| |
| 1538 |
| |
| Occupation of Aden, accomplished by a naval expedition on the way to India. The Ottomans lost Aden temporarily to the Portuguese but recaptured it in Feb. 1548. | 1 |
| |
| 1539 |
| |
| Occupation of southern Yemen. Ottoman control spread inland steadily, culminating in the capture of San'a in 1547 and the establishment of a regular Ottoman administration in the country, with coastal Zabid and inland San'a organized into separate provinces. The native Zaydis held out in the mountainous interior and continued to resist Ottoman rule. | 2 |
| |
| 1540–41 |
| |
| Administrative and legal reforms. Under the direction of the grand vezir Lutfi Pasha, the laws (kanuns) governing the administration of the various provinces were codified. A new general code of laws (Kanunname) was drawn up, providing specific penalties for serious crimes as well as regulations for the financial administration of the military fiefs (timars). This work was continued in the following few years by Ebussuud Efendi, the sheik ul-islam (chief jurisconsult of the empire). | 3 |
| |
| 1541 |
| |
| Suleyman's fourth Hungarian campaign. The Habsburgs invaded Hungary following Zapolya's death (1540) but were defeated by the Ottoman army led by Suleyman. Hungary was now annexed to the empire and subsequently organized as the province of Buda. | 4 |
| |
| 1543 |
| |
| Suleyman's fifth Hungarian campaign. The Habsburgs attempted to reverse the Ottoman successes by attacking Buda. An expedition led by Suleyman captured most of the remaining Habsburg forts in Hungary and Slovenia. In a peace agreement (June 1547), the Habsburgs recognized all the Ottoman conquests and promised to pay tribute for their few holdings in northern and western Hungary. | 5 |
| |
| 1544 |
| |
| Construction of the Khusrawiyya mosque in Aleppo, the earliest monument built in this city in the Ottoman imperial style (by the great Ottoman architect Sinan). | 6 |
| |
| 1546 |
| |
| Capture of Basra from the Arab chief Rashid ibn Mughamis and establishment of direct Ottoman rule over it. The area of southern Iraq, subsequently organized as a province, proved chronically difficult for the Ottomans to control because of its distance from the center and the considerable power of the Arab tribes there. | 7 |
| |
| 1546 |
| |
| Death of Shams al-Din Muhammad Ibn Tulun, a Damascene scholar and author of important works on local history, including chronicles covering the transition from Mamluk to Ottoman rule. | 8 |
| |
| 1548–49 |
| |
| Suleyman's second Iranian campaign. The Ottomans occupied Tabriz and Azerbaijan again but withdrew. Their only territorial gains from two years of warfare were Van, which was organized as a province, and some forts in Georgia. | 9 |
| |
| 1550 |
| |
| Ottoman occupation of Qatif on the Persian Gulf. | 10 |
| |
| 1550–57 |
| |
| Construction of the Suleymaniye, the most beautiful mosque in Istanbul, designed by the architect Sinan. Sultan Suleyman and his wife, Roxelana, were buried in the cemetery behind the mosque, in tombs built by Sinan. | 11 |
| |
| 1551–52 |
| |
| Ottoman expeditions to subdue Shahrizor in the Kurdish mountains of northern Iraq. After heavy fighting an agreement was reached with the local chieftains, who confirmed their allegiance to the sultan. | 12 |
| |
| |
