Turkish-Portuguese War (1538–1557)

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Turkish-Portuguese War (1538–1557)

Date	1538-1557
Location	the Indian Ocean, East Africa, Red Sea and India
Result	Ottoman victory

Belligerents

Kingdom of Portugal
Ethiopia
Gujarat

Ottoman Empire
Egypt
Barbary States
Adal Sultanate

Commanders

Admiral Diogo Lopes de Sequeira
Governor Estêvão da Gama
Cristóvão da Gama†
Gelawdewos, Emperor of Ethiopia

Admiral Piri Reis
Seydi Ali Reis
Ahmed Gragn†

v • d • e Portuguese–Turkish Wars

First • Tunis (1535) • Second Third • Fourth • Turkish–Venetian

The second Turkish-Portuguese War (1538–1557) was an armed military conflict between Portugal and 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 Adalite 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 musketeers, some Shqiptar foot soldiers (with muskets) and Turkish horsemen.

Major hostilities between Portugal and the Ottoman Empire began in 1538, where the Turks with 54 ships laid siege to Diu, which had been built by the Portuguese in 1535. The Ottomon 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.

[edit] References

Attila and Balázs Weiszhár: Lexicon of War (Háborúk lexikona), Athenaum publisher, Budapest 2004.
Britannica Hungarica, Hungarian encyclopedia, Hungarian World publisher, Budapest 1994.