Hayreddin Barbarossa

Khayr al-Din Barbarossa (c. 1478–1546), born Hızır on Lesbos, was an Ottoman corsair and admiral. Sailing with his elder brother Oruç Reis, he helped seize Algiers from Spain in 1516, and after Oruç's death in 1518 inherited his command and the nickname Barbarossa and pledged Algiers to the Ottomans.

In 1533 Suleiman the Magnificent made him Kapudan Pasha, or grand admiral. He conquered Tunis in 1534 and crushed the Holy League at Preveza in 1538, securing Ottoman mastery of the Mediterranean. After campaigning with France in the 1540s he retired to Constantinople and died in 1546.