Siege of Diu (1531)

First siege of Diu
Part of the Ottoman–Portuguese conflicts and Gujarati–Portuguese conflicts
Date16 February 1531[1]
Location
Diu, Gujarat Sultanate
Result Ottoman–Gujarati victory
Belligerents
 Ottoman Empire
Gujarat Sultanate		  Portuguese Empire
Commanders and leaders
Khoja Zufar
Mustafa Bayram		 Nuno da Cunha
Strength
10,000[2]–12,000 men[3]
2 galleons[4]
70 oarships of various sizes[4]
several basilisks[5]

30,000 men,[10] including:

  • 3,560 Portuguese soldiers[11]
  • 2,000 Malabarese auxiliaries[11][12]
  • 8,000 combat slaves[11][7]
    • 3,000 slave gunners[11]
  • 1,450 Portuguese sailors[11][12]
  • 4,000 Malabarese sailors or rowers[11]
  • 800 junk ship crew[11]
Casualties and losses
800 31 dead[13]
120 wounded

The siege of Diu occurred when a combined Ottoman-Gujarati force defeated a Portuguese attempt to capture the city of Diu in 1531. The victory was partly the result of Ottoman firepower over the Portuguese besiegers deployed by Mustafa Bayram, an Ottoman expert.[14]

Shortly before the siege they encountered roughly 800 enemy soldiers at Siyâl Bet island[a], engaged them in combat, and killed them all.[15] There were 9[16] or 17 Portuguese killed and 120 wounded.[17] They then sailed for Diu, but the Muslim alliance defeated them and killed 14.[18]

Although Diu was successfully defended, victory was short-lived: Diu was blockaded and the Portuguese armada was diverted towards more exposed Gujarati cities.[19] Ghogha, Surat, Mangrol, Somnath, Bassein, Tarapur, Kelva, Mahim, Bulsar, Agashi, Patam, Pate, and many smaller settlements were assaulted and sacked, some never recovering from the attacks.[20][21][12]

In 1534, Sultan Bahadur of Gujarat signed a peace treaty with Governor Nuno da Cunha, granting the Portuguese the territory of Bassein, including Bombay. In 1535, the Portuguese were allowed to construct a fortress at Diu.

  1. ^ Denvers, 1894, p.402
  2. ^ Denvers, 1894, p.402
  3. ^ Monteiro, Saturnino. Batalhas e Combates da Marinha Portuguesa – Volume II: 1522–1538, 1991, Livraria Sá da Costa Editora, p.207
  4. ^ a b Monteiro 1991, p. 207.
  5. ^ Monteiro 1991, p. 220,221.
  6. ^ J. Gerson Da Cunha: The Origin of Bombay, Asian Educational Services, 1993, p.77.
  7. ^ a b Denvers, 1894, p.400.
  8. ^ Gaspar Correia (1495-1561). Lendas da Índia 1858 edition, Typographia da Academia Real das Sciencias de Lisboa, p. 390
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Correia 1858, p. 390.
  10. ^ Gaspar Correia (1495-1561). Lendas da Índia 1858 edition, Typographia da Academia Real das Sciencias de Lisboa, p. 392
  11. ^ a b c d e f g Correia 1858, p. 392.
  12. ^ a b c Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Volume 13, Government Central Press, 1882, p.451
  13. ^ Monteiro, 1991, pp.205-209.
  14. ^ Guns for the sultan: military power and the weapons industry in the Ottoman Empire, Gábor Ágoston, page 194, 2005
  15. ^ Monteiro (1991), p.205
  16. ^ Frederick Charles Denvers: The Portuguese in India, W.H. Allen & Company, 1894, p. 401.
  17. ^ Monteiro (1991), p.205
  18. ^ Monteiro, 1991, p.209
  19. ^ Denvers, 1894, p.403.
  20. ^ Pearson, Michael Naylor (1976). Merchants and Rulers in Gujarat: The Response to the Portuguese in the Sixteenth Century. University of California Press, pg. 76
  21. ^ Denvers 1894, p.402-404