Capture of Muscat (1552)

Capture of Muscat
	Part of Ottoman campaign against Hormuz; and The Portuguese-Ottoman War
	; Map of the Ottoman campaign against Hormuz.
Date	August 1552
Location	Muscat23°36′31″N 58°35′31″E / 23.608611°N 58.591944°E
Result	Ottoman victory
Belligerents
Portuguese Empire	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
	Piri Reis; Seydi Ali Reis
Strength
60 galleys	25 galleys; 1200 troops ; (4 galleons; 25 galleys; 850 troops)
Casualties and losses
1,365	21
	Capture of Muscat (1552) class=notpageimage\| Location within Oman

23°36′31″N 58°35′31″E / 23.60861°N 58.59194°E / 23.60861; 58.59194

The Capture of Muscat occurred in 1552, when an Ottoman fleet under Piri Reis attacked Old Muscat, in modern Oman, and plundered the town from the Portuguese.^[3] These events followed the important Ottoman defeat in the Second Siege of Diu in 1546, which put a stop to their attempts in India, but also the successful Capture of Aden (1548), which allowed the Ottomans to resist the Portuguese in the northwestern part of the Indian Ocean.^[2]

The city, before then a possession of the King of Hormuz, had been in Portuguese hands since 1507, when a Portuguese fleet under Afonso de Albuquerque attacked the city, destroyed it, and then came back soon after to occupy it.^[4]

The Ottomans attempted to intervene against the Portuguese presence, and four Ottoman ships bombarded the city in 1546.^[4]

The city was again attacked by the Ottomans in 1552 with a larger fleet under Piri Reis and Seydi Ali Reis.^[4] The ultimate objective was to seize the islands of Hormuz and Bahrain, in order to block Portuguese access to the Persian Gulf and thus reestablish Ottoman control of the Indian Ocean Trade.^[2]

The Ottoman force consisted in 4 galleons, 25 galleys, and 850 troops ^[2](according to Diogo do Couto, the Ottomans had 15 galleys and 1200 troops ^[1]). The recently built Fort Al-Mirani was besieged for 18 days with one piece of Ottoman artillery brought on top of a ridge. Lacking food and water, the 60 Portuguese garrison and its commander, João de Lisboa, agreed to surrender, only to be taken as captives. The fort was captured and its fortifications destroyed.^[5]

Soon however the Ottomans departed. Ultimately, they managed to occupy and control the coasts of Yemen, Aden and Arabia, as far north as Basra, so as to facilitate their trade with India and block the Portuguese from attacking the Hijaz.^[2]

The Ottomans again attacked the Portuguese possessions of the coast of India in 1553, with a raid on the Pearl Fishery Coast of South India around Tuticorin. They were assisted by the Marakkar Muslims of Malabar, and had the tacit agreement of Vittula Nayak of Madurai.^[2] 52 Portuguese were captured at Punnaikayal, and churches were burnt down.^[2] The Ottomans failed however in 1553 against a Portuguese fleet at sea near al-Fahl.^[4]

Seydi Ali Reis and his galleys would be attacked in an ambush by Portuguese forces while he was trying to bring back his float from Basra to Suez in August 1554.

Three Ottoman galleys would again occupy Muscat in 1581, letting the population escape, before the city again fell to the Portuguese in 1588.^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Décadas da Ásia, Década Sexta, Livro X, Capítulo 1 by Diogo do Couto
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Maritime India-Trade, Religion and Polity In the Indian Ocean by Pius Malekandathil p.117
^ Saturnino Monteiro (1992) Portuguese Sea Battles Volume III - From Brazil to Japan 1539-1579 pp.129140
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Historical Muscat: an illustrated guide and gazetteer John Peterson p.118
^ Historical Muscat: an illustrated guide and gazetteer John Peterson p.48ff

[Diogo_do_Couto-1] Décadas da Ásia, Década Sexta, Livro X, Capítulo 1 by Diogo do Couto

[Malekandathil_117-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Maritime India-Trade, Religion and Polity In the Indian Ocean by Pius Malekandathil p.117

[3] Saturnino Monteiro (1992) Portuguese Sea Battles Volume III - From Brazil to Japan 1539-1579 pp.129140

[Peterson_118-4] Historical Muscat: an illustrated guide and gazetteer John Peterson p.118

[5] Historical Muscat: an illustrated guide and gazetteer John Peterson p.48ff

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

v t e Major sieges involving the Ottoman Empire by century
13th-14th	1285 Kulaca Hisar 1326 Bursa 1328–1331 Nicaea 1333–1337 Nicomedia 1360s Adrianople 1385 Sofia 1393 Tarnovo 1394–1402 Constantinople
15th	1411 Constantinople 1422 Constantinople 1422–1430 Thessalonica 1428 Golubac 1440 Belgrade 1440–41 Novo Brdo 1448 Svetigrad 1450 Krujë 1453 Constantinople 1455 Berat 1456 Belgrade 1461 Trebizond 1462 Mytilene 1463 Jajce 1464 Jajce 1466–67 Krujë 1467 Krujë 1470 Negroponte 1474 Scutari 1477–78 Krujë 1478–79 Scutari 1480 Rhodes 1481 Otranto 1484 Chilia
16th	1500 Cephalonia 1517 Cairo 1521 Belgrade 1522 Knin 1522 Rhodes 1529 Peñón of Algiers 1529 Vienna 1531 Diu 1532 Güns (Kőszeg) 1532 Maribor 1533–34 Coron 1534 Tunis 1534 Baghdad 1537 Klis 1537 Corfu 1538 Diu 1539 Castelnuovo 1541 Buda 1543 Nice 1543 Esztergom 1548 Aden 1548 Van 1551 Tripoli 1552 Muscat 1552 Hormuz 1552 Temesvár 1552 Eger 1556 Oran 1559 Bahrain 1563 Oran 1565 Malta 1566 Szigetvar 1570–71 Famagusta 1574 Tunis 1578 Gvozdansko 1592 Bihać 1593 Sisak 1596 Eger
17th	1601 Nagykanizsa 1621 Khotyn 1638 Baghdad 1663 Uyvar 1664 Novi Zrin 1648–1669 Candia 1672 Kamenets 1683 Vienna 1684 Buda 1684 Santa Maura 1685 Érsekújvár 1686 Buda 1686 Pécs 1688 Negroponte 1688 Belgrade 1690 Belgrade 1695 Azov 1696 Azov
18th	1711 Brăila 1715 Nauplia 1716 Corfu 1716 Temeşvar 1717 Belgrade 1733 Baghdad 1734–35 Ganja 1737 Ochakov 1739 Belgrade 1788 Ochakov 1788 Khotin 1789 Belgrade 1789–90 Izmail 1799 El Arish 1799 Jaffa 1799 Acre
19th	1801 Cairo 1806 Belgrade 1821 Patras 1821–22 Acropolis 1821 Tripolitsa 1822 Missolonghi 1823 Missolonghi 1825–26 Missolonghi 1826–27 Acropolis 1828 Kars 1828 Varna 1854 Calafat 1854 Silistra 1854–55 Sevastopol 1855 Kars 1877 Plevna
20th	1912–13 Scutari 1912–13 Adrianople 1915 Van 1915–16 Kut 1916–1919 Medina
Ottoman defeats shown in italics.

See also

References