Page 104 - Arabiab Studies (IV)

94 Arabian Studies IV

sailed to Aden which had been fortified during his absence in the
Red Sea. Unable to land, he continued to India.
Duarte Barbosa who served in the Portuguese Government in
India between 1500 and 1516-17 observed that shipping took on
supplies at Kamanin as it passed from Jeddah.32

Turkish control of the Southern Red Sea: 1517-1631
It was while Soarez was near Jeddah that Selim I, the Ottoman
Sultan, occupied Egypt and Salman, Mamluk governor of Jeddah,
immediately declared for him. Most of the Mamluk troops in
Yemen had, by July 1517, likewise accepted Ottoman sovereignty
but trouble was soon forthcoming in Yemen and it was again from
Kamaran that obedience to Ottoman rule was enforced.
About 1519 Husayn RumJ, the new governor of Jeddah, was
permitted to employ the old Mamluk fleet and artillery to put
down the revolt in Yemen. Husayn had no sooner reached Yemen
than news was received of the death of the Ottoman Sultan, in
1520. Husayn was obliged to return to Jeddah and was unable to
attend to Yemeni affairs till 1525 when he and Salman, accom­
panied by twenty ships, seized Kamaran from the Portuguese,
expelled them from the Red Sea, then reduced Yemen to submis­
sion.33 When Salman quarrelled with the authorities in 1529 he
established his headquarters on Kamaran and began construction
of a fleet at $allf, but before long he was killed and the insurrection
on the island came to an end.34
Although Ottoman authority had been re-established in Yemen,
Portuguese vessels continued to penetrate the Red Sea and
Kamaran again played a significant part in the ensuing struggles.
In 1534-5 four Portuguese grabs reached the ‘neck’ of Kamaran
where they seized some prisoners from Arab dhows.35 In 1538, at
the request from India, an Ottoman expedition was sent to carry
the battle into Indian waters and their ships took on supplies at
Kamaran on their way eastwards.36 In the ensuing fighting at least
ninety Portuguese were captured. In the meantime Yemen had
again risen up in revolt and upon his return from India the
Ottoman commander, Sulayman Pasha, landed at al-Mukha and
took control of the situation at Zabld. He then established himself
on Kamaran and went to $allf where he massacred the ninety
prisoners captured at Diu.37

Yemeni independence, 1636-1728
Yemen did not take kindly to the Ottoman occupation but