Turkish-Portuguese War (1538–1557)
Encyclopedia
The second Ottoman-Portuguese War (1538–1557) was an armed military conflict between the Portuguese Empire
and the Ottoman Empire
, into the Indian Ocean
, the Red Sea
and in East Africa
.
This war took place upon the backdrop of the Ethiopian-Adal War
. Ethiopia had been invaded in 1529 by Adal
ite Imam Ahmed Gargn
. Portuguese help, which was first asked by Emperor Lebna Dengel
in 1520 to help defeat Adal while it was weak, finally arrived in Mitsiwa
on February 10, 1541, during the reign of Emperor Galawdewos
. The force was led by Cristóvão da Gama
(second son of Vasco da Gama
) and included 400 musketeers and few Portuguese cavalry as well as a number of artisans and other non-combatants.
An Ottoman legion (musketeer's, and some guns) had already been fighting alongside the Adalite army for some time, and with the arrival of the Portuguese, the Ottomans sent reinforcements: 2000 Arabian musketeer, 900 Turkish pikemen
, 1000 Turkish foot musketeer
s, some Shqiptar
foot soldiers (with muskets) and Turkish horsemen.
Major hostilities between Portugal and the Ottoman Empire began in 1538, where the Ottomans with 54 ships laid siege to Diu, which had been built by the Portuguese in 1535. The Ottoman fleet was led by Sulejman I
's emissary Hussein Paşa, however the attack was not successful and the siege was lifted.
The Portuguese under Estêvão da Gama (first son of Vasco da Gama) attacking the Ottoman fleet near Suez
Harbor, leaving Goa
December 31, 1540 and reaching Aden
January 27, 1541. The fleet reached Massawa
(February 12), where Gama left a number of ships and continued north. Reaching Suez, he discovered that the Ottomen long known of his raid, and foiled his attempt to burn the beached ships. Gama was forced to retrace his steps to Massawa, although pausing to attack the port of El-Tor
(Sinai Peninsula).
On February, 1542, in his first encounter with the Muslim forces at the Battle of Baçente
Cristóvão da Gama was able to soundly defeat an Ottoman and Adalite contingent. The Portuguese were again victorious at the Battle of Jarte
. However, in the Battle of Wofla
, Adal and Ottoman forces were victorious and Gama was captured and killed upon his refusal to convert to Islam.
Gelawdewos was eventually able to reorganize his forces and absorb the remaining Portuguese ones and defeated Gragn (who was killed) at the Battle of Wayna Daga
, marking the end of the war (although warfare would resume not long after, at a much diminished scale).
Diu repeatedly became a focal point of Portuguese and Ottoman naval combat and the Portuguese navy several times defeated the Ottoman fleet near Diu (1541, 1545, 1549).
Elsewhere in the Indian Ocean naval combat was also intense. In 1547 the Admiral Piri Reis
command of the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet in the Indian Ocean and on 26 February 1548 recaptured Aden
, in 1552 Bandar Abbas
and Masqat
(Muscat). Turning further east, Piri captured the island of Hormuz
in the Strait of Hormuz
, at the entrance of the Persian Gulf
. But the Portuguese were able to successfully defend Bahrain
, and in 1556 the Ottoman fleet was destroyed by a storm near Gujarat.
In 1557, however, after the (nominal only) declaration of a province of Habesh
("Abyssinia", i.e. Ethiopia), Ottoman forces invaded Ethiopia and were able to capture the important port of Massawa, beginning the Ethiopian-Ottoman War.
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...
and 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...
, into 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...
, 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 in East Africa
East Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
.
This war took place upon the backdrop of the Ethiopian-Adal War
Ethiopian-Adal War
The Ethiopian–Adal War was a military conflict between the Ethiopian Empire and the Adal Sultanate from 1529 until 1559. The Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi came close to extinguishing the ancient realm of Ethiopia, and converting all of its subjects to Islam; the intervention of the...
. Ethiopia had been invaded in 1529 by Adal
Adal
- Places :*Ådal, valley and former municipality in Buskerud county, Norway*Illerup Ådal, archeological site in Denmark*Adal Sultanate, former sultanate and geographic region in Northeast Africa**Adal , breed of sheep from Ethiopia**F. C...
ite Imam Ahmed Gargn
Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi
Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi "the Conqueror" was an Imam and General of Adal who invaded Ethiopia and defeated several Ethiopian emperors, wreaking much damage on that kingdom...
. Portuguese help, which was first asked by Emperor Lebna Dengel
Dawit II of Ethiopia
Dawit II , enthroned as Emperor Anbasa Segad , better known by his birth name Lebna Dengel was of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty...
in 1520 to help defeat Adal while it was weak, finally arrived in Mitsiwa
Massawa
Massawa, also known as Mitsiwa Massawa, also known as Mitsiwa Massawa, also known as Mitsiwa (Ge'ez ምጽዋዕ , formerly ባጽዕ is a city on the Red Sea coast of Eritrea. An important port for many centuries, it was ruled by a succession of polities, including the Axumite Empire, the Umayyad Caliphate,...
on February 10, 1541, during the reign of Emperor Galawdewos
Gelawdewos of Ethiopia
Gelawdewos was Emperor Gelawdewos (Ge'ez ገላውዴዎስ galāwdēwōs, modern gelāwdēwōs, "Claudius"; 1521/1522 - March 23, 1559) was Emperor Gelawdewos (Ge'ez ገላውዴዎስ galāwdēwōs, modern gelāwdēwōs, "Claudius"; 1521/1522 - March 23, 1559) was Emperor (throne name Asnaf Sagad I (Ge'ez አጽናፍ ሰገድ aṣnāf sagad,...
. The force was led by Cristóvão da Gama
Cristovão da Gama
Cristóvão da Gama was a Portuguese soldier, who led a Portuguese army of 400 musketeers on a crusade in Ethiopia and Somalia against the far larger Somali Muslim army of Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi aided by the Ottoman Empire...
(second son of Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India...
) and included 400 musketeers and few Portuguese cavalry as well as a number of artisans and other non-combatants.
An Ottoman legion (musketeer's, and some guns) had already been fighting alongside the Adalite army for some time, and with the arrival of the Portuguese, the Ottomans sent reinforcements: 2000 Arabian musketeer, 900 Turkish pikemen
Pike (weapon)
A pike is a pole weapon, a very long thrusting spear used extensively by infantry both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as a counter-measure against cavalry assaults. Unlike many similar weapons, the pike is not intended to be thrown. Pikes were used regularly in European warfare from the...
, 1000 Turkish foot musketeer
Musketeer
A musketeer was an early modern type of infantry soldier equipped with a musket. Musketeers were an important part of early modern armies, particularly in Europe. They sometimes could fight on horseback, like a dragoon or a cavalryman...
s, some Shqiptar
Albanians
Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
foot soldiers (with muskets) and Turkish horsemen.
Major hostilities between Portugal and the Ottoman Empire began in 1538, where the Ottomans with 54 ships laid siege to Diu, which had been built by the Portuguese in 1535. The Ottoman fleet was led by Sulejman I
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...
's emissary Hussein Paşa, however the attack was not successful and the siege was lifted.
The Portuguese under Estêvão da Gama (first son of Vasco da Gama) attacking the Ottoman fleet near Suez
Suez
Suez is a seaport city in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez , near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boundaries as Suez governorate. It has three harbors, Adabya, Ain Sokhna and Port Tawfiq, and extensive port facilities...
Harbor, leaving Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
December 31, 1540 and reaching 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...
January 27, 1541. The fleet reached Massawa
Massawa
Massawa, also known as Mitsiwa Massawa, also known as Mitsiwa Massawa, also known as Mitsiwa (Ge'ez ምጽዋዕ , formerly ባጽዕ is a city on the Red Sea coast of Eritrea. An important port for many centuries, it was ruled by a succession of polities, including the Axumite Empire, the Umayyad Caliphate,...
(February 12), where Gama left a number of ships and continued north. Reaching Suez, he discovered that the Ottomen long known of his raid, and foiled his attempt to burn the beached ships. Gama was forced to retrace his steps to Massawa, although pausing to attack the port of El-Tor
El-Tor
El-Tor , also transliterated as Al-Tur and At-Tur and known as Tur Sinai, formerly Raithu, is the capital of South Sinai Governorate of Egypt, located at the Sinai Peninsula...
(Sinai Peninsula).
On February, 1542, in his first encounter with the Muslim forces at the Battle of Baçente
Battle of Baçente
The Battle of Baçente was fought on February 2, 1542 when a Portuguese army under Cristóvão da Gama took a hillfort held by Muslim forces in northern Ethiopia...
Cristóvão da Gama was able to soundly defeat an Ottoman and Adalite contingent. The Portuguese were again victorious at the Battle of Jarte
Battle of Jarte
The Battle of Jarte was fought from April 4 to April 16, 1542 between the forces of Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi and a Portuguese expeditionary force fighting on behalf of the Ethiopian Empire. The Portuguese were led by Cristóvão da Gama. The Portuguese were victorious....
. However, in the Battle of Wofla
Battle of Wofla
The Battle of Wofla was fought on August 28, 1542 near Lake Ashenge in Wofla in the modern Ethiopian Region of Tigray , between the Portuguese under Cristóvão da Gama and the forces of Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi...
, Adal and Ottoman forces were victorious and Gama was captured and killed upon his refusal to convert to Islam.
Gelawdewos was eventually able to reorganize his forces and absorb the remaining Portuguese ones and defeated Gragn (who was killed) at the Battle of Wayna Daga
Battle of Wayna Daga
The Battle of Wayna Daga occurred 21 February 1543 east of Lake Tana in Ethiopia. Led by the Emperor Galawdewos, the combined army of Ethiopian and Portuguese troops defeated the Muslim army led by Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi. Tradition states that Ahmad was killed by a Portuguese musketeer,...
, marking the end of the war (although warfare would resume not long after, at a much diminished scale).
Diu repeatedly became a focal point of Portuguese and Ottoman naval combat and the Portuguese navy several times defeated the Ottoman fleet near Diu (1541, 1545, 1549).
Elsewhere in the Indian Ocean naval combat was also intense. In 1547 the Admiral Piri Reis
Piri Reis
Piri Reis was an Turkish Ottoman admiral, geographer and cartographer born between 1465 and 1470 and died in 1554 or 1555....
command of the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet in the Indian Ocean and on 26 February 1548 recaptured 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...
, in 1552 Bandar Abbas
Bandar Abbas
Bandar-Abbas or Bandar-e ‘Abbās , also Romanized as Bandar ‘Abbās, Bandar ‘Abbāsī, and Bandar-e ‘Abbās; formerly known as Cambarão and Port Comorão to Portuguese traders, as Gombroon to English traders and as Gamrun or Gumrun to Dutch merchants) is a port city and capital of Hormozgān Province on...
and Masqat
Muscat, Oman
Muscat is the capital of Oman. It is also the seat of government and largest city in the Governorate of Muscat. As of 2008, the population of the Muscat metropolitan area was 1,090,797. The metropolitan area spans approximately and includes six provinces called wilayats...
(Muscat). Turning further east, Piri captured the island of Hormuz
Hormuz Island
Hormuz Island , also spelled Hormoz, is an Iranian island in the Persian Gulf. It is located in the Strait of Hormuz and is part of the Hormozgān Province.-Geography:...
in the Strait of Hormuz
Strait of Hormuz
The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow, strategically important waterway between the Gulf of Oman in the southeast and the Persian Gulf. On the north coast is Iran and on the south coast is the United Arab Emirates and Musandam, an exclave of Oman....
, at the entrance of the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
. But the Portuguese were able to successfully defend Bahrain
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
, and in 1556 the Ottoman fleet was destroyed by a storm near Gujarat.
In 1557, however, after the (nominal only) declaration of a province of Habesh
Habesh
Habesh Eyalet was an Ottoman eyalet that bordered the Red Sea. It comprised Massawa, Hergigo, Suakin and their hinterlands. Later it would also incorporate Zeila and western Somaliland...
("Abyssinia", i.e. Ethiopia), Ottoman forces invaded Ethiopia and were able to capture the important port of Massawa, beginning the Ethiopian-Ottoman War.