Editing Suleiman the Magnificent (section)

===Mediterranean and North Africa===
{{See also|Franco-Ottoman alliance|Hayreddin Barbarossa|Italian War of 1542–46|Great Siege of Malta}}
[[File:Battle of Preveza (1538).jpg|thumb|[[Barbarossa (Ottoman admiral)|Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha]] defeats the Holy League under the command of [[Andrea Doria]] at the [[Battle of Preveza]] in 1538]]
[[File:Francois I Suleiman.jpg|thumb|France's King Francis I never met Suleiman, but they created a [[Franco-Ottoman alliance]] from the 1530s.]]

Having consolidated his conquests on land, Suleiman was greeted with the news that the fortress of [[Koroni]] in [[Morea]] (the modern [[Peloponnese]], peninsular Greece) had been lost to [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]]'s admiral, [[Andrea Doria]]. The presence of the Spanish in the Eastern Mediterranean concerned Suleiman, who saw it as an early indication of Charles V's intention to rival Ottoman dominance in the region. Recognizing the need to reassert naval preeminence in the Mediterranean, Suleiman appointed an exceptional naval commander in the form of [[Hayreddin Barbarossa|Khair ad Din]], known to Europeans as [[Hayreddin Barbarossa|Barbarossa]]. Once appointed admiral-in-chief, Barbarossa was charged with rebuilding the Ottoman fleet.

In 1535, Charles V led a Holy League of 26,700 soldiers (10,000 Spaniards, 8,000 Italians, 8,000 Germans, and 700 Knights of St. John)<ref name=Clodfelter/> to victory against the Ottomans at [[Tunis]], which together with the war against [[Republic of Venice|Venice]] the following year, led Suleiman to accept proposals from [[Francis I of France]] to form [[Franco-Ottoman alliance|an alliance against Charles]].<ref name= Imber />{{rp|51}} Huge Muslim territories in North Africa were annexed. The piracy carried on thereafter by the [[Barbary pirates]] of North Africa can be seen in the context of the wars against Spain.

[[File:Siege of malta 1.jpg|The siege of Malta in 1565: arrival of the Turkish fleet, by [[Matteo Perez d'Aleccio]]|thumb|left]]

In 1541, the Spaniards led an unsuccessful [[Algiers expedition (1541)|expedition to Algiers]]. In 1542, facing a common Habsburg enemy during the [[Italian Wars]], Francis I sought to renew the [[Franco-Ottoman alliance]]. In early 1542, Polin successfully negotiated the details of the alliance, with the Ottoman Empire promising to send 60,000 troops against the territories of the German king Ferdinand, as well as 150 galleys against Charles, while France promised to attack [[County of Flanders|Flanders]], harass the coasts of Spain with a naval force, and send 40 galleys to assist the Turks for operations in the Levant.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EgQNAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA461|title=The Papacy and the Levant, 1204–1571|first=Kenneth Meyer|last=Setton|year=1976|publisher=American Philosophical Society|isbn=978-0871691613|via=Google Books}}</ref>

In August 1551, Ottoman naval commander [[Turgut Reis]] attacked and [[Siege of Tripoli (1551)|captured Tripoli]], which had been a possession of the Knights of Malta since 1530. In 1553, Turgut Reis was nominated commander of [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]] by Suleiman, making the city an important center for [[Barbary slave trade|piratical raids]] in the Mediterranean and the capital of the Ottoman province of [[Ottoman Tripolitania|Tripolitania]].<ref>''A history of the Maghrib in the Islamic period'' Jamil M. Abun-Nasr p. 190 [https://books.google.com/books?id=jdlKbZ46YYkC&pg=PA190]</ref> In 1560, a powerful naval force was sent to recapture Tripoli, but that force was defeated in the [[Battle of Djerba]].<ref>''A History of the Ottoman Empire to 1730: chapters from the Cambridge history'' by Vernon J. Parry p. 101 [https://books.google.com/books?id=nUs7AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA101]</ref>

Elsewhere in the Mediterranean, when the Knights Hospitallers were re-established as the [[Knights Hospitaller|Knights of Malta]] in 1530, their actions against Muslim navies quickly drew the ire of the Ottomans, who assembled another massive army in order to dislodge the Knights from Malta. The Ottomans invaded Malta in 1565, undertaking the [[Great Siege of Malta]], which began on 18 May and lasted until 8 September, and is portrayed vividly in the frescoes of [[Matteo Perez d'Aleccio]] in the Hall of St. Michael and St. George. At first, it seemed that this would be a repeat of the battle on Rhodes, with most of Malta's cities destroyed and half the Knights killed in battle; but a relief force from Spain entered the battle, resulting in the loss of 10,000 Ottoman troops and the victory of the local Maltese citizenry.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.malta.com/about-malta/history-of-malta.html|title=History of Malta and Gozo – From Prehistory to Independence| first= Georgi | last= Mitev}}</ref>