Page 33 - Journal of Asian History_Neat

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58 SALIH 07. HAH AN 9
2
THE OTTOMAN-PORTUGUESE RIVALRY IN THE
PERSIAN GULF

As shown above, in 1547 the Ottomans had made an amicable ap­
proach to the Portuguese governor of Hormuz. From the political
•;
point of view the effort had been fruitless for the simple reason that
l
the existence of the Turks in the Persian Gulf was against the interest 2
■X
of the Portuguese who wanted to control the trade to Basra. I ho ■J
Portuguese saw the Ottoman occupation of Basra as a threat in the
Persian Gulf. At this time, therefore, the Portuguese were on the alert.
The Ottoman Turks, wishing to exploit the advantages arising from
their possession of Basra, could send naval assistance, whenever needed,
from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf. It was important for them t-o
maintain a firm hold over the waters of the Red Sea.45 In fact the
Portuguese were to have little success in their attempts to pass through
the Bab al-Mandab. Aden came into the hands of the Ottomans in
1538 and ten years later the town was brought still more closely under
Ottoman influence.45 In 1550 a further event occured in the Persian
Gulf which led the Portuguese to undertake a campaign of some impor­
t ■<
!
tance. The Arabs of Katif yielded their fortress to the Ottomans. This
event alarmed the Portuguese and induced them to take advantage of
approaches coming from the Arab chieftains of Basra.47 Some of the . ^
local Arab chieftains in that region, even before the Ottoman capture - |
of Basra in 1546, had sought the intervention of the Portuguese.48
-5
D. Afonso de Noronha, the Portuguese governor of India, now ap- '■
pointed D. Antao de Noronha to command a force of 1,200 men and
seven galleys, ordering him to move against the Ottoman Turks in 3
3
45 Cf. C. Orhonlu, “XVI. Asrin Ilk Yariamda Kizildanlz Sahillerinde Oaman- %
lilar,** in Tarih Dergisi, XII/16, (1962), pp. 5ff.
■i
44 R. B. Serjeant, The Portuguese off the SotUh Arabian Coast, (O.U.P., 1963),
pp. 107-108.
*
47 “El Rey [i.e., the King of Portugal] o sentio muito pela perda huma forta-
leza tao importa . . .’* (Couto, Dec. VI, Liv. IX, p. 244). See also Faria e
Sousa, Asia Portuguesa, trans. M. Busquots de Aquilar, I-VT, (Porto, 1945),
m, p. 227. i
° The copies of the letters from Ali ibn Ulyan and Sheikh Yahya to Luis '*
Falc&o, the Portuguese governor of Hormuz, are in Col. Lourenso, IV, fola 139r-
141 r and 493r-494r. Couto, referring to the ‘King of Basra* (perhaps, in fact, ■:
Sheikh Yahya), says that he sent ambassadors to the Governor of India, offering ^
to the Portuguese a fort in the harbour of Basra {Dec. VI, Liv IX pp 211 —
245). ’
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