Ottoman expedition to Aceh
Encyclopedia
The Ottoman expedition to Aceh was started from around 1565 when the Ottoman Empire
endeavoured to support the Aceh Sultanate
in its fight against the Portuguese Empire
in Malacca
. The expedition followed an envoy sent by the Acehnese Sultan Alauddin Riayat Syah al-Kahhar
(1539–71) to Suleiman the Magnificent
in 1564, and possibly as early as 1562, requesting Ottoman support against the Portuguese.
alliance had existed since at least the 1530s. Sultan Alauddin wished to develop these relations, both to attempt the expulsion of the Portuguese in Malacca, and to extend his own power in Sumatra
. According to accounts written by the Portuguese Admiral Fernão Mendes Pinto
, the Ottoman Empire
fleet that first arrived in Aceh consisted of 300 Ottomans, Swahili
s and Afar
s from Djibouti
, Sindhi
s from Debal
and Thatta
, Gujarati
s from Surat
, and some 200 Malabar
sailors of Janjira to aid the Batak
region and the Maritime Southeast Asia
in 1539.
Following the 1562 embassy, Aceh appears to have already received Ottoman reinforcements that built its capacity and allowed it to conquer the Sultanates of Aru
and Johor
in 1564.
.
After the death of Suleiman the Magnificent in 1566, his son Selim II
ordered that ships be sent to Aceh. A number of soldiers, gunsmiths and engineers were sent in an Ottoman fleet, together with ample supplies of weapons and ammunition. A first fleet was sent, consisting of 15 galleys equipped with artillery. It had to be diverted to fight an uprising in Yemen
. Only two ships eventually arrived in 1566–67, but numerous other fleets and shipments would follow. The first expedition was led by Kurtoğlu Hızır Reis
. The Acehnese paid for the shipments in pearls, diamonds and rubies. In 1568, they (the Acehnese), besieged Malacca
, although the Ottomans do not seem to have participated directly. It seems however that the Ottomans were able to supply cannonneers for the campaign, but were unable to provide more due to the ongoing invasion of Cyprus
and an uprising in Aden
.
The Ottomans taught the Acehnese how to forge their own cannon
, some of which reached considerable size; the craft of making such weapons had spread throughout the Maritime Southeast Asia. Famous cannons were made in Makassar
, Mataram
, Java
, Minangkabau, Melaka and Brunei
. Many of these rare artillery pieces were captured by the European colonialists, the bells of several Dutch churches in Aceh were made from melted Ottoman weapons. Some of these bells still carry the Ottoman crest which were originally on the barrels. By the beginning of the 17th century, Aceh boasted about 1200 medium-sized bronze cannons, and about 800 other weapons such as breech-loading swivel gun
s and arquebus
es.
The relationship between Aceh and the Ottoman Empire was a major threat to the Portuguese and prevented them establishing a monopolistic trade position in the Indian Ocean. Aceh was a major commercial adversary for the Portuguese, especially during the reign of Iskandar Muda
, who had a well equipped arsenal of 1200 cannons and 800 swivel-guns and muskets, possibly controlling more of the spice trade than the Portuguese; the Portuguese tried to destroy the Aceh–Ottoman–Venetian trade axis for their own benefit. The Portuguese established plans to attack the Red Sea
and Aceh, but failed due to a lack of manpower in the Indian Ocean
.
When Aceh was attacked by the Dutch
in 1873, triggering the Aceh War
, the region invoked the protection of its earlier agreement with the Ottoman Empire as one of its dependencies. The claim was rejected by Western powers who feared a precedent being set. Once again Aceh requested military reinforcements from the Ottomans, but the tasked fleet originally designated to help was diverted to Yemen
to suppress the Zaidi rebellion there.
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
endeavoured to support the Aceh Sultanate
Aceh Sultanate
The Sultanate of Aceh, officially the Kingdom of Aceh Darussalam was a sultanate centered in the modern area of Aceh Province, Sumatra, Indonesia, which was a major regional power in the 16th and 17th centuries, before experiencing a long period of decline...
in its fight against the Portuguese Empire
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...
in Malacca
Malacca
Malacca , dubbed The Historic State or Negeri Bersejarah among locals) is the third smallest Malaysian state, after Perlis and Penang. It is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. It borders Negeri Sembilan to the north and the state of Johor to the south...
. The expedition followed an envoy sent by the Acehnese Sultan Alauddin Riayat Syah al-Kahhar
Alauddin al-Kahar
Alauddin Riayat Syah al-Kahar was the third sultan of Aceh, and was one of the sultanate's strongest warriors. He succeeded his brother Salahuddin in 1537 or 1539 in a royal coup...
(1539–71) to Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the East, as "The Lawgiver" , for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system...
in 1564, and possibly as early as 1562, requesting Ottoman support against the Portuguese.
Ottoman-Aceh relations
An informal Ottoman-AcehAceh
Aceh is a special region of Indonesia, located on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra. Its full name is Daerah Istimewa Aceh , Nanggroë Aceh Darussalam and Aceh . Past spellings of its name include Acheh, Atjeh and Achin...
alliance had existed since at least the 1530s. Sultan Alauddin wished to develop these relations, both to attempt the expulsion of the Portuguese in Malacca, and to extend his own power in Sumatra
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
. According to accounts written by the Portuguese Admiral Fernão Mendes Pinto
Fernão Mendes Pinto
Fernão Mendes Pinto was a Portuguese explorer and writer. His exploits are known through the posthumous publication of his memoir Pilgrimage in 1614, an autobiographical work whose truthfulness is nearly impossible to assess...
, the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
fleet that first arrived in Aceh consisted of 300 Ottomans, Swahili
Swahili people
The Swahili people are a Bantu ethnic group and culture found in East Africa, mainly in the coastal regions and the islands of Kenya, Tanzania and north Mozambique. According to JoshuaProject, the Swahili number in at around 1,328,000. The name Swahili is derived from the Arabic word Sawahil,...
s and Afar
Afar
Afar may refer to:*Afar people, ethnic group principally residing in Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia*Afar Insurgency, alternative name for the Djiboutian Civil War of November 1991-December 1994*Afar Triangle, a geological depression near the Horn of Africa...
s from Djibouti
Djibouti
Djibouti , officially the Republic of Djibouti , is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east...
, Sindhi
Sindhi people
Sindhis are a Sindhi speaking socio-ethnic group of people originating from Sindh, a province Formerly of British India, now in Pakistan. Today Sindhis that live in Pakistan belong to various religious denominations including Islam, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Sikhism and Christianity...
s from Debal
Debal
-Introduction:Debal was an ancient port located near modern Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. In Arabic, it was usually called Daybul it is adjacent to the nearby Manora Island and was administered by Mansura, and later Thatta....
and Thatta
Thatta
Thatta is a historic town of 220,000 inhabitants in the Sindh province of Pakistan, near Lake Keenjhar, the largest freshwater lake in the country. Thatta's major monuments especially its necropolis at Makli are listed among the World Heritage Sites. The Shah Jahan Mosque is also listed...
, Gujarati
Gujarati people
Gujarati people , or Gujaratis are an ethnic group that is traditionally Gujarati-speaking and can trace their ancestry to the state of Gujarat in western India...
s from Surat
Surat
Surat , also known as Suryapur, is the commercial capital city of the Indian state of Gujarat. Surat is India's Eighth most populous city and Ninth-most populous urban agglomeration. It is also administrative capital of Surat district and one of the fastest growing cities in India. The city proper...
, and some 200 Malabar
Malabars
Malabars is an appellation originating from the colonial era that was used by Westerners to refer to all the people of South India...
sailors of Janjira to aid the Batak
Batak (Indonesia)
Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia. The term is used to include the Toba, Karo, Pakpak, Simalungun, Angkola and Mandailing, each of which are distinct but related groups with distinct, albeit related, languages and...
region and the Maritime Southeast Asia
Maritime Southeast Asia
Maritime Southeast Asia refers to the maritime region of Southeast Asia as opposed to mainland Southeast Asia and includes the modern countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, East Timor and Singapore....
in 1539.
Following the 1562 embassy, Aceh appears to have already received Ottoman reinforcements that built its capacity and allowed it to conquer the Sultanates of Aru
Sultanate of Deli
Deli is a 1,820 km² state in east Sumatra founded in 1630. A tributary kingdom from 1630 until 1814, the state became a sultanate in 1814 when acquiring independence from Sultanate of Siak....
and Johor
Johor Sultanate
The Sultanate of Johor was founded by Malaccan Sultan Mahmud Shah's son, Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah II in 1528. Johor was part of the Malaccan Sultanate before the Portuguese conquered Malacca's capital in 1511...
in 1564.
Ottoman expeditions
The 1564 embassy to Constantinople was sent by Sultan Hussain Ali Riayat Syah. In his missive to the Ottoman Porte, the Sultan of Aceh referred to the Ottoman ruler as Khalifah (Caliph) of IslamIslam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
.
After the death of Suleiman the Magnificent in 1566, his son Selim II
Selim II
Selim II Sarkhosh Hashoink , also known as "Selim the Sot " or "Selim the Drunkard"; and as "Sarı Selim" or "Selim the Blond", was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1566 until his death in 1574.-Early years:He was born in Constantinople a son of Suleiman the...
ordered that ships be sent to Aceh. A number of soldiers, gunsmiths and engineers were sent in an Ottoman fleet, together with ample supplies of weapons and ammunition. A first fleet was sent, consisting of 15 galleys equipped with artillery. It had to be diverted to fight an uprising in Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
. Only two ships eventually arrived in 1566–67, but numerous other fleets and shipments would follow. The first expedition was led by Kurtoğlu Hızır Reis
Kurtoglu Hizir Reis
Kurtoğlu Hızır Reis was an Ottoman admiral who is best known for commanding the Ottoman naval expedition to Sumatra in Indonesia .-Background and family origins:...
. The Acehnese paid for the shipments in pearls, diamonds and rubies. In 1568, they (the Acehnese), besieged Malacca
Siege of Malacca (1568)
A Siege of Malacca occurred in 1568, when the Sultan of Aceh Alaal-Din attacked the Portuguese-held city of Malacca. The city had been held by the Portuguese since its conquest by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1511....
, although the Ottomans do not seem to have participated directly. It seems however that the Ottomans were able to supply cannonneers for the campaign, but were unable to provide more due to the ongoing invasion of Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
and an uprising in Aden
Aden
Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...
.
The Ottomans taught the Acehnese how to forge their own cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
, some of which reached considerable size; the craft of making such weapons had spread throughout the Maritime Southeast Asia. Famous cannons were made in Makassar
Makassar
Makassar, is the provincial capital of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and the largest city on Sulawesi Island. From 1971 to 1999, the city was named Ujung Pandang, after a precolonial fort in the city, and the two names are often used interchangeably...
, Mataram
Mataram (city)
Mataram is the capital of the Province of West Nusa Tenggara . The city is situated within Lombok Barat Regency and lies on the western side of the island of Lombok, Indonesia...
, Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
, Minangkabau, Melaka and Brunei
Brunei
Brunei , officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace , is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia...
. Many of these rare artillery pieces were captured by the European colonialists, the bells of several Dutch churches in Aceh were made from melted Ottoman weapons. Some of these bells still carry the Ottoman crest which were originally on the barrels. By the beginning of the 17th century, Aceh boasted about 1200 medium-sized bronze cannons, and about 800 other weapons such as breech-loading swivel gun
Breech-loading swivel gun
A breech-loading swivel gun was a particular type of swivel gun and a small breech-loading cannon invented in the 14th century. It was equipped with a swivel for easy rotation and was loaded by inserting a mug-shaped device called a chamber, pre-filled with gunpowder and projectiles...
s and arquebus
Arquebus
The arquebus , or "hook tube", is an early muzzle-loaded firearm used in the 15th to 17th centuries. The word was originally modeled on the German hakenbüchse; this produced haquebute...
es.
Consequences
These expeditions led to an increase of exchanges between Aceh and the Ottoman Empire in the military, commercial, cultural and religious fields. Subsequent Acehnese rulers continued exchanges with the Ottoman Empire, Acehnese ships seem to have been allowed to fly the Ottoman flag.The relationship between Aceh and the Ottoman Empire was a major threat to the Portuguese and prevented them establishing a monopolistic trade position in the Indian Ocean. Aceh was a major commercial adversary for the Portuguese, especially during the reign of Iskandar Muda
Iskandar Muda
Iskandar Muda was the twelfth Sultan of Aceh, under whom the sultanate achieved its greatest territorial extent, and was the strongest power and wealthiest state in the western Indonesian archipelago and the Strait of Malacca. "Iskandar Muda" literally means "young Alexander," and his conquests...
, who had a well equipped arsenal of 1200 cannons and 800 swivel-guns and muskets, possibly controlling more of the spice trade than the Portuguese; the Portuguese tried to destroy the Aceh–Ottoman–Venetian trade axis for their own benefit. The Portuguese established plans to attack the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
and Aceh, but failed due to a lack of manpower in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
.
When Aceh was attacked by the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
in 1873, triggering the Aceh War
Aceh War
The Aceh War, also known as the Dutch War or the Infidel War , was an armed military conflict between the Sultanate of Aceh and the Netherlands which was triggered by discussions between representatives of Aceh and the U.S. in Singapore during early 1873...
, the region invoked the protection of its earlier agreement with the Ottoman Empire as one of its dependencies. The claim was rejected by Western powers who feared a precedent being set. Once again Aceh requested military reinforcements from the Ottomans, but the tasked fleet originally designated to help was diverted to Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
to suppress the Zaidi rebellion there.