Skip to content

Selim II

Selim II (r. 974–982/1566–1574) — succeeded Sulayman; his reign ran on Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha's hand: the Austrian peace of 1567, the conquest of Cyprus, Lepanto, the recovery of Tunis and the Don–Volga canal project.

Reign · Ottoman Empire · no. 3 in the chain · 1566–1574 CE

Ruled the caliphate

Events of the reign

Akbar takes Gujarat, 980

In 980 Sultan Akbar b. Humayun — four generations from Timur — took Gujarat.
Rebellion of the Alpujarras

Draft card for the Alpujarras Rebellion of 1568–1571, the Morisco rising of Granada against Philip II under Aben Humeya; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
The battle of Lepanto

Lepanto, 1571 — in its wake Ottoman North Africa was reorganised from the beylerbeylik of Algiers into three ordinary wilayas: Tripoli, Tunis and Algiers.
Battle of Béja (1569)

Draft card for Battle of Béja (1569); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Battle of Cairo (1569)

Draft card for Battle of Cairo (1569); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Battle of Molodi

Draft card for the Battle of Molodi in 1572, the Russian repulse of Crimean khan Devlet Giray's army before Moscow; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Battle of Partskhisi (1569)

Draft card for Battle of Partskhisi (1569); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Battle of Samadlo (1568)

Draft card for Battle of Samadlo (1568); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Capture of Tunis

Draft card for the Capture of Tunis in 1569, Uluj Ali's seizure from the Hafsid allies of Spain; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Capture of Tunis

Draft card for the Capture of Tunis in 1573, Don John of Austria's seizure of the city before the Ottoman recovery; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
The Ottoman Conquest of Cyprus

The Ottoman conquest of Cyprus, 1570–71 — a hundred thousand men reduced Famagusta by famine after every siege engine failed; the island surrendered Rabi' II 979/August 1571, Anatolian settlers followed, and the Orthodox welcomed the end of Venetian Catholic persecution.
Crimean–Circassian War (1569)

Draft card for Crimean–Circassian War (1569); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
The Astrakhan campaign and the Don–Volga canal project

The Astrakhan expedition and Don–Volga canal, 1569 — Sokollu's audacious plan to sail the Ottoman fleet into the Caspian: a third of the canal was dug by October before winter killed the project. The Khivan and Bukharan appeals had asked the Porte to reopen the pilgrimage road that Muscovy's seizure of Astrakhan had cut.
Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War

Draft card for the Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War, the long chain of border wars between Croatia and the Ottomans; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Kuban War (1571)

Draft card for the Kuban War of 1571, of the Circassian wars; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Ottoman attack on Brac (1571)

Draft card for Ottoman attack on Brac (1571); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Ottoman-Habsburg War of 1565–1568

Draft card for the Ottoman-Habsburg War of 1565–68, Suleiman's last Szigetvár campaign; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Ottoman–Venetian War of 1570–1573

Draft card for the Ottoman–Venetian War of 1570–1573, the war for Cyprus in which the Ottomans prevailed on land despite the naval defeat at Lepanto; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Russo-Turkish War of 1568–1570

Draft card for the Russo-Turkish War of 1568–1570; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Sinan builds the Selimiye Mosque at Edirne

The architect Sinan built the Selimiye mosque complex at Edirne in 1569-75 for Selim II, who died the year before it was completed; Sinan himself considered it the crowning achievement of his career, surpassing even the Süleymaniye in Istanbul. Its great dome stands six cubits higher than that of Ayasofya.
Serbian–Ottoman Wars

Draft card for the Serbian–Ottoman wars of 1352–1913, the centuries of Serb–Ottoman conflict; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Siege of Chaul (1571)

Draft card for Siege of Chaul (1571); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Siege of Famagusta

Draft card for the Siege of Famagusta from 1570 to 1571, the fall of Venice's last stronghold in Cyprus to the Ottomans; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Siege of Goa (1570–71)

Draft card for the Siege of Goa in 1570–71, Ali Adil Shah of Bijapur's campaign against the Portuguese capital in India; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Siege of Honavar (1571)

Draft card for Siege of Honavar (1571); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Siege of Malacca (1573)

Draft card for Siege of Malacca (1573); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Siege of Navarino

Draft card for the Siege of Navarino in 1572, the Ottoman recovery of the town from Venice; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Siege of Nicosia (1570)

Draft card for the Siege of Nicosia in 1570, the Ottoman capture of the Venetian capital of Cyprus during the conquest of the island; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Siege of Szigetvár

Draft card for the Siege of Szigetvár in 1566, Suleiman the Magnificent's last campaign, during which he died and the defender Zrínyi fell; its sources are not yet checked on the page.

The museum record for this caliph