Battle of Diu

Battle of Diu
Part of the Mamluk–Portuguese conflicts , Gujarati–Portuguese conflicts and Ottoman-Portuguese confrontations

Notable victory achieved by the Viceroy D. Francisco de Almeida against the navies of the Sultan of Egypt and the Kings of Cambay and Calicut. Lithograph by Maurício José do Carmo Sendim, 1840
Date3 February 1509
Location20°43′N 70°59′E / 20.72°N 70.99°E / 20.72; 70.99
Result Portuguese victory
Belligerents
 Portuguese Empire
Commanders and leaders
Portuguese Empire Dom Francisco de Almeida
Strength
Casualties and losses
332 total[1]
  • 32 killed
  • 300 wounded
  • All Mamluk ships sunk or captured[1]
  • 4 Gujarati carracks captured[1]
  • 1,300 Gujaratis killed[1]
  • 428 Mamluks killed[1]
Diu is located in South Asia
Diu
Diu
Location within South Asia
Diu is located in Gujarat
Diu
Diu
Diu (Gujarat)

The Battle of Diu was a naval 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 Mamlûk Burji Sultanate of Egypt and the Zamorin of Calicut.[4][5][6]

The Portuguese victory was critical: the great Muslim alliance was soundly defeated, easing the Portuguese strategy of controlling the Indian Ocean to route trade down the Cape of Good Hope, circumventing the historical spice trade controlled by the Arabs and the Venetians through the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. After the battle, the Kingdom of Portugal rapidly captured several key ports in the Indian Ocean including Goa, Ceylon, Malacca, Bom Baim and Ormuz. The territorial losses crippled the Mamluk Sultanate and the Gujarat Sultanate. The battle catapulted the growth of the Portuguese Empire and established its political dominance for more than a century. Portuguese power in the East would begin to decline with the sackings of Goa and Bombay-Bassein, Portuguese Restoration War and the Dutch colonisation of Ceylon.

The Battle of Diu was a battle of annihilation similar to the Battle of Lepanto and the Battle of Trafalgar, and one of the most important in world naval history, for it marks the beginning of European dominance over Asian seas that would last until the Second World War.[7]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pissarra, José (2002). Chaul e Diu −1508 e 1509 – O Domínio do Índico Lisbon, Tribuna da História, pg.96–97
  2. ^ Malabar manual by William Logan p.316, Books.Google.com
  3. ^ Conquerors: How Portugal seized the Indian Ocean and forged the first Global Empire by Roger Crowley p.228
  4. ^ Rogers, Clifford J. Readings on the Military Transformation of Early Modern Europe, San Francisco:Westview Press, 1995, pp. 299–333 at Angelfire.com
  5. ^ Salvadore, Matteo (17 June 2016). The African Prester John and the Birth of Ethiopian-European Relations, 1402-1555. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-04546-5.
  6. ^ Ahmed, Faisal; Lambert, Alexandre (29 November 2021). The Belt and Road Initiative: Geopolitical and Geoeconomic Aspects. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-000-48800-5.
  7. ^ Saturnino Monteiro (2011), Portuguese Sea Battles Volume I – The First World Sea Power p. 273