Battle of Socotra
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Battle of Socotra | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Portuguese Battles in the East | |||||||||
 Çacotoraa in a 16th century Portuguese sketch by João de Castro | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Portuguese Empire |
 Mahra Sultanate | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Tristão da Cunha Afonso de Albuquerque |
Sheikh Ibrahim † | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
|
400 men 14 ships[1] | 130 men[2] | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Few | Heavy | ||||||||
The Battle of Socotra was a military engagement that took place on Socotra Island in 1507, and which resulted in the occupation of the Island by the Portuguese Empire as Portuguese Socotra.
The island of Socotra was first contacted by the Portuguese in 1506, by the captain Fernandes Pereira, part of a fleet commanded by Lopo Soares de Albergaria.[3]
In April 1506, a fleet of ten ships under Tristão da Cunha and four ships under Afonso de Albuquerque departed Lisbon, tasked by king Manuel among other things to capture Socotra, from which a fleet could be based to blockade the Red Sea.[1] This was a response to the anti-Portuguese Venetian-Egyptian alliance which would be defeated at the Battle of Diu in 1509.[1]
Battle
The Portuguese found at Suq a well-fortified Muslim fort built by the Mahra of Qishn in Yemen on the Arabian mainland, which was used to collect tribute from the surrounding inhabitants.[4] It had a barbican and keep.[5] Cunha sent the commander of the fort an ultimatum, in which he offered him the chance to surrender peacefully, otherwise he'd attack the fort and leave none alive, but the commander refused.[5] The Portuguese landed divided in two squadrons, one led by Cunha and another by Albuquerque.[5] The commander of the fort sallied out and engaged the squadron of Albuquerque in hand-to-hand combat but his men were routed and he was killed.[5] The fort was captured from the Mahra after a stiff battle.[1] Cunha then proceeded to India with his vessels while Albuquerque was left on the island with 400 men and 6 ships.[1]
