Latest / The Rise of Colonialism: How Europe Divided the World — Fexingo History / The Battle of Diu: How Portugal Broke the Indian Ocean
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about how the Portuguese entered the Indian Ocean — the cartaz system, the fortress at Goa, the alliances with local rulers. But there's a turning point that really seals it all, and it's a battle that most people have never heard of: the Battle of Diu, in 1509. Luna: Diu — that's the island off the coast of Gujarat, right? I've heard of it as a Portuguese enclave, but I don't know the battle. Lucas: Exactly. Diu is a small island just south of the Kathiawar peninsula. Today it's a Union Territory of India, but for centuries it was a crucial Portuguese port. The battle was fought in the waters around it, and it was a three-day naval engagement that pitted a small Portuguese fleet against a much larger coalition of Mamluks, Ottomans, Gujaratis, and even some ships from Calicut. Luna: Wait — the Mamluks and Ottomans were fighting together? I thought the Ottomans conquered the Mamluks just a few years later. Lucas: That's exactly right. In 1517, Selim I would crush the Mamluks at Ridaniya. But in 1508, the Mamluk Sultanate was still independent, and they were desperate. The Portuguese had been disrupting their Red Sea trade, cutting off the spice route that went through Cairo. So the Mamluk sultan, Qansuh al-Ghawri, appealed to the Ottoman sultan Bayezid II for help. The Ottomans sent shipbuilders, cannons, and gunners — they built a fleet for the Mamluks at Suez and then sailed it down the Red Sea and around into the Indian Ocean. Luna: So this is a pre-emptive alliance against a common enemy. The Mamluks and Ottomans, who were rivals, teaming up against the Portuguese. Lucas: Exactly. And they found a powerful local ally: the Sultan of Gujarat, Mahmud Begada. The Gujarati sultanate was one of the wealthiest trading states in India, with ports like Diu and Cambay. The Portuguese had already sacked his fleet and were threatening his trade. So when the Mamluk-Ottoman fleet arrived, he offered them the use of Diu as a base, and he supplied his own ships. The combined fleet was commanded by a Mamluk admiral named Hussein al-Kurdi — or sometimes called Mirocem in Portuguese sources — and the Gujarati governor of Diu, a man named Malik Ayyaz, who was actually a former slave soldier of European origin. Luna: A European-born slave commanding a Gujarati fleet against the Portuguese? That's a twist. Lucas: Malik Ayyaz was probably born in Dalmatia or somewhere in the Balkans, captured as a boy, sold into slavery, rose through the ranks of the Gujarati military, and eventually became governor of Diu. So he knew the Portuguese well — he'd actually been a prisoner of the Portuguese viceroy, Francisco de Almeida, and had escaped. There was personal history there. Luna: So this is personal for Almeida too. Lucas: Very much so. The previous year, in 1508, a Portuguese squadron under Lourenço de Almeida — Francisco's own son — had been ambushed by the Mamluk-Gujarati fleet near Chaul, a port south of Bombay. Lourenço was killed in that battle, and his body was never recovered. So when Francisco de Almeida heard about it, he was furious and determined to avenge his son. He gathered all the Portuguese ships he could — about 18 or 19 vessels, mostly caravels and larger naus — and sailed north to confront the combined fleet anchored at Diu. Luna: That's a small force. The coalition must have had a lot more ships. Lucas: They had over 100 ships, depending on the source — though many were smaller oar-powered galleys and dhows. The Portuguese had the advantage in ship design and firepower. Their caravels were highly maneuverable, and they carried heavy cannons that could fire broadsides. The coalition ships had cannons too, but mostly smaller pieces mounted on the bows. The Portuguese also had a new weapon: the bombard, which fired stone balls, but also iron shot. And they had experienced gunners. Luna: So the battle itself — tell me about it. Lucas: The battle started on the morning of February 3, 1509. Almeida sailed into the channel between Diu island and the mainland, where the coalition fleet was drawn up in a crescent formation, protected by the shore batteries of Diu fort. The Portuguese advanced in line, firing broadsides as they came. The coalition's larger ships — the Mamluk carracks — did most of the fighting, but they were slow and not as well-armed. The Portuguese focused their fire on the flagship of Hussein al-Kurdi, which was eventually sunk. The battle raged for three days, with boarding actions and hand-to-hand combat. The Portuguese lost one ship, but they destroyed or captured most of the coalition fleet. Luna: Three days of constant fighting? That's intense. Lucas: Yes. By the end, the Mamluk admiral Hussein al-Kurdi was captured and later executed. Malik Ayyaz escaped, but he had to negotiate a truce with Almeida. The Portuguese victory was total. The combined fleet was shattered. The Mamluks never recovered their naval power in the Indian Ocean. The Ottomans, who had provided the ships and gunners, would try again later, but they never achieved the same level of threat. Lucas: The most important consequence was psychological and strategic: the Battle of Diu convinced every coastal power in Asia that the Portuguese were unbeatable at sea. Within a few years, the Portuguese established a network of fortified ports from Hormuz to Malacca, and they enforced the cartaz system without serious challenge for most of the 16th century. Luna: So this battle is really the moment where Portuguese naval dominance in the Indian Ocean becomes unquestioned. It's the foundation of the Estado da Índia. Lucas: Exactly. And it's a turning point in world history, because it marks the first time a European power decisively defeated a combined Asian and Middle Eastern force on the open ocean. Before Diu, the Indian Ocean was a multipolar space with many players. After Diu, it was a Portuguese lake for nearly a century. Luna: I'm struck by the irony that the Mamluks and Ottomans were already rivals, and they united against the Portuguese, but it wasn't enough. And then just a few years later, the Ottomans conquered the Mamluks anyway. Lucas: Right. The Mamluk Sultanate's naval defeat at Diu probably accelerated its decline, because it showed that the Mamluks couldn't protect their own trade routes. The Ottomans, meanwhile, learned from the battle and later built their own Indian Ocean fleet, but they never managed to dislodge the Portuguese from their key bases. Luna: It's fascinating how this one battle, so far from Europe, shaped global trade for centuries. And I think what makes it even more compelling is the human element — Almeida's personal vendetta, Malik Ayyaz's strange history, the Mamluk admiral who lost everything. It's not just a tactical analysis. Lucas: You're right. And that's part of why we do this show — to dig into those stories that textbooks often skip over. And it's also why listener support matters so much. A couple of dollars a month is genuinely what keeps these going — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, if you've gotten something out of them. Luna: Yeah, it's a small thing that makes a big difference for independent history shows like this. Anyway, back to Diu — what happened to Malik Ayyaz after the battle? Lucas: Malik Ayyaz survived the battle and remained governor of Diu, but he had to accept Portuguese terms. He paid tribute and allowed the Portuguese to build a factory — a trading post — at Diu. Over the next decades, Diu became a Portuguese stronghold, and Malik Ayyaz's descendants eventually converted to Christianity and became Portuguese vassals. The island remained Portuguese until 1961, when India annexed it. Luna: That's a long legacy from one battle. So the Battle of Diu is really the key moment that made the Portuguese empire in Asia possible. Lucas: Absolutely. And it's a reminder that history's turning points are often forgotten battles in faraway places. The Battle of Diu was as decisive as Trafalgar or Lepanto, but it's barely remembered outside of naval history circles.