Barbarossa (1466?-1546) was a Barbary corsair (sea raider). Also called Khair-ed-Din, he was the younger of two red-bearded brothers who scourged the western Mediterranean in the 1500's. Khair-ed-Din succeeded his brother Arouj as commander of organized fleets of ships. He became high admiral of the navy of the Ottoman Empire, which was based in what is now Turkey, and devoted his life to ferocious and vengeful attacks on Christian ships and towns.