Battle of Ash-Shihr (1523)

The Battle of Ash-Shihr was an attack launched by the Portuguese navy in 1523 on the city of Ash-Shihr which was a part of the Kathiri Sultanate.^[5]

Battle of Ash-Shihr
Purple: Portuguese presence in Yemen, 16th and 17th century. Pink: Allied sultan territories
Date February 28 – March 2, 1523 (1523-02-28 – 1523-03-02) Location Ash-Shihr, Kathiri Sultanate Result Portuguese victory[1][2]
Belligerents
Kingdom of Portugal	Kathiri Sultanate
Commanders and leaders
Duarte de Meneses Luís de Meneses[2]	Badr Abu Tuairq al-Kathiri Mutran bin Mansur † Atif bin Dahdah Yaqoub Al-Haridi † Salem Baaween † Hussein Al-Aidaroos † Ahmed ba-Fadl † Fadl ba-Fadl † Ahmed bin Abdullah ba-Fadl †
Strength
8 ships.[3] 6 galleons.[4] 400-700 soldiers[3]	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown	480+ killed

Painting depicting Portuguese soldiers attacking and burning the city

In Thursday, February 28, 1523 (10 of the month of Rabi’ al-Awwal in the year 929 AH), the Portuguese governor of India, Dom Duarte de Meneses, dispatched his brother, Dom Luís de Meneses, to the Red Sea with a force of 6 galleons. Dom Luís was tasked with delivering an ambassador to the Christian Emperor of Ethiopia and hunting hostile Muslim trade ships sailing between the Indian Ocean and Jeddah.^[2] Along the way, he called at the city of Ash-Shihr.

After claiming that the property of a Portuguese merchant who had died in al-Shiḥr had been unlawfully seized by the Kathīrī sultan, Dom Luís ordered the assault of the city.^[6] It was then successfully attacked and sacked while the inhabitants fled. Shihr was further plundered by the settlement's garrison, and by vagrants.^[7] The city's defenders attempted to face them on the beaches, but they were routed and the emir Mutran b. Mansur was killed in battle with a bullet.^[7] The battle continued for three days between the people of the city of Al-Shihr and the Portuguese forces.

Seven of Ash-Shihr's legal scholars and learned men were killed by the Portuguese. These men would collectively come to be a known as “The Seven Martyrs of al-Shiḥr” and whose tomb would become the site of an annual pilgrimage.^[8]

See also

• Yemen portal
• Portugal portal

• Siege of Aden
• Capture of Aden (1548)
• Battle of al-Shihr (1548)

References

1. "When Melodies Gather: The Mahra, the Āl Kathīr, and the Portuguese (1495 CE - 1548 CE)". When Melodies Gather: Oral Art of the Mahra. Standford University Press. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
2. Saturnino Monteiro: Batalhas e Combates da Marinha Portuguesa Volume II, 1522-1538, 1991, Livraria Sá da Costa Editora, p.25.
3. R. B. Serjeant: The Portuguese Off the South Arabian Coast. Hadrami Chronicles, 1974, Oxford University Press, pp. 171-172.
4. Saturnino Monteiro: Batalhas e Combates da Marinha Portuguesa Volume II, 1522-1538, 1991, Livraria Sá da Costa Editora
5. Luiz, Francisco de San (1875). Obras completas do Cardeal Saraiva d. Francisco de S. Luiz Patriarcha de Lisboa: Precedidas de uma introducção pelo Marquez de Rezende. Publicadas por Antonio Correia Caldeira (in Brazilian Portuguese). National Press.
6. "When Melodies Gather: The Mahra, the Āl Kathīr, and the Portuguese (1495 CE - 1548 CE)". When Melodies Gather: Oral Art of the Mahra. Standford University Press. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
7. João de Barros: Da Ásia, III, II, Regia Officina Typpographica, 1779 edition, pp. 206-209.
8. "When Melodies Gather: The Mahra, the Āl Kathīr, and the Portuguese (1495 CE - 1548 CE)". When Melodies Gather: Oral Art of the Mahra. Standford University Press. Retrieved 2024-08-17.