As detailed in parts one and two, the kingdom of Portugal and their envoys in India were relentless in thir pursuit of power and absolute dominance over the sea trade in the Western coast of India. Their intention was not only aimed to secure a strong foothold but also underpinned the groundwork for future colonization and takeovers. They also continued to capitalize on the lucrative spice trade and asserted control over it.
On the other hand, for India, a civilisation that had already been enduring multiple hardships posed by Muslim overlords, the arrival of the European expansionists and the subsequent events sparked the beginning of a fresh era of adversity and misery.
The first and second battle (popular as the Battle of Diu) of Chaul not only reinforced the menacing presence of the Portuguese in the Indian subcontinent but also highlighted the indelible impact alongside consequences of their imperialistic ambitions. Meanwhile, India was forced to bear the brunt of their exploitative motives and become a mere witness in its own exploitation.
This article will discuss events that show how the relentless quest for power combined with superior naval tactics and better ship designs employed by the Portuguese not only left India with permanent wounds but also irrevocably changed the subcontinent’s history and perhaps shaped the future of the entire world.
Naturally, many stakeholders were concerned by the Portuguese attempt to get involved in this business following Vasco da Gama’s journey. Local attacks against Portuguese possessions were sparked by Indian traders, specifically the Muslim Marakkar from Kerala and the Banias from Gujarat. Both the Venetians who purchased from the Yemeni traders and the latter who shipped the products to Egypt ran the risk of losing their businesses. Envoys from the Christian Venetians, the Sultan of Gujarat, and the Zamorin of Calicut appealed the Mamluk court in Egypt for help.
Mamluk-Portuguese conflicts
The spice trade from India to Egypt and later Venice was severely disrupted and prices skyrocketed during the Portuguese bombardment of Calicut in 1500-01 by the 2nd Portuguese India Armada. In 1503, the Portuguese pillaged and sank the first Egyptian ship on its way back from India, demonstrating the frontal attack on them. The Portuguese destroyed 14 to 17 Arab ships in the Indian harbor of Panane in 1504. In 1505, the 7th Portuguese India Armada engaged in combat in the Indian Ocean.
The Grand Prior of Saint Catherine’s Monastery was the first person sent to the Pope by the Mamluk Sultan Qansuh al-Ghuri in 1504, warning that he would bring detruction to the Christian Holy Place in the Levant and the Christians residing in his domain if he did not halt the Portuguese assault on Muslims in the Indian Ocean. The Venetians, who were interested in the spice trade with the Mamluks and wanted to get rid of the Portuguese threat if they could, dispatched envoy Francesco Teldi to Cairo in 1504. Teldi encouraged the Mamluks to obstruct Portuguese sailing in an effort to set up some degree of collaboration between the two countries.
The Venetians asserted that they were unable to directly interfere and urged the Mamluk Sultan Qansuh al-Ghuri to act by contacting the Indian princes in Cochin and Kannur to convince them to refrain from trading with the Portuguese and the rulers of Calicut and Cambay (Khambat) to oppose them. As a result, the Venetians and the Mamluks formed an agreement against the Portuguese.
During the League of Cambrai War, there were allegations that the Venetians had given the Mamluks both armaments and expert shipwrights. Nonetheless, the Mamluks had little interest in naval operations. The Mamluks found the battle against the Portuguese, which was mostly a naval conflict, completely foreign and unappealing. The land-minded Mamluk horsemen hated the navy and everything associated with it. However, the Portuguese continued to capture Muslim trading ships and blockade the Red Sea.
The first expedition against the Portuguese was ordered by Qansuh al-Ghuri, the Mamluk Sultan, in 1505. Crews and shipwrights were enlisted from all across the eastern Mediterranean, and the fleet was constructed using lumber and weapons from the Ottoman Empire. Under the leadership of Amir Husain Al-Kurdi, the expedition sailed from Suez to Jeddah in November and fortified the city. The fleet then readied itself for the voyage to Aden. Francisco de Almeida’s 7th Portuguese India Armada was sent into the Indian Ocean at the same time.
After defeating a Muslim fleet in 1506, Afonso de Albuquerque’s second fleet began to invade the Arabian and Horn of Africa shores. The Mamluk-Indian trade nearly collapsed in 1507 when a fleet of roughly 20 Portuguese ships invaded the Red Sea and plundered Indian shipping there. In the same year, the Portuguese made an attempt to use Socotra Island as a base to halt the Mamluk commerce across the Red Sea, but the island was too hostile and ineffectual for that purpose, so they left after only a few months.
The Mamluk fleet of over fifty ships was based at Aden in August and September of 1507, in preparation to sail to India. The Mamluks formed an alliance with the Muslim Gujarat Sultanate, India’s first naval force and they were warmly greeted in Diu.
1508: Battle of Chaul and the geopolitics of the spice trade
A naval conflict between the Portuguese and an Egyptian Mamluk fleet took place at the Indian harbor of Chaul in 1508. The Mamluk emerged victorious in the battle. The development occurred after a Portuguese garrison successfully repelled an attack by Southern Indian rulers at the Siege of Cannanore. Notably, this was Portugal’s first maritime loss in the Indian Ocean.
Although the Portuguese had previously been primarily active in Calicut, the northern part of Gujarat was even more significant for trade and served as a crucial bridge in east-west trade. The Gujaratis were bringing silk from China and spices from the Moluccas, which they then sold to the Arabs and Egyptians. However, the Portuguese’s monopolizing actions were considerably troubling the Indian Ocean trade, endangering both Arab and Venetian interests as it was possible for the Portuguese to undersell the Venetians in the European spice trade.
The Mamluks and the Venetians, their European trading partners, had amassed fortune by controlling the supply of spices from India to Europe. At the start of the sixteenth century, the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt was the principal intermediary between the Indian spice-producing regions and the Venetian purchasers in the Mediterranean. The spices were then sold throughout Europe by the Venetian purchasers at a substantial profit. Egypt’s society was primarily agrarian and had minimal connections to the sea. Portuguese engagement in the Indian Ocean was resisted by the Republic of Venice, which severed diplomatic ties with the country.
They recommended swift and covert action against the Portuguese and dispatched an emissary to the Mamluk court. An emissary had also been dispatched by the Zamorin, the ruler of Calicut, requesting assistance in the fight against the Portuguese. Envoys from the Christian Venetians, the Sultan of Gujarat and the Zamorin of Calicut appealed the Mamluk court in Egypt for aide which only fuelled the critical situation.
Mamluk warriors lacked naval combat experience. Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri, the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt, hence asked for Venetian assistance in return for reducing taxes to foster competition with the Portuguese. Venice also proposed “rapid and secret remedies” against the common foe. The Mamluks received war galleys and Mediterranean-style carracks from Venice, which were manned by Greek troops. Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri, pleaded to Ottoman support as Egyptian Mamluk army lacked naval combat experience and Portuguese raiders frequently assaulted and stole Malabar lumber supply from India.
The Gujarat Sultanate and Calicut received the Egyptian-Ottoman fleet, which the Portuguese referred to as “the rumes.” They first defended Jeddah from a potential Portuguese attack, then proceeded through Aden at the Red Sea’s tip, where the Tahirid Sultan helped them, and finally crossed the Indian Ocean to the port of Diu in 1508.
In November 1505, they departed Suez with 1100 men to oppose Portuguese expansion in the Indian Ocean. Along with quelling rebellion near Suakin and Mecca, they were also instructed to prepare Jeddah against a potential Portuguese offensive. Amir Hussain Al-Kudri, a Kurdish Mamluk and former Jeddah governor, was given command of the expedition. Several Turkish and Ethiopian mercenaries, as well as Venetian gunners, were part of the mission in addition to Egyptians. They arrived in September 1507 in Diu, Gujarat, a city near the mouth of the Gulf of Khambhat.
The battle against the Portuguese was also backed by the Sultan of Gujarat. Gujaratis were the primary long-distance traders in the Indian Ocean and a crucial intermediary in the East-West commerce between Egypt and Malacca, primarily in the sale of spices and textiles, at the time the Portuguese arrived in India. Malik Ayyaz, a former Russian slave, born in Georgia was appointed governor of Diu by the Sultan of Gujarat in the fifteenth century. Ayyaz was a shrewd and practical ruler and transformed the city into Gujarat’s principal port. Amir Hussain Al-Kudri and his expedition arrived in his court in September of 1507. However, contrary to what the Muslim envoys to Egypt had promised, no other Indian subcontinental rulers were prepared to fight the Portuguese, with the exception of the Zamorin of Calicut.
They learned that the Portuguese admiral Lourenco de Almeida had led a convoy to the neighboring port of Chaul while the Muslim armada was resting at Diu. When the Muslim ships arrived in Chaul, Portuguese sailors welcomed them, thinking their contemporary vessels were part of Francisco de Almeida’s fleet. A prudent pilot, however, surveyed the fleet with a telescope and found that their sails were Arab-style, bearing crescents instead of crosses. Before both fleets retreated to their own sides of the river, the Portuguese fleet quickly prepared for battle and successfully repelled the first Muslim onslaught. The Chaul ruler chose to take a neutral stance and support whoever prevailed.
Laurenco, Francisco de Almeida’s son gets killed in the Battle of Chaul, by the Egyptian-Ottoman Muslim navy
Malik Ayyaz and Amir Hussain’s fleet went south in March 1508, when they engaged Portuguese vessels in combat in Chaul’s harbor. The “Battle of Chaul” was won by the Egyptian fleet after three days of combat. The Portuguese commander and captain-major of the Indian seas, Dom Lourenco, was the son of Viceroy Dom Francisco de Almeida. His duties included supervising the loading of allied merchant ships in the Chaul and guiding them back to Cochin. Under his command, the Portuguese had a small force and were outnumbered during the conflict. His body sunk at the entrance of Chaul bay when the battle was renewed. The body of Lourenco was never found.
Technically, the Muslims won after sinking the Portuguese flagship, but the alliance suffered heavily and went back to Diu, while the remainder of the Portuguese fleet managed to escape. The Egyptian navy was too badly damaged to advance on the Portuguese headquarters in Cochin. All that remained for Amir Hussain was to go back to Diu with Malik Ayyaz and get ready for a Portuguese counterattack.
Out of 800 soldiers, he had lost 600 to 700, and the rest of his army now feared European weapons. He declared this battle a huge victory and reported the same to Egypt’s capital, Cairo but gave up on any further initiative on the Indian coast. This fight was defined as a minor skirmish in the “Mirat-i-Sikandari,” a modern Persian history of the Kingdom of Gujarat.
Back in Cochin, Francisco de Almeida vowed to exact revenge for the death of his son and retaliated ruthlessly in the following climacteric encounter. He reportedly stated, “He who ate the chick must also eat the rooster or pay for it,” while grieving alone for three days.
1509: Battle of Diu, where the Portuguese navy clashed with combined forces of Ottomans, Mamluks, Gujarat Sultanate and Calicut
The Portuguese Empire clashed with a combined fleet of the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamluk Burji Sultanate of Egypt, the Zamorin of Calicut with Ottoman support, the Republic of Venice, and the Republic of Ragusa (Dubrovnik) in a fierce, brutal naval combat on 3rd February 1509, in the Arabian Sea, close to the port of Diu with shots being fired from the Portuguese fleet.
This came to be known as the “Battle of Diu” also called the “Second Battle of Chaul.” Its larger backdrop was a trade conflict for spices, but what drove the Portuguese assault was a grieving Francisco de Almeida’s thirst for revenge. The battle was perhaps one of the most significant events of the 1500s. It not only escalated an already intense power struggle, but the result of the battle was to decide who controlled the trade in the Indian Ocean Region for the foreseeable future.
Diu, and for that matter the coast of Khambat was an important location in the Indian spice trade and this well-defended and profitable trading network would have to be broken in order for the Portuguese to try to establish trade with India. Francisco de Almeida had to wait and have his troops ready as the rainy season began. On the King of Portugal’s orders, Afonso de Albuquerque eventually arrived in Cannamore on 6th December 1508, to succeed him. Desiring retribution, he refused to relinquish control and left for Diu with the Portuguese fleet he had gathered three days later, on 9th December.
The Portuguese fleet sailed for Diu on 9th December 1508. They initially assaulted the Konkan port of Dabhol, which was later ruled by the Bijapur Sultans. They killed every resident, including, it is believed, the dogs. They then sacked the crucial port of Chaul and arrived at Mahim, which is now a part of Mumbai, which at that time had been abandoned by its people.
Malik Ayyaz planned his defense and wrote to Francisco de Almeida to pacify him as well as apologise for the death of his son after realizing the impending disaster for his city. He mentioned that he had the captives and that his son had fought valiantly. He also sent a letter from the Portuguese prisoners confirming that they had received good treatment. The Viceroy replied to Malki Ayyaz (known as Meliqueaz in Portuguese), declaring his desire for vengeance and warning them to unite all forces and get ready for battle or he would destroy Diu.
“I the Viceroy say to you, honored Meliqueaz captain of Diu, that I go with my knights to this city of yours, taking the people who were welcomed there, who in Chaul fought my people and killed a man who was called my son, and I come with hope in God of Heaven to take revenge on them and on those who assist them, and if I don’t find them I will take your city, to pay for everything, and you, for the help you have done at Chaul. This I tell you, so that you are well aware that I go, as I am now on this island of Bombay, as he will tell you the one who carries this letter,” reportedly responded.
The Kurdish admiral of the Mamluk-Ottoman fleet believed that the governor of Diu was not entirely dedicated to the cause, creating a trust gap in the Muslim coalition. Leaving Fort Kochi in late 1508, the Portuguese fleet, now consisting of eighteen ships sailed north along the west Indian coast in search of the Ottoman-Mamluk navy. Along the route, they made stops at several ports to either battle adversaries or gather supplies, allowing their warriors to “gain experience.” Mir Hussein Pasha, the Ottoman admiral, anchored his fleet in the port of Diu. He intended to support his fleet from the fort in this harbor, which had its own artillery.
The ruler of Calicut and the Sultan of Gujarat had reinforced the Ottoman-Mamluk navy. These reinforcements were, nevertheless, hardly more than fishing boats, small, shallow-draft craft. The Portuguese navy eventually located the enemy fleet in Diu’s harbor on 2nd February 1509, and was ready to launch an attack the next day. With a dangerously small and shallow channel to negotiate, the Turkish navy was stationed in Diu’s inner port. The Portuguese, however, discovered a native who was around eighteen years old, knew the channel, and promised to assist in return for his release.
The “Battle of Diu” began at approximately 11 am on 3rd February when the incoming tide and the dominant winds were favorable. The Portuguese deployed 18 ships, ranging from a brigantine to five big naus, to go up against up to 200 ships from the Mamluk-Gujarat-Calicut alliance. The Kurdish admiral was in command since the governor of Diu had already moved inland.
Francisco de Almeida commanded 18 ships carrying roughly 1,500 Portuguese soldiers and 400 Cochin native fighters. Only twelve of the 100 ships on the Muslim side were large ships while the remainder were modest, shallow-draught craft. The Egyptians chose to exploit the port of Diu and its fort, which had its own cannon, after spotting the Portuguese, who were coming from Cochin to the north as they were intimidated by the latter’s technological supremacy. Therefore, the decision was made to remain anchored in the port and wait for a Portuguese attack.
After launching a major naval bombardment with their onboard cannon, the Portuguese engaged in hand-to-hand combat in Diu’s harbor to begin the conflict. These Portuguese ships were better manned, better constructed, had superior artillery men and cannons of higher quality. The Portuguese naval infantry also had an advantage over the Egyptians since they were experienced, professional seafarers in addition to being well-armed and equipped (arquebuses, armor, and a kind of clay grenade with gunpowder within).
The Portuguese ships were equipped with arquebuses and crude grenades and had a sizable number of combatants who had been trained for maritime combat. The Turkish fleet marines were mostly archers and wore virtually no armor because they were prepared for combat in the Mediterranean. Additionally, it was nearly hard to board the Portuguese ships because they were higher in the sea. Additionally, any enemy vessel trying to approach them for boarding action could be bombarded by their gun.
The Turkish ships and the artillery batteries defending the harbor were heavily bombarded by the Portuguese. The Portuguese then intervened to confront the enemy after the Turkish and Gujarati ships refused to leave the harbor’s “safety,” as Almeida had predicted. During the next six hours, the Portuguese engaged the enemy ships with full broadsides, grappled and boarded them, and captured two Turkish naus, two Gujarati naus, and the two Turkish gales in brutal hand-to-hand combat, demonstrating the superiority of the state-of-the-art European vessels.
Two Turkish caravelas, two Gujarati naus, and two Turkish naus were also sunk. When the wind started to shift at five o’clock, Almeida gave the order for his fleet, which had not lost any ships despite one of his naus suffering significant damage, to depart the harbor with some of its loot.
In the end, the better ships prevailed
During the preceding decades, the robust, multi-rigged Portuguese carracks and smaller quick caravels were equipped with guns and adapted to withstand the Atlantic Ocean’s storms. The coalition of the Zamorin, Gujarat and Egypt fielded smaller Indian Ocean dhows and galleys of the Mediterranean style, but they were no match. The Portuguese ships were able to deter the smaller craft from approaching them by firing their potent cannons. The smaller galleys and dhows were showered from above with small arms, grenades, and lower caliber artillery, and even when they did approach, they were low in the water and hence unable to board the Portuguese ships.
The Mamluk navy was bombarded by the stronger Portuguese cannon. The scales tipped in favor of Portugal when the Portuguese ship Rei Grande collided with Amir Hussain’s flagship. Zamorin’s light oar ships were kept inside the waterway by Hussain so they could launch a surprise attack. However, the Portuguese foresaw this action and blockaded the waterway, making it impossible for the Zamorin’s fleet to escape and making them a prime target for Portuguese artillery. The whole Mamluk fleet was either destroyed or taken prisoner before the end of the day. Hussain Amir escaped inland.
Aftermath of the battle: ‘Those who rule the seas, will rule the lands’
The Gujarat-Mamluk-Khozikode side suffered horrific losses in the conflict, which ended in a Portuguese victory. Despite their valiant efforts, they were unable to defeat a naval force that was unlike anything they had ever encountered. Following the battle, Malik Ayyaz turned over the Chaul prisoners, who were well-fed and clothed. He was surprised when Almeida, who was leaving his position as viceroy, turned down his offer to let a Portuguese castle be built in Diu. The Portuguese soon pursued this offer fervently and he was able to delay it for as long as he remained governor of Diu.
Three royal flags of the Mamluk Sultan of Cairo were among the loot of the battle which were sent to Portugal and are still on display in the Convento de Cristo, spiritual home of the Templar Knights in the town of Tomar.
The remaining members of the Zamorin’s fleet made it to Calicut. After a protracted voyage, Amir Hussain and twenty-two Mamluks rode away from Diu and made their way back to Cairo. The Portuguese navy spent a few days in the region. The troops taken at the battle of Chaul were returned within an hour of Viceroy Almeida’s demand the next day. He also asked for 300,000 gold xerafins (about 180,000 rupees) as restitution. Although he left a force in the city, Almeida declined the Diu ruler’s offer to cede his port to the Portuguese because he believed it would be too costly to govern even if he left a garrison there. Additionally, the Portuguese detainees from the Battle of Chaul were saved.
The Egyptian prisoners, however, were not so lucky. Almedia was not yet done with his revenge for his son
For the loss of his son, the Viceroy ordered the majority of them to be either burned alive, hanged, or tied to the mouths of the cannons and ripped to pieces. “As long as you may be powerful at sea, you will hold India as yours; and if you do not possess this power, little will avail you a fortress on the shore,” Almeida pronounced, almost as a prophecy.
Thankful that the Europeans did not pillage his city, the ruler of Diu sent them a boat nearly every day, full with lavish presents and “sheep, hens, eggs, oranges, lemons, cabbages, and other food items.”
Almeida sent a necklace of pearls and a brocade tapestry home to the Queen of Portugal as gifts from the victory. The Portuguese navy returned south nine days after the fight which resulted in 32 Portuguese deaths and over 300 injuries. An “even larger” number of enemy casualties were reported in addition to the projected 3,000 enemy deaths.
Interestingly, in November 1509, Almeida left for Portugal after giving his successor, Dom Afonso de Albuquerque, the Viceroy’s position, and merely one month later, he was assassinated by the Khoikhoi tribe in the vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope in Africa.
Portuguese dominance over the Indian Ocean would be Almeida’s legacy, particularly after the Ottomans overthrew the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt in 1517. The Portuguese were followed by the Dutch, English, and French, which some would describe as the beginning of Western European control over the Indian Ocean. The Portuguese-Ottoman rivalry continued after this fight.
A second naval conflict took place thirty years later in 1538 during the Siege of Diu, when the Turks besieged the Portuguese-built fortress with fifty-four ships. The siege was subsequently lifted after the Turks suffered crushing defeats. Ottoman ambitions to increase their power in the Indian Ocean came to an end in 1547 when Suleiman I the Magnificent dispatched his admiral Hussein Pasha to undertake another siege of the fortress at Diu.
The Portuguese victory was crucial because the Mamluks and Arabs withdrew, which made it easier for the Portuguese to control the Indian Ocean and direct trade along the Cape of Good Hope, avoiding the old spice route that the Arabs and Venetians controlled through the Persian Gulf and Red Sea. Key ports in the Indian Ocean, including Goa, Ceylon, Malacca, and Ormuz, were quickly taken by Portugal after the battle, crippling the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and the Gujarat Sultanate. This allowed the Portuguese Empire to grow and set up its dominance in trade for nearly a century until the British East India Company won the Battle of Swally in 1612 and the Dutch-Portuguese War.
The “Battle of Diu” also signified the start of European colonization in Asia and marked the extension of the Christian-Islamic power struggle into the Indian Ocean, which at the time was the most crucial area for global trade, from the Mediterranean Sea and the Middle East. The battle of Diu was both political and commercial, and it resulted in the end of the previous global order and the start of a new one. In many ways, it shaped the world that we see today.
Portugal sold pepper that was bought in Calicut for 4.64 ducats for 80 ducats in Europe. Every middleman profited greatly from the transaction. For example, the pepper that was bought in Calicut for 4.64 ducats was sold for 25 ducats, five times the price, in Alexandria, Egypt, the world’s center of the spice trade. The pepper cost 80 ducats when it arrived in Lisbon, Portugal, after the Venetian traders had sold it for 56 ducats in Venice. Of course, the Portuguese were keen to eliminate all middlemen and establish a direct sea route to India.
However, what began as a trade dispute devolved into a vengeance saga. Dom Francisco even disobeyed Portuguese orders to turn over the charge and return back before finishing his mission. Notably, the battle is just as significant as the Waterloo and Trafalgar battles if not more.
The Portuguese’s superior naval might and weapons were the most crucial factors that guaranteed their victory. Regretfully, the Indian kings had disregarded this, particularly when it came to safeguarding their coastlines and coastal regions, which ultimately cost them dearly.
Indian kings had not thought about naval battles. The Indians at that time, be they Hindus or Muslims, were at a serious tactical disadvantage because they had not developed stronger ships and better cannons. By and large, the Indian cultural narrative was detached from the seas despite having a vast coastline. The same sea that was neglected by generations of kings, eventually was used by European colonisers to rule over us and exploit our lands for centuries to come.
The Portuguese exemplified the exploitation of this vulnerability in such a striking and shocking manner that its repercussions were felt by India for many centuries thereafter. The British East India Company, founded in 1600, also adopted a similar policy and brought the English to India as traders. They first wished to make money in England by trading in tea, opium, cotton, spices, and indigo dye. However, they were also European imperialists who sought to exploit Indian resources to propel their own growth. When they came, they too had better ships and better plans.
