In 1517, the Ottoman Sultan Selim nullthe Grimnull conquered Egypt and brought his empire for the first time in history into direct contact with the trading world of the Indian Ocean. During the decades that followed, the Ottomans became progressively more engaged in the affairs of this vast and previously unfamiliar region, eventually to the point of launching a systematic ideological, military, and commercial challenge to the Portuguese Empire, their main rival for control of the lucrative trade routes of maritime Asia.