BATTLE OF DIU(1509)
BATTLE OF DIU(1509)
Brief Intro:
The Battle of Diu was a neval battle fought on 3 February 1509 in the Arabian sea ,in the port of Diu,India , between the Portuguese Empire and a joint fleet of the sultan of Gujarat , the Mamluk Burji Sultanate of Egypt,the Zamorin of Calicut with support of Republic of venice.
Background:
# Just two years after Vasco da Gama reached India by sea ,the Portuguese realized that the prospect of developing trade .
#When king Manual I of Portugal received news of the victory of Portuguese ,he decided to nominate Dom Francisco de Almeida as the first viceroy of India .
#Portuguese intervention was seriously disrupting Muslim trade in the Indian ocean , threatening Venetian interests as well, as the Portuguese become able to undersell the Venetians in the spice trade in Europe .
#Unable to oppose the Portuguese,the Muslim communities of traders in India as well as the sovereign of Calicut, the Zamorin, sent envoys to Egypt pleading for aid against the Portuguese.
#Venice broke diplomatic relations with Portugal and started looking for away to counter its intervention in the Indian ocean,sending an ambassador to the Mamluk court in Egypt.
#Mamluk solders had little expertise in naval warfare, so the mamluk sultan, Al-Asharf Qansuh al-Ghawri requested vanetian support.
#The flect left suez in November 1505, 1100 men strong. They were ordered to fortify Jeddah against a possible Portuguese attack. Hance only in September 1507 did they reach Diu .
#The Portuguese,under Lourence de Almeida,son of the viceroy Francisco de Almeida took the command .
#The Mamluks sailed into Chaul and fought for two days inconclusively with the Portuguese.
#The Portuguese had to retreat and Almeida's ship was sunk at the entrance of Chaul harbour with Almeida aboard .
#The Portuguese later returned and attacked the flect in the harbour of Diu, leading to a decisive victory in the Battle of Diu (1509).
The Beginning:
#Before they depart through ,on 6 december 1508 Afonso de Albuquerque arrived in Cannanore. On 9 december,the Portuguese fleet departed for Diu .
# From Cochin ,the Portuguese first passed by Calicut,hoping to intercept the Zamorin's fleet ,but it had already left for Diu .In Honavar , the Portuguese met with Timoja himself,who informed the viceroy of enemy movements.
#From Angediva , the Portuguese set sail to Dabul, an important fortified port city belonging to the sultSulta fo Bijapur , From Dabul , the Portuguese called at Chaul.
Battle Starts :
#As the wind turned by about 11:00am , the royal banner was hoisted atop the Flor do Mar and a single short fired , signaling the start of the Battle .
# Hussain had strengthened his forces with a great number of Gujarati soldirs ,distributed across the ships , and the heavily armoured Portuguese infantry suddenly risked being overwhelmed.
#Up on the crow's nests , Ethiopians and Turkish bowmen proved their worth against Portuguese matchlock crews.
#Throughout the course of the Battle , the Flor do Mar fired over 600 shorts . Eventually, only a single ship remained . It took a continuous bombardment from the whole fleet to finally sink it by dusk , thus marking the end of the Battle of Diu.
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