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Aruj Barbarossa
Aruj Barbarossa (Arabic: عروج بربروس), known as Oruç Reis to the Turks, was an Ottoman corsair who became Sultan of Algiers. The elder brother of the famous Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa, he was born on the Ottoman island of Midilli (Lesbos in present-day Greece) and died in battle against the Spanish at Tlemcen.
He became known as Baba Aruj (Father Aruj) when he transported large numbers of Morisco, Muslim and Jewish refugees from Spain to North Africa; in Europe he was known as Barbarossa.
His father, Yakup Ağa, was an Ottoman official of Turkish or Albanian descent. Yakup Ağa took part in the Ottoman conquest of Lesbos (Midilli) from the Genoese in 1462, and as a reward, was granted the fief of the Bonova village in the island. He married a local Christian Greek woman (from Mytilene), named Katerina, who was the widow of an Eastern Orthodox priest.
They had two daughters and four sons: Ishak, Aruj, Hızır and Ilyas. Yakup became an established potter and purchased a boat to trade his products. The four sons helped their father with his business, but not much is known about the daughters. At first Aruj helped with the boat, while Hızır helped with pottery.[citation needed]
All four brothers became seamen, engaged in marine affairs and international sea trade. Aruj was the first brother to be involved in seamanship, soon joined by the youngest brother Ilyas. Hızır initially helped their father in the pottery business, but later obtained a ship of his own and also began a career at sea. Ishak, the eldest, remained on Mytilene and was involved with the financial affairs of the family business. The other three brothers initially worked as sailors, but then turned privateers in the Mediterranean, counteracting the privateering of the Knights Hospitaller of the Island of Rhodes. Aruj and Ilyas operated in the Levant, between Anatolia, Syria and Egypt, while Hızır operated in the Aegean Sea and based his operations mostly in Thessaloniki.
Aruj was a very successful seaman. He also learned to speak Italian, Spanish, French, Greek and Arabic in the early years of his career. During a trading expedition in Tripoli, Lebanon, he and Ilyas were attacked by a galley of the Knights Hospitaller. Ilyas was killed in the fight, and Aruj was wounded. Their father's boat was captured, and Aruj was taken prisoner and detained in the Knights' Bodrum Castle for nearly three years. Hizir tried to help Oruc by ransoming but failed and Oruc was tortured for the first few years of captivity and later he worked as a slave on the Rhodes Ship which transported prisoners. One night when conditions were favorable[clarification needed] he managed to escape from the ship and was able to flee to a village where he lived for ten days. Later he joined Captain Ali.[who?]
Aruj later went to Antalya, where he was given 18 galleys by Şehzade Korkut, an Ottoman prince and governor of the city, and charged with fighting against the Knights Hospitaller who inflicted serious damage on Ottoman shipping and trade.
In the following years, when Şehzade Korkut became governor of Manisa, he gave Aruj a larger fleet of 24 galleys at the port of İzmir and ordered him to participate in the Ottoman naval expedition to Apulia in the Kingdom of Naples, where Aruj bombarded several coastal forts and captured two ships. On his way back to Lesbos, he stopped at Euboea and captured three galleons and another ship. He then attacked several islands of the Knights Hospitaller and captured many of their small vessel ships. Reaching Mytilene with these captured vessels, Aruj learned that Şehzade Korkut, brother of the new Ottoman sultan, had fled to Egypt to avoid being killed over a succession dispute; a common practice at that time in the House of Osman. Fearing trouble due to his well-known association with the Ottoman prince in exile, Aruj sailed to Egypt where he met Şehzade Korkut in Cairo and managed to get an audience with the Mamluk Sultan Qansuh al-Ghawri, who gave him another ship and charged him to raid the coasts of Italy and the islands of the Mediterranean that were controlled by Christian powers. After passing the winter in Cairo, he set sail from Alexandria and operated along the coasts of Liguria and Sicily.[citation needed]
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Aruj Barbarossa
Aruj Barbarossa (Arabic: عروج بربروس), known as Oruç Reis to the Turks, was an Ottoman corsair who became Sultan of Algiers. The elder brother of the famous Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa, he was born on the Ottoman island of Midilli (Lesbos in present-day Greece) and died in battle against the Spanish at Tlemcen.
He became known as Baba Aruj (Father Aruj) when he transported large numbers of Morisco, Muslim and Jewish refugees from Spain to North Africa; in Europe he was known as Barbarossa.
His father, Yakup Ağa, was an Ottoman official of Turkish or Albanian descent. Yakup Ağa took part in the Ottoman conquest of Lesbos (Midilli) from the Genoese in 1462, and as a reward, was granted the fief of the Bonova village in the island. He married a local Christian Greek woman (from Mytilene), named Katerina, who was the widow of an Eastern Orthodox priest.
They had two daughters and four sons: Ishak, Aruj, Hızır and Ilyas. Yakup became an established potter and purchased a boat to trade his products. The four sons helped their father with his business, but not much is known about the daughters. At first Aruj helped with the boat, while Hızır helped with pottery.[citation needed]
All four brothers became seamen, engaged in marine affairs and international sea trade. Aruj was the first brother to be involved in seamanship, soon joined by the youngest brother Ilyas. Hızır initially helped their father in the pottery business, but later obtained a ship of his own and also began a career at sea. Ishak, the eldest, remained on Mytilene and was involved with the financial affairs of the family business. The other three brothers initially worked as sailors, but then turned privateers in the Mediterranean, counteracting the privateering of the Knights Hospitaller of the Island of Rhodes. Aruj and Ilyas operated in the Levant, between Anatolia, Syria and Egypt, while Hızır operated in the Aegean Sea and based his operations mostly in Thessaloniki.
Aruj was a very successful seaman. He also learned to speak Italian, Spanish, French, Greek and Arabic in the early years of his career. During a trading expedition in Tripoli, Lebanon, he and Ilyas were attacked by a galley of the Knights Hospitaller. Ilyas was killed in the fight, and Aruj was wounded. Their father's boat was captured, and Aruj was taken prisoner and detained in the Knights' Bodrum Castle for nearly three years. Hizir tried to help Oruc by ransoming but failed and Oruc was tortured for the first few years of captivity and later he worked as a slave on the Rhodes Ship which transported prisoners. One night when conditions were favorable[clarification needed] he managed to escape from the ship and was able to flee to a village where he lived for ten days. Later he joined Captain Ali.[who?]
Aruj later went to Antalya, where he was given 18 galleys by Şehzade Korkut, an Ottoman prince and governor of the city, and charged with fighting against the Knights Hospitaller who inflicted serious damage on Ottoman shipping and trade.
In the following years, when Şehzade Korkut became governor of Manisa, he gave Aruj a larger fleet of 24 galleys at the port of İzmir and ordered him to participate in the Ottoman naval expedition to Apulia in the Kingdom of Naples, where Aruj bombarded several coastal forts and captured two ships. On his way back to Lesbos, he stopped at Euboea and captured three galleons and another ship. He then attacked several islands of the Knights Hospitaller and captured many of their small vessel ships. Reaching Mytilene with these captured vessels, Aruj learned that Şehzade Korkut, brother of the new Ottoman sultan, had fled to Egypt to avoid being killed over a succession dispute; a common practice at that time in the House of Osman. Fearing trouble due to his well-known association with the Ottoman prince in exile, Aruj sailed to Egypt where he met Şehzade Korkut in Cairo and managed to get an audience with the Mamluk Sultan Qansuh al-Ghawri, who gave him another ship and charged him to raid the coasts of Italy and the islands of the Mediterranean that were controlled by Christian powers. After passing the winter in Cairo, he set sail from Alexandria and operated along the coasts of Liguria and Sicily.[citation needed]