2 questions about the Ottomans and the Americas

1) How much did the Ottoman Empire know about the New World and did they ever show any bit of interest in it, at least as a way to hurt Spain and Portugal?

2) Did the Barbary pirates (I know not all of them were Turkish subjects) ever set foot in the Americas? Andrei says they did once and I disagreed on the basis of "How the hell didn't I know about it?"
 

Thande

Donor
2) Did the Barbary pirates (I know not all of them were Turkish subjects) ever set foot in the Americas? Andrei says they did once and I disagreed on the basis of "How the hell didn't I know about it?"
I assume you mean based on a mission of their own, because American counter-piracy ships in the Med probably took Berber prisoners back to the States as part of their usual patrol once or twice.
 
i don't know anything about barbary pirates, but I'm pretty sure that the ottomans knew very well what the other european powers were doing, but i guess they thought that
1. they were too far away from the americas to colonize (their ships would probably looted and sunk by the french, spanish, english, potugesse and probably even italian navies before they even got halfway across the atlantic)
2. and, if they did colonize, they were probably too far away to send troops and govenors to manage colonies
3. and that conquering the middle east and africa could be more profitable, plus, they were closer
 
A huge reason for colonial expansion, especially at first, was to get access to exotic resources that they otherwise couldn't get except through the Ottoman Empire. When you are the Ottoman Empire, the situation changes slightly :p

The most obvious example is Columbus, who went on his voyage to circumvent Ottoman control of the spice trade.
 
I think that, had the Ottomans not gotten so sick by the time the Scramble for Africa rolled around, they would have gone for a good slice of the east coast. Think Etheopia.
 
I think that, had the Ottomans not gotten so sick by the time the Scramble for Africa rolled around, they would have gone for a good slice of the east coast. Think Etheopia.

The Ottomans had absolutely no interest whatsoever in scrambling for African territory for several reasons. One, there was nothing of any value to take that would be worth the conflicts this would entail with the other powers. And equally as important, all the territories in reach had Muslim populations, and the Ottomans were very careful not to compromise the position of the Sultan as Caliph.
 

Keenir

Banned
And equally as important, all the territories in reach had Muslim populations, and the Ottomans were very careful not to compromise the position of the Sultan as Caliph.

...and yet the Ottomans repeatedly tried to conquer Yemen. (and had wars with Persia)
 

Leo Caesius

Banned
2) Did the Barbary pirates (I know not all of them were Turkish subjects) ever set foot in the Americas? Andrei says they did once and I disagreed on the basis of "How the hell didn't I know about it?"
They certainly operated in the Atlantic, and I seem to recall something in Michael Oren's book about a raid on American soil, although I might be hallucinating that one. When I get into my office I'll take a look to see what I can find.
 
I seem to recall reading about Turkish maps from the 16th (or maybe 17th) Century that had the east coast of America but lacked detail in Turkmenistan and the central Asian steppe. Of course this says more about central Asia than anything else...
 
1) How much did the Ottoman Empire know about the New World and did they ever show any bit of interest in it, at least as a way to hurt Spain and Portugal?

2) Did the Barbary pirates (I know not all of them were Turkish subjects) ever set foot in the Americas? Andrei says they did once and I disagreed on the basis of "How the hell didn't I know about it?"

The Ottomans were aware of the New World, but had no interest in it. There was no conceivable way of interfering with the Iberians there, and taking them on in the Med and Indian Ocean were far higher priorities.

I am not aware of any Barbary Pirates travelling to the Americas. The Ottoman admiral Piri Reis (serious badass: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piri_Reis ) drew a map of the Americas that was more accurate than anyone else's, but that seems to be a result of better geographic science, as he used the charts of Columbus, et al.
 
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