section_path: Foreign relations/Relations with the Ottoman Empire
section_name: Relations with the Ottoman Empire
paragraph_text: Relations with the Ottoman Empire
  
  In 1555, while Akbar was still a child, the Ottoman Admiral Seydi Ali Reis visited the Mughal Emperor Humayun. In 1569, during the early years of Akbar's rule, Ottoman Admiral Kurtoğlu Hızır Reis visited the Empire. These Ottoman admirals sought to end the growing threats of the Portuguese Empire during their Indian Ocean campaigns. During his reign, Akbar six documents addressing the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.
  
  In 1576, Akbar sent a contingent of pilgrims on Hajj, led by Khwaja Sultan Naqshbandi, with 600,000 rupees and 12,000 khalats (honorific robes) for the needy of Mecca and Medina. In October 1576, Akbar sent a delegation, which included his aunt Gulbadan Begum and his consort Salima, on Hajj by two ships, including an Ottoman vessel, from Surat, which reached the port of Jeddah in 1577 and then proceeded to Mecca and Medina. Four more caravans were sent from 1577 to 1580, with gifts for the authorities of Mecca and Medina.
  
  During this period, Akbar financed the pilgrimages of many poor Muslims from the Mughal Empire and also funded the foundations of the Qadiriyya Sufi Order's dervish lodge in the Hijaz. Akbar's attempts to build Mughal presence in Mecca and Medina reassured the local Sharifs of the Mughal Empire's ability to provide financial support, lessening their dependency upon Ottoman bounties. Mughal-Ottoman trade also flourished during this period; merchants loyal to Akbar are known to have reached Aleppo after journeying upriver through the port of Basra.
  
  The imperial Mughal entourage stayed in Mecca and Medina for nearly four years and attended the Hajj four times. In 1582, the Ottoman authorities forced them to return to India. Historian Naimur Rahman Farooqi has suggested that their expulsion may explain why Akbar broke relations with the Hijaz and stopped sending Hajj caravans after 1581.
  
  According to some accounts, Akbar expressed a desire to form an alliance with the Portuguese against the Ottomans, but nothing came of the idea.