The Battle of Barawa was an armed military encounter between the

Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the ...

and the

Ajuran Sultanate The Ajuran Sultanate ( so, Saldanadda Ajuuraan, ar, سلطنة الأجورانية), also natively referred-to as Ajuuraan, and often simply Ajuran, was a Somali Empire in the Middle Ages in the Horn of Africa that dominated the trade in th ...

, in the city of

Barawa Barawa ( so, Baraawe, Maay: ''Barawy'', ar, ﺑﺮﺍﻭة ''Barāwa''), also known as Barawe and Brava, is the capital of the South West State of Somalia.Pelizzari, Elisa. "Guerre civile et question de genre en Somalie. Les événements et le ...

. The Portuguese staged a landing and achieved their objectives of sacking the city.

Battle

In February 1507, an armada of 16 ships commanded by Tristão da Cunha and assisted by Afonso de Albuquerque docked at

Malindi Malindi is a town on Malindi Bay at the mouth of the Sabaki River, lying on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. It is 120 kilometres northeast of Mombasa. The population of Malindi was 119,859 as of the 2019 census. It is the largest urban cent ...

, en route to India via the island of

Socotra Socotra or Soqotra (; ar, سُقُطْرَىٰ ; so, Suqadara) is an island of the Republic of Yemen in the Indian Ocean, under the ''de facto'' control of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council, a secessionist participant in Yemen’ ...

. The King of Malindi had been a faithful vassal of the Portuguese since the maiden voyage of Vasco da Gama to India in 1497, and at that instance, the King requested assistance from the Portuguese against the hostile cities of Oja, Lamu and Barawa. Oja was sacked and Lamu was subjugated without a fight. Upon reaching Barawa, the Portuguese first offered the city the chance to submit without a fight, which was refused. The Portuguese made ready to assault the city, and reported that its defences included a wall and 4,000 men ready to fight. The following morning, Tristão da Cunha and Afonso de Albuquerque led two assault groups ashore. 2,000 men sallied forth to fight the Portuguese on the beach, but were driven back to the city. Coming under attack from fire arrows, the Portuguese scaled the wall at a weak point and the defenses were breached. Many inhabitants fled, but those who remained perished in the fight. The city was then sacked and put to the torch, while the survivors watched from afar. Afterwards the Portuguese proceeded to Socotra Island. After the attack, the city of Barawa was quickly rebuilt..

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*{{cite book, last1=Osório, first1=Jerónimo, author1-link=Jerónimo Osório, translator-last=Gibbs, translator-first=James, date=1752, orig-date=original 16th century, title=The History of the Portuguese, During the Reign of Emmanuel, location=London, publisher=Printed for A. Millar, url=https://archive.org/stream/historyofportugu01os Ajuran Sultanate Conflicts in 1506 Medieval Somalia Battles involving Portugal 1507 in the Portuguese Empire

Battle

See also

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