Sokollu Mehmed Pasha

Sokollu Mehmed Pasha

Sokollu Mehmed Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: صوقوللى محمد پاشا, romanized: Sokollu Mehmet Paşa; Serbian Cyrillic: Мехмед-паша Соколовић, romanized: Mehmed-paša Sokolović; pronounced [měxmet pâʃa sokǒːloʋitɕ]; 1505 – 11 October 1579) was an Ottoman statesman of Serbian origin most notable for being the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. Born in Ottoman Herzegovina into an Orthodox Christian family, Mehmed was recruited as a young boy as part of so called "blood tax" to serve as a janissary to the Ottoman devşirme system of recruiting Christian boys to be raised as officers or administrators for the state. He rose through the ranks of the Ottoman imperial system, eventually holding positions as commander of the imperial guard (1543–1546), High Admiral of the Fleet (1546–1551), Governor-General of Rumelia (1551–1555), Third Vizier (1555–1561), Second Vizier (1561–1565), and as Grand Vizier (1565–1579, for a total of 14 years, three months, 17 days) under three sultans: Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim II, and Murad III. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Sokollu Mehmed Pasha has received more than 518,617 page views. His biography is available in 39 different languages on Wikipedia. Sokollu Mehmed Pasha is the 481st most popular politician (down from 363rd in 2019), the 4th most popular biography from Bosnia and Herzegovina (down from 3rd in 2019) and the most popular Bosnian, Herzegovinian Politician.

Sokollu Mehmed Pasha was the Ottoman Grand Vizier from 1565 to 1579. He was most famous for his military conquests and reforms in the Ottoman Empire.