Page 20 - The Pirate Coast (By Sir Charles Belgrave)

although the ruling dynasty remained as vassals of the King of
Persia. At one time, the rulers ot Hormuz controlled the other
islands in the Gulf and the coast of Oman. The splendour and
wealth of Hormuz has been glowingly described by many Euro­
pean travellers and writers, and a Persian proverb says: ‘If the
world were a ring, Hormuz would be the jewel of that ring.’
In 1498, Vasco da Gama made his historic voyage from Lisbon
to India, rounding the Cape of Good Hope, which opened the
way tor the successful entry of his countrymen into the East.
Some years before the voyage the King of Portugal had sent
emissaries to discover the source of the spice trade which was in
the hands of the Arabs. The King’s men had visited Hormuz and
Calicut, a port on the Indian Ocean, which was the focus of the
Indian sea trade.
The Portuguese fleet anchored oft'Calicut where they met with
opposition from Zamorin, the Hindu King. The city was bom­
barded and when it surrendered, the Portuguese Captain, Pedro
Cabral, ordered it to be sacked. Within a few years the Portu­
guese established trading stations at Cochin and Calicut and, in
1510 they took Goa which became the Portuguese metropolis in
India, and the seat of the Viceroy and Archbishop. In 1508, the
famous Portuguese Admiral Afonso D’Albuquerque who later
became the second Viceroy of India, decided to extend his con­
quests into the Persian Gulf.
At the end of the 15th century, Muscat was second in importance
as a trading centre to Hormuz, to whose ruler she paid tribute.
The Omanis were famous as merchants, sailors and pirates, and
Dhofar, an Omani seaport on the Indian Ocean south of Muscat,
was the starting point of one of the chief caravan routes from the
Gulf. The first contact between Muscat and a European nation
was when Albuquerque’s fleet arrived at the port after having
attacked and destroyed several towns on the coast, which refused
to capitulate. The Muscatis must have been awed by the sight
of the tall ships of the Portuguese.
There was a parley between the Portuguese and a deputation
from Muscat, but negotiations broke down. The Portuguese
ships began to bombard the town, which was taken after fierce
fighting. Those of the defenders who were not killed or taken
prisoners, both men and women, had their noses and ears chopped
off. The city was plundered and wantonly destroyed by fire, and
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