Uluç Ali Pasha |
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Born | 1519 Le Castella, Italy |
Died | June 21, 1587 Constantinople, Ottoman Empire |
(aged 67 - 68)
Buried at | Kılıç Ali Paşa Mosque |
Allegiance | Ottoman Empire |
Service/branch | Ottoman Navy |
Years of service | 1536-1587 |
Rank | Grand Admiral |
Battles/wars | Battle of Djerba, Siege of Malta, Battle of Preveza, Battle of Lepanto |
Occhiali (also Uluj Ali, Turkish: Uluç Ali Reis, later Uluç Ali Paşa and finally Kılıç Ali Paşa; 1519 – 21 June 1587) was a corsair (privateer) who later became an Ottoman admiral (Reis), Bey of the Regency of Algiers, and finally Grand Admiral (Kapudan Pasha) of the Ottoman fleet in the 16th century.
Born Giovanni Dionigi Galeni, he was also known by several other names in the Christian countries of the Mediterranean and in the literature also appears under various names. Miguel de Cervantes called him Uchali in chapter XXXIX of his Don Quixote de la Mancha. Elsewhere he was simply called Ali Pasha. John Wolf, in his The Barbary Coast, refers to him as Euldj Ali.
Uluj Ali was born to the seaman Birno Galeni and his wife Pippa de Cicco, in the village of Le Castella (near modern Isola Capo Rizzuto) in Calabria, southern Italy. His father wanted him to receive a religious education, but on 29 April 1536, Giovanni was captured by Ali Ahmed, one of the corsair captains of Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha, and was forced to serve as a galley slave. As an oar slave in an Ottoman galley, he participated in the Battle of Preveza in 1538. Within a few years, he converted to Islam and became a corsair in the fleet of Turgut Reis by 1541. This was by no means unusual; many Muslim corsairs (privateers) were captured slaves who later converted to Islam.