Battle of al-Shihr (1548)

The battle of al-Shihr was a military confrontation in 1548 between the Portuguese alongside Sa'd bin Afrar, the ruler of Mahra Sultanate and Kathiri Sultanate who had captured al-Mahrah from Sa'd. The Portuguese successfully captured the fort near al-Shihr from the Kathiris.^[7]

Battle of al-Shihr
a map shows Mahra Sultanate and Kathiri Sultanate
Date April 7, 1548[1] Location Al-Shihr Result Portuguese victory
Belligerents
Portuguese Empire Mahra Sultanate	Kathiri Sultanate
Commanders and leaders
Dom Álvaro de Castro Sa'd bin Afrar	Unknown
Strength
200 Portuguese soldiers[2] 22 light-galleys	80 men[3]
Casualties and losses
40 dead[4][5]	All killed[6]

Background

In early 1548, the city of Aden rose in rebellion against Ottoman rule and the local inhabitants dispatched envoys to Portuguese Goa, offering to become vassals of the King of Portugal and allowing them to install a garrison in the city in exchange for protection against the Turks. The Governor of India, Dom João de Castro dispatched his son Dom Álvaro de Castro, ahead of a force of 22 light galleys and 200 soldiers to Aden in January 1548. Dom Álvaro anchored with his party by an archipelago on the Arabian coast identified as "Canacarim", where he met Dom Paio de Noronha ahead of a small party of three light galleys, aho informed Dom Álvaro that the Turks had already retaken the city.^[8] Dom Álvaro, therefore, decided to take his flotilla to Ash-Shihr and expunge the fort near al-Shihr, which was captured by the Kathiri Sultan Badr.

The siege

Upon arriving at Ash-Shihr, the Portuguese disembarked unimpeded. The ruler of Al Mahra Sa'd bin Afrar and his brother asked the Portuguese for aid because the Kathiri sultan Badr captured Mahrah country, Qishn, and its provinces,^[9][10] The Kathiris raised a white flag, then a red one, and opened fire on the Portuguese.^[11] Dom Álvaro had it bombarded, albeit with meager results, as he lacked heavy artillery and around 40 Portuguese killed.^[12][13] Sometime later two large galliots arrived with siege guns, with which the Portuguese were able to batter the walls of the fort heavily, and within a short, the garrison sent Sulaimân bin Sa'd bin Sulaimân al-Muhammadï who sought to surrender in exchange for freedom,^[14] The fort was stormed on April 7 and the Kathiri garrison was entirely slaughtered.^[15][16][17] and the fort delivered to the Afrar brothers.^[18] and Sulaimân bin Sa'd was taken prisoner to Goa.^[19][20]

Dom Álvaro was back in Goa by May 4.^[21]

See also

• Battle of Ash-Shihr (1523)
• Battle of al-Shihr (1531)

References

1. Albuquerque, 1972, p.13
2. Armando da Silva Saturnino Monteiro: Portuguese Sea Battles, volume II: Christianity, Commerce and Corso, 1522-1538, 2010, p. 110
3. Monteiro, 2010, p. 110
4. Monteiro, 2010, p. 111
5. Robert Bertram Serjeant: The Portuguese Off the South Arabian Coast, Clarendon Press, 1963, p.109.
6. Monteiro, 2010, p. 111
7. "When Melodies Gather: The Mahra, the Āl Kathīr, and the Portuguese (1495 CE - 1548 CE)". When Melodies Gather: Oral Art of the Mahra. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
8. Monteiro, 2010, p. 110
9. Robert Bertram Serjeant, p. 108
10. Ibn Hamid Al-Kindi, Tarikh Hadrawmout, p. 199
11. Os portuguezes em África, Asia, América,e Occeania: obra clássica, Volume 3, Typographia Borges, Lisbon, p. 47
12. Robert Bertram Serjeant, p. 109
13. Ibn Hamid Al-Kindi, p. 200
14. Robert Bertram Serjeant, p. 109
15. Albuquerque, 1972, p.13
16. Robert Bertram Serjeant, p. 109
17. Ibn Hamid Al-Kindi, p. 200
18. Os portuguezes em África, Asia, América,e Occeania: obra clássica, Volume 3, Typographia Borges, Lisbon, p. 47
19. Robert Bertram Serjeant, p. 109
20. Ibn Hamid Al-Kindi, p. 200
21. Monteiro, 2010, p. 111

Bibliography

• Luís de Albuquerque: Diário da Viagem de D. Álvaro de Castro ao Hadramaute em 1548, in Revista da Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, 1972.