranean Sea, at an elevation of above 400 metres (1,312 ft). In 1831, the French occupied Oran and the fort.
Dragut was an Ottoman corsair, naval commander, governor, and noble. Under his command, the Ottoman Empire's maritime power was extended across North Africa. Recognized for his military genius, and as being among "the most dangerous" of corsairs, Dragut has been referred to as "the greatest pirate warrior of all time", "undoubtedly the most able of all the Turkish leaders", and "the uncrowned king of the Mediterranean". He was nicknamed "the Drawn Sword of Islam". He was described by a French admiral as "a living chart of the Mediterranean, skillful enough on land to be compared to the finest generals of the time" and that "no one was more worthy than he to bear the name of king". Hayreddin Barbarossa, who was his mentor, stated that Dragut was ahead of him "both in fishing and bravery".
The Kingdom of Tlemcen or Zayyanid Kingdom of Tlemcen was a kingdom ruled by the Berber Zayyanid dynasty in what is now the northwest of Algeria. Its territory stretched from Tlemcen to the Chelif bend and Algiers, and at its zenith reached Sijilmasa and the Moulouya River in the west, Tuat to the south and the Soummam in the east.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Oran, Algeria.
The siege of Oran was a battle between the Spanish Empire and the Regency of Algiers. It was started by Mustapha Bouchelaghem, the Bey of Mascara. The Algerian victory in the battle led to the city being reconquered by the Algerians for 24 years (1708–1732), before Spanish forces reconquered the town in 1732.
Siege of Oran may refer to:
Regency of Algiers 
Kingdom of Spain 