Portuguese–Safavid Wars
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The Portuguese–Safavid wars or Persian-Portuguese wars were a series of wars between the
Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire was a colonial empire that existed between 1415 and 1999. In conjunction with the Spanish Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It achieved a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas, Africa ...
and
Safavid Iran The Guarded Domains of Iran, commonly called Safavid Iran, Safavid Persia or the Safavid Empire, was one of the largest and longest-lasting Iranian empires. It was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often considered the begi ...
from 1507 to 1625. The Portuguese were also supported by
Kingdom of Hormuz The Kingdom of Ormus (also known as Hormoz or Hormuz; ; ) was located in the eastern side of the Persian Gulf and extended as far as Bahrain in the west at its zenith. The Kingdom was established in the 11th century initially as a dependency of ...
, its
vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...
, and Safavids had the help of the
Kingdom of England The Kingdom of England was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from the late 9th century, when it was unified from various Heptarchy, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland to f ...
on the other side. During this era, Portugal established its rule for about more than a century in Hormuz and more than 80 years in
Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...
, capturing some other islands and ports such as
Qeshm Qeshm (Persian language: قشم) is an arrow-shaped Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz of the Persian Gulf (), measuring roughly 1,500 square kilometres (576 square miles) in surface area. Separated from the Iranian mainland by the Claren ...
and
Bandar Abbas Bandar Abbas (, ) is a city in the Central District of Bandar Abbas County, Hormozgan province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. Bandar Abbas is a port on the southern coast of the country, on the Persian ...
. The conflict came to an end when the Persian
shah Shāh (; ) is a royal title meaning "king" in the Persian language.Yarshater, Ehsa, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII, no. 1 (1989) Though chiefly associated with the monarchs of Iran, it was also used to refer to the leaders of numerous Per ...
Abbas I (), conquered Portuguese Bahrain, forcing them to war in the
Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...
. In September 1507, the Portuguese
Afonso de Albuquerque Afonso de Albuquerque, 1st Duke of Goa ( – 16 December 1515), was a Portuguese general, admiral, statesman and ''conquistador''. He served as viceroy of Portuguese India from 1509 to 1515, during which he expanded Portuguese influence across ...
landed on the Hormuz. Portugal occupied Hormuz from 1515 to 1622. As a vassal of the Portuguese state, the Kingdom of Hormuz jointly participated in the 1521 invasion of Bahrain that ended
Jabrid The Jabrids () or Banu Jabr were an Arab dynasty that ruled all of Arabia except for Hejaz, parts of Oman and Yemen, and expanded into Iran's southern coast, controlling the Strait of Hormuz. Prominence Their most prominent ruler was Ajwad ibn ...
rule over the islands in the Persian Gulf. After the Portuguese made several abortive attempts to seize control of
Basra Basra () is a port city in Iraq, southern Iraq. It is the capital of the eponymous Basra Governorate, as well as the List of largest cities of Iraq, third largest city in Iraq overall, behind Baghdad and Mosul. Located near the Iran–Iraq bor ...
, the
pasha Pasha (; ; ) was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignitary, dignitaries, and others. ''Pasha'' was also one of the highest titles in the 20th-century Kingdom of ...
asked for protection against the Safavid ruler Abbas I, from then on Portuguese stayed in the city and region as traders with a
factory A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...
and as protector allied army. Later in 1622 the Safavid conquered Hormuz with the help of the English, and tried to expel the Portuguese from the rest of the Persian Gulf, with the exception of the Gulf of Oman. The Portuguese were for the next decades as allies of Afrasiyab, the pasha of Basra, against the Safavids who failed several times to conquer the city of Basra.


Capture of Hormuz by Portuguese

The capture of Hormuz was a result of a plan by
Manuel I Manuel I may refer to: *Manuel I Komnenos Manuel I Komnenos (; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Latinized as Comnenus, also called Porphyrogenitus (; " born in the purple"), was a Byzantine emperor of the 12th century who reigned ov ...
() who in 1505 had resolved to thwart Muslim trade in the Indian Ocean by capturing
Aden Aden () is a port city located in Yemen in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Aden, positioned near the eastern approach to the Red Sea. It is situated approximately 170 km (110 mi) east of ...
, to block trade through
Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...
; Hormuz, to block trade through
Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...
; and
Malacca Malacca (), officially the Historic State of Malacca (), is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia located in the Peninsular Malaysia#Other features, southern region of the Malay Peninsula, facing the Strait of Malacca ...
to control trade with
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. A fleet under
Tristão da Cunha Tristão da Cunha (sometimes misspelled Tristão d'Acunha; ; c. 1460 – c. 1540) was a Portuguese explorer and naval commander. In 1514, he served as ambassador from King Manuel I of Portugal to Pope Leo X, leading a luxurious embassy present ...
was sent to capture the Muslim fort on
Socotra Socotra, locally known as Saqatri, is a Yemeni island in the Indian Ocean. Situated between the Guardafui Channel and the Arabian Sea, it lies near major shipping routes. Socotra is the largest of the six islands in the Socotra archipelago as ...
in order to control the entrance to the Red Sea; this was accomplished in 1507. The main part of the fleet then left for India, with a few ships remaining under Albuquerque.''The New Cambridge Modern History: The Reformation, 1520–1559'' Geoffrey Rudolph Elton p. 662

/ref> Albuquerque disobeyed orders and left to capture the island of Hormuz. He obtained the submission of the local king to the king of Portugal, as well as the authorization to build a fort using local labor.''Albuquerque'' Henry Morse Stephens p. 54. ''ff''
/ref> He started to build a fort on 27 October 1507, and initially planned to man it with a garrison, but could not hold it because of local resistance and the defection to India of several of his Portuguese captains. Abbas the Great successfully defended the integrity Of Persian borders, drove out the Portuguese from Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, and established the identity of Persia as a national state.


Capture of Bahrain

As a
vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...
of the Portuguese, the Kingdom of Hormuz jointly participated in the 1521 invasion of Bahrain that ended
Jabrid The Jabrids () or Banu Jabr were an Arab dynasty that ruled all of Arabia except for Hejaz, parts of Oman and Yemen, and expanded into Iran's southern coast, controlling the Strait of Hormuz. Prominence Their most prominent ruler was Ajwad ibn ...
rule of the Bahrain archipelago. The Jabrid ruler was nominally a vassal of Hormuz, but the Jabrid King, Muqrin ibn Zamil, had refused to pay the tribute Hormuz demanded, prompting the invasion under the command of the Portuguese conqueror, António Correia. In the fighting for Bahrain, most of the combat was carried out by Portuguese troops, while the Hormuzi admiral, Reis Xarafo, looked on. The Portuguese ruled Bahrain through a series of Hormuzi governors. However, the
Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...
Hormuzi were not popular with Bahrain's
Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...
population which suffered religious disadvantages, prompting rebellion. In one case, the Hormuzi governor was
crucified Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam or stake and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Achaemenid Empire, Persians, Carthaginians, ...
by rebels, and Portuguese rule came to an end in 1602 after the Hormuzi governor, who was a relative of the Hormuzi king, started executing members of Bahrain's leading families. In 1602 year, the governor of Bahrain Rukuneddin Masud asked for help to Allahverdi Khan, governor of province Fars of Savafid Empire, fearing the Fisrushah, the governor of Hormus, who was under the patronage of Portugal Foundations of the Portuguese empire, 1415—1580 Bailey Wallys Diffie p. 472. After an offer received, Allahverdi Khan captured Bahrain, on his own initiative, without informing Abbas I, but he correctly predicted that Abbas will agree to this


Persian reconquest

By the order of Abbas I (), in 1602, the Persian army under the command of
Allahverdi Khan Allahverdi Khan (, ka, ალავერდი-ხანი; 1560 – June 3, 1613) was an Iranian general and statesman of Georgian origin who, initially a '' gholām'' ("military slave"), rose to high office in the Safavid state. Iskanda ...
, managed to expel the Portuguese from Bahrain. In 1612, the
Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire was a colonial empire that existed between 1415 and 1999. In conjunction with the Spanish Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It achieved a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas, Africa ...
took the city of Gamrun and transliterated the name to Comorão. Almost two years later (in 1615), Comorão was taken by Abbas the Great after a naval battle with the Portuguese and renamed
Bandar Abbas Bandar Abbas (, ) is a city in the Central District of Bandar Abbas County, Hormozgan province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. Bandar Abbas is a port on the southern coast of the country, on the Persian ...
, or "Port of Abbas". In 1622, with the help of four English ships, Abbas retook Hormuz from the Portuguese.


Eufrates-Tigris battle - 1624

In 1523, the Portuguese commanded by António Tenreiro crossed from Aleppo to Basra. In 1550, the local Kingdom of Basra and tribal rulers relied on the Portuguese against the Ottomans, after which the Portuguese threatened several times to invoke an invasion and conquest of Basra. From 1595, the Portuguese acted as military protectors of Basra, and in 1624 they helped the Ottoman pasha of Basra to repel a Persian invasion with a fleet of galleys destroying the Safavid army. Southern Iraq and the region of present-day Kuwait became a Portuguese protectorate when local lords, fearing the Persian invasion and Ottoman oppression, preferred the advantages of trade with the Portuguese that connected them to the rest of Asia from the important port of Basra. In February 1624, between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, D. Diogo da Silveira, under the orders of Rui de Andrada, commanded the Portuguese who in battle defeated and removed the Safavid army from the region. The latter, in its attempt to capture the important port of Basra, commanded by the ruler of Shiraz, mobilized a large army of thousands of men to take over the province. This army is located by the Portuguese fleet of D. Diogo da Silveira waiting in the middle of the river in the heart of present-day Iraq, the Portuguese commander, aware of the enemy's positions, defeats and force the withdrawal of Safavid troops on several fronts. With the crossings blocked with
fusta The fusta or fuste (also called foist) was a narrow, light and fast ship with shallow draft, powered by both oars and sail—in essence a small galley. It typically had 12 to 18 two-man rowing benches on each side, a single mast with a lateen ...
s (small galleys) and galleys packed with cannons and infantry, any passage of the army was to be frustrated. In the suffocation points where the enemy's bulk and camps were located, they were destroyed by the bombardment of the Portuguese to the point that the casualties were too high, causing the enemy to retreat. This unpredictable alignment with Turkish forces in the defense of the city and region of Basra had two advantages: on the one hand, the Persian distraction with matters beyond Hormuz weakened the defense of this fortress against the Portuguese; on the other hand, the strategic location of Basra was extremely convenient for the Portuguese intentions of continuing to benefit from the trade that sailed the waters of the Gulf.The Portuguese were granted a share of customs revenue and exemption from tolls. From approximately 1625 to 1668, Basra and the Delta marshes were in the hands of local chiefs independent of the Ottoman administration in Baghdad.


Battle off Hormuz

The battle off Hormuz or the battle of the Persian Gulf on 11–12 February 1625 was the largest naval battle ever fought in the
Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...
. It pitted a Portuguese force against a combined force of the
Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...
(VOC) and
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
(EIC). The battle ended in a draw, with thousands of dead and injured after 3 days of fighting. With the seizure of Portugal's key foothold at Fort Jesus on Mombasa Island (now in Kenya) by the army of the Ya'rubid ruler of
Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...
,
Saif bin Sultan Saif bin Sultan () was the fourth of the Yaruba dynasty Imams of Oman, a member of the Ibadi sect. He ruled from 1692 to 1711, during which Omani presence became firmly established on the coast of East Africa. Early years Saif bin Sultan was th ...
, in 1698, the Portuguese Empire declined and lost part of its land in east Africa . The British recognised the Persian Empire as the only sovereign of the entire Persian Gulf and it was mentioned in article 5 of the Preliminary Treaty of Friendship and Alliance in 1809. This recognition would be modified in subsequent negotiations including the Definitive Treaty of Friendship and Alliance, 1812, and the Treaty of Tehran, 1814, and remained the framework of Anglo–Persian relations over the next half century. سمینار بین المللی ایران و آفریقا ۱۳۸۱دانشگاه تربیت مدرس- یونسکو- جلد دوم مقاله ایرانیان بلوچ در جنگ ممباسا دکتر عجم چاپ 1383 دانشگاه تربیت مدرس. ''Documents on the Persian Gulf's name : the eternal heritage of ancient time'' pp. 84–85, 204–205.


References


Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Persian-Portuguese war Wars involving Safavid Iran Wars involving Portugal Military history of England Military history of Portugal Iran–Portugal military relations Warfare of the early modern period Military history of the Indian Ocean