Page 245 - Journal of Asian History_Neat

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Jiiurnnl >>f the . I >/?#•/ irnn Oriental Sncict'/, :M,.1 (i:)?H)
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lllujpr the jurisdiction of Ba>ra >l»ould be kept with Istanbul, w:is of the 1558
lr~\
in good repair.*' fiasco wluMi precautions against this nvcntualitv
The next reference to the Portuguese occur:* wore tragically forgotten or ignored.:s Following
in a document issued in 1573. It was sent to the this the Portuguese disappear from the T-ahM
governor general of Lahsa in response to a report mu hi mine records.
that the kxijjdr from Hormuz, in twelve kcuhr• The conclusion seems clear, if these document*
galar (galleys) and two galleons, had raided are examined in the context of the others that <
follow. Whatever attempts there were by the ^
Bahrein seizing a number of Muslim merchant
ships and imprisoning men from their crews.** Ottomans during this period to force the Portu- \
This raid also prompted an order to Egypt draw­ guese out of their strategic points of control over |
ing the attention of its governor general to the the traditional Indian Ocean trade, the effort •
Bahrein affair and cautioning him to reinforce was not directed from the Persian Gulf provinces. i-
.Mocha with two galleys and keep well informed Lahsa was never used as a staging base for offen­
of any suspicion Portuguese movements in the sive war against the Portuguese in Hormuz;*^
Mocha and Aden area.50 and although it on occasion offered refuge to a 3
Four months after the raid, however, word few battered Ottoman naval units moving away ]
was received in Istanbul that the kapudan from battle, no proper squadron seems ever to !
of Hormuz had contacted Basra requesting that have been stationed there. By 1566 the Portuguese
the disturbed conditions of the Gulf, which for leaders in Hormuz seem to have recognized the ,
months had effectively closed the waters to mer­ passive nature of the province, and to have done'
chant shipping, be settled by a formal truce.51 their share, with relief no doubt, to maintain'
The governor general of Basra reported to Istan­ peace on the frontier.
bul that in fact no shipping had put in to Lahsii
Relations with. Bahrein Island
or Bahrein since the last raid, and state revenues
(miri) were falling off. Nevertheless, full resti­ A feature which must have added to the Por­
tution for the parties injured in the raid had been tuguese satisfaction with the situation in the j
demanded of the kapudan as a firm condition of Gulf was the political status of Bahrein Island.
the truce. Istanbul’s reply to this was to give the Viewed through contemporary Ottoman govern­
governor general a free hand in the negotiations; ment correspondence, the Portuguese of Hormui
he was to take what measures appeared good and took no very active part, if any at all, in its
chance presented, keeping the dignity of the Sul­ government.54 There was in fact no need for them
tanate always in mind ('ari u namdz-i sul(dni- to do so. The governor of the island was an ap­
y«0-a pointee of the Khan (padi§ah or vezir in the Otto^. 1 *-
No other direct references to the Portuguese man documents) of Lar.:s As long as the PortUv
were found in the series. In 1575 when the occu- guese were able to dominate Hormuz and the 1
pation of Bahrein was again being considered, an sea lanes of its strait, demanding vassalage of the. :
oblique reference to the possibility of ships Khan, they were able to exert indirect control^
being sent from Hormuz to help the government sufficient for their purposes, over Bahrein. That
of Bahrein was made. The governor general of control seems to have been exercised to maintain
LaJjsa, so confident of victory in his correspond- the neutrality of the island once the Ottoman*
were firmly established on the mainland opposite
** M 6:1127, 15 §evval D73/5 May 1566. in Lahsa. !
*M 22:639, ca. CumAdA’l-QiA (henceforth abbreviated
M 981/Augusl-September 1573. u M 27:200, 9 $a’bAn 9S3/13 November 1575.
M 23.134, ca. Cura&dA 1-At}ire (henceforth abbrevi­ 14 Cf. Wilson, Persian Gulf, p. 140; Belgrave, Bahrein
ated as CA 981/ Septerabcr-October 1573. pp. 108—14; Faroughy, Bahrein, pp. 62-63.
,l M 23:428, n.d. (981/1573-74). 11 M 33:724, CA 986/Auguat, 157S; summarized belo*
n Ibid.
p. 493, f.

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. *.