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The control of the seas, oceans, and strategic islands was and still is a pillar of the goals of the colonial powers. Military concentration outside the motherland means an advanced position on the military and economic levels, and heels above regional and international competitors. Perhaps this view, which spread with the era of colonialism or colonialism at the end of the nineteenth century And the beginning of the twentieth century at the hands of the European occupant on the continents of the ancient world, especially Africa, had a long history.
The expulsion of Muslims from Andalusia, "Spain and Portugal" at the end of the ninth century AH / beginning of the sixteenth century, opened the eyes of these two countries to the fact that the necessity of progress in the Islamic geographical depth for fear of Muslims returning to Andalusia again, as well as the economic goals that were on Chief among them is the control of trade routes and exorbitant goods coming from East Asia, especially the spice trade.
Why did the Portuguese occupy our seas?
In his encyclopedia "General History of Civilizations", Roland Mossinet sees that the motivations of the Portuguese and Spanish revelations were (the gospel - glory - gold), and Mossinet put the "gospel" at the beginning of the goals because the Crusade had accustomed European Christians to the perception of spreading Christianity through war The annihilation and subjugation of non-believers [1].
Vasco de Gama
At that time, the Portuguese in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean risked for the first time after their discovery of the Cape of Good Hope in the year 904 AH / 1498 AD, and the Portuguese policy has in fact started from that period on the basis of eliminating all influence of Islamic ships and dumping them and working to expel the Arabs from the Indian and African commercial centers Since the arrival of Vasco de Gama to these seas, during his second trip in the year 1502 AD, he sent a campaign consisting of five warships for permanent residence at the entrance to the Red Sea, which was considered a direct threat to the interests of the Mamluk state in Egypt and the Levant. The Portuguese continued their war, so they worked for him. Great Arab ships and prevent them from engaging in commercial activity in the Indian Ocean waters only with the permission of the Portuguese [2].
The Portuguese continued, and yesterday attacked Arab and Indian ships alike, the contemporary historian Qutb al-Din Nahrawali says of these events: “Much harm was caused to Muslims, and it hurt them on travelers. So Sultan Muzaffar Shah bin Mahmoud Shah bin Muhammad Shah Sultan of Gujarat sent to India at that time to Sultan Al-Ashraf Qansuh Al-Ghouri In Egypt, he is used to help the Franks, and he requests the number, machines, and cannons to pay the damage of the Franks to the Muslims. ); The large number of damage to the Franks by Muslims in the Sea of Yemen and its rivers, and the frequency of their harm, and the weakness of Muslim soldiers in the Sea of Yemen "[3].
The Portuguese did not stop there; they managed to reach the shore of India, and established armed commercial centers on the coasts of the country located on the Cape of Good Hope route from Lisbon, the capital of Portugal to West and South and East Africa, the Arabian Sea and the southern Red Sea, and worked to extend their military and commercial control over These regions seek to monopolize the East's trade and transfer it to Europe via this new path.
Eastern goods became their way on Portuguese ships to Lisbon directly, and then distributed them to all parts of Europe with marketing temptations. Portugal became the intermediary of trade between East and West, and this resulted in a very negative resonance in both Egypt and Venice, until the major Mamluk trade cities were transformed with the European West. Like Alexandria, Damietta, and Beirut, as desolate, according to the description of Ibn Iyas, and the arrival of merchants and merchandise to Alexandria was interrupted for six consecutive years, which led to a large financial deficit in the general budget of the Mamluk state [4].
Portuguese Mamluk conflict!
The Ghori Sultan was convinced that the increasing influence of the Portuguese in India might destroy his commercial interests and his prestige in front of the world, the exclusive mediator for the spice trade between Asia and the European continent, and this was confirmed to him in practical terms when he sent in 910 AH / 1504AD a commercial fleet to the Indian coast of Malabar, shipped As usual, large quantities of Indian spices and goods occurred, and during the return of the ships, a large number of Indian princes and a number of its Muslims were brought with them on their way to the pilgrimage, but the ships did not reach the entire port of Jeddah, as the Portuguese fleet ships attacked them in the waters of India, and most of their shipments of spices and goods were confiscated. Hindi [5].
Al-Ghouri was not to let his interests collapse so easily, and he saw that a war campaign was needed in the waters of India, and he decided to send a mission to his commercial allies in Venice and Florence to negotiate the request of military aid from timber and weapons and restore trade to what it was, especially since his revenues decreased annoyingly The Italian republics have already promised to help, but Al-Ghury did not wait, as he began preparing a military naval campaign led by one of the senior presidents, "the Prince of One Hundred A submitted One Thousand", Prince Hussein Al-Kurdi, who was able to supervise the construction and equipping of fifty vessels. The mission of the campaign was to fortify port Dah maritime ports the most important Mamluk state on the Red Sea, and the mouth of the East Asian and Indian trade, and build a strong fence that protects the entire city navy, and then face the Portuguese fleet in the Indian waters [6].
The Mamluk fleet, joined by some of the Indian navy, was able to inflict a heavy defeat on Portuguese naval forces in India’s sea waters in the "Shawwal" naval battle, in which the Portuguese fleet commander was killed in the battle, and news of this defeat reached Portugal, provoking the anger and frustration of Prince Francisco Dalmatia, who rushed To seize the opportunity of the Indian Mamluk fleet to take refuge in the Indian port of Dewe for supply and repair, he surprised him and inflicted a great defeat on February 3, 1509AD / Shawwal 914 AH, in which he destroyed most of the Mamluk and Indian ships, and Prince Hussein al-Kurdi subsequently withdrew to Jeddah [7].
This coincided with the intensification of the Portuguese siege when the famous Portuguese naval commander Albuquerque arrived in the eastern waters in 1506 AD, as he stressed the imposition of the naval blockade imposed on the Arab seas and its entrances, which severely damaged the economy of Egypt, Yemen and Venice [8].
The Ottomans give aid!
In the wake of this defeat, the Sultan of Ghori was forced to request supplies and financial and logistical assistance from the Venetians and the Ottomans, and the relations were still friendly at the time between the Mamluks and the Ottomans, and we have to follow the term "Qasid Ibn Othman," meaning the ambassador of the Ottoman Empire to the Mamluk Egypt in the period between the years 900 AH to the year 916 AH at the contemporary historian of these events, Ibn Iyas, to find that in Jumada al-Awwal in the year 913 AH / 1507 CE, two ambassadors came from the Ottoman Empire; the first visited the Sultan on the 14th of Jumada al-Awwal, and the second, Kamal Rais, came on the 19th of the same month [9].
The arrival of these ambassadors was not only for the purpose of mutual diplomatic visits. The advent of Kamal Rais, one of the great leaders in the Ottoman Navy, had its implications at that particular time. In that year, the danger of the Portuguese increased, as they managed to occupy Socotra at the entrance to the Red Sea, and the Yemeni forces were unable to It was blocked by Kemal Rais’s visit in order to find out the status of the Mamluk fleet, as well as what could be provided - which is one of the leaders of the Ottoman Navy - with varying supplies and supplies, and Sultan Qansuh al-Ghouri interviewed him himself, and this interview is described by Ibn Iyas saying: "And in nineteenth he came to Shri doors There is a person who is said to him: Kamal, one of the properties of the group of Ibn Othman, and they have translated this Kamal with great translations, that he does not tire or tire of jihad in the Franks day and night, until the Franks became aware of his command, and that he was the head of the Mujahideen stationed in Islam, so when the honorable Sultan came and deposed him , So he stayed in Egypt for a short period of time and returned to his country "[10].
It is possible to discern from the visit of the Ottoman naval commander in light of the Portuguese daring the coasts of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean; that Kamal Rais had come to offer maritime assistance to the Mamluks, and this was already done, and several news indicates that in the month of Rajab in the year 916 AH, the Ottoman state sent military aid represented In timber, iron, and gunpowder of the Mamluk state, as a result of the mass assault of the Portuguese Mamluks in the Mediterranean and Red Sea [11].
It was a misfortune of Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghouri that some of these Ottoman naval military supplies had been seized by other enemies, the Spartan knights who owned the island of Rhodes, which angered him and pushed him to oppress European and Venetian interests in his country. On the other hand, Qansu proceeded to prepare another more vigorous maritime campaign that Its leadership was entrusted for the second time to Prince Hussein Al-Kurdi, commander of the fleet, and the Egyptian Mamluk fleet moved to India in Ramadan 921 AH / 1515 CE, but the Sultan of the Taherites in Yemen, Amer II bin Abdul-Wahhab, refused to provide ports, manpower and supplies to the Egyptian fleet, violating all of this commitment. The alliance with the Mamluks died, and the betrayal of the Tahir Sultan led to the postponement of the campaign against India, and the conflict between the Mamluks and the Tahirites in Yemen, which ultimately led to the death of the Sultan of the Tahirites and the fall of their state entirely in Jumada al-Akhira in the year 922 AH and the dependence of the whole of Yemen to Egypt, and the Mamluk fleet remained anchored On the shores of Qumran Island, near Aden, for eight months, it was involved in building defensive fortifications [12].
The Mamluks did not clash with the Portuguese in another naval battle that ended their existence, in that year 922 AH / 1516AD Sultan Qansuh al-Ghuri was defeated in the battle of Marj Dabiq and he was killed, so the Sharif of Makkah Barakat captured Prince Hussein and killed him to force him and his chastity and he was in Makkah at that time, and the Ottomans were the motivators for him, and with this The Mamluk role forever ended, and they were unable to confront the Portuguese, and the burden of that became on the Ottomans later, and the Ottomans did succeed in crushing the Portuguese in locations that will be mentioned later [13].
| Sultan Kansoh Al-Ghuri (Communication Sites) |
Thus, the Ghori Sultan was known for his disdain and distraction and his lack of love for military adventures and confronting opponents. He tends to peace more than he tends to war, and does not get tired of imposing taxes on people if he wants to, but rather he does not care about their suffering in the most part, and until the end of the moment in which he fell quickly In front of the Ottomans in the battle of Marj Dabiq, he did not care about the grievance of the general people from his rulers and princes, and he did not seek to solve these grievances while he was heading to meet the Ottomans. Azeem, the deputy of the Levant, who holds the dome and flies on his head usually For the kings of the applicants, the people of Homs and others complained to him about the injustice of their deputies, so he did not doubt them, and he stayed seven days, and he did not attend Friday or group, and he went to Aleppo and with him the deputies of the Levant, Homs, Hama, Tripoli and other princes, and he did not do Homs nor visited it by my master Khalid bin Al-Walid - may God Almighty be pleased with him "[14].
In the face of such an authoritarian personality, her main concern was nothing but profit-taking, indulging in pleasures, lack of interest in political, military and economic affairs, and even lack of concern for the suffering of the people, it was natural that the efforts of the Mamluks to cleanse the southern seas of the Portuguese threat taken from an island Socotra Yemen is a center from which it attacks the coasts of Yemen, India and the Red Sea, which is the strategic Yemeni island to this day, which confirms the validity of the opinion that tyranny is the consort of the occupation!