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
Date 3 February 1509 Location Diu, present-day Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, India 20°43′N 70°59′E / 20.72°N 70.99°E / 20.72; 70.99 Result Portuguese victory
Belligerents
Portuguese Empire	Mamluk Sultanate  Gujarat Sultanate Kingdom of Calicut
Commanders and leaders
Dom Francisco de Almeida	Amir Husain Al-Kurdi Malik Ayyaz Kunjali Marakkar
Strength
9 carracks[1] 6 caravels[1] 2 galleys 1 brigantine 800 Portuguese[1] 400 Nairs[2]	10 carracks[1] 6 heavy galleys 30 light galleys[1] 70–150 boats 450 Mamluks[1] 4,000–5,000 Gujaratis[3]
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 class=notpageimage| Location within South Asia Show map of South Asia Diu Diu (Gujarat) Show map of 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]