Ottoman sultan from 1566, whose reign saw peace in Europe and Asia and the rise of the Ottomans to dominance in the Mediterranean but marked the beginning of the decline in the power of the sultans. He was unable to impose his authority over the Janissaries and was overruled by the women of his harem.

Selim, the son of Süleyman I the Magnificent, came to the throne in the wake of palace intrigues and bitter civil strife with his brothers. He was more inclined to a life of pleasure than to the difficult task of governing, and he entrusted the affairs of state to his able grand vizier (chief minister) and son-in-law, Mehmed Sokollu. (Sokollu, Mehmed Paşa)

As a result of the signing of a peace treaty with Austria in 1568, the Ottomans strengthened their rule in Moldavia and Walachia. In the East, amicable relations existed between Selim II and Ṭahmāsp I, Ṣafavid ruler of Iran, and a revolt in Yemen was successfully suppressed (1569–70). In the Mediterranean the Ottoman capture of Cyprus from the Venetians (1570–71) led to the formation of an anti-Ottoman alliance of the pope, the Italian states, and Spain. The alliance, although successful in destroying the Ottoman navy at the Battle of Lepanto (Lepanto, Battle of) (Oct. 7, 1571), was unable to confront a new navy formed the following year. Consequently Venice recognized Ottoman hegemony in the Mediterranean (1573), and the Ottomans recaptured Tunisia (August 1574) from the Spanish, who had taken it in 1572.