The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c23.s2.9

v4.c23.s2.9

Unlike the other races of Burma, the Arakanese maintained sea-going craft, and Chittagong bred a race of capable seamen. For centuries they were the terror of the Ganges delta and at times they hampered even Portuguese shipping. Finally they united with Portuguese freebooters and thus brought about the greatest period in Arakanese history, *c.* 1550–1666. The Portuguese, subject to little control from Goa, had settled in numbers at Chittagong, making it a thriving port, since the middle of the sixteenth century. It was always held by a brother or faithful clansman of the king, with an Arakanese garrison; every year the king sent a hundred boats full of troops, powder and ball, and then the garrison and boats sent in the previous year returned home to Arakan.