TRENDEFRARAtlas of the Sultans · Wars, battles and treaties
Siege · 1534
Appointed grand admiral, Barbaros Hayreddin Pasha left Istanbul with eighty ships in August 1534, according to the TDV encyclopedia; after striking southern Italian towns such as Reggio, Sperlonga and Fondi he turned to Tunis and on 22 September 1534 took the city, which the Hafsid ruler Mulay Hasan had abandoned. But the next year Emperor Charles V led an expedition to Tunis and retook the city (21 July 1535), restored Mulay Hasan and placed a Spanish garrison in La Goulette. Tunis was finally taken in 1574.
| Date | 22 September 1534 – 21 July 1535 |
|---|---|
| Location | Tunis |
| Result | The city was taken and lost the next year to Charles V's expedition |
| Belligerents | Ottoman Empire | Spanish Empire |
|---|---|---|
| Commanders | Barbaros Hayreddin Pasha | Charles V |
Took place during the reign of Suleiman I (1520–1566). Suleiman I
The atlas records this territorial change for the year:
By the atlas's calculation the Ottoman lands covered about 3,206,000 km² in 1534; at the start of Suleiman I's reign they measured 3,034,000 km², at its end 5,127,000 km².
During Suleiman I (1520–1566) the atlas records 20 regions gained and 1 region lost.
Regions gained: Belgrade–Šabac (1521), Rhodes and the Dodecanese (1522), Eastern Slavonia and Syrmia (Osijek–Vukovar) (1526), Lika–Krbava (1527), Baghdad–Basra (1534), Požega (central Slavonia) (1537), Kars–Ardahan–Artvin (1537), Yemen–Asir (1538), and 12 more.
Regions lost: Kars–Ardahan–Artvin (1565).
With a reign of forty-six years he ruled longer than any other sultan. He brought the state to its military, legal and cultural peak; yet the executions of his sons Mustafa and Bayezid are the gravest instances of violence within the dynasty.
Areas are land area computed from the atlas's region data; see Method and sources.
Source: TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, “BARBAROS HAYREDDİN PAŞA” (Turkish); text written for the atlas.
Cite as: Atlas of the Sultans, “Conquest of Tunis (1534): Date, Commanders and Outcome”, https://padisahlaratlasi.com/en/events/conquest-of-tunis-1534/ (last updated 12 November 2026). Corrections