Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. I, Part I: History of Gujarat c13.4

c13.4

When in 1529 Nono da Cunha came as viceroy to India he held instructions to make himself master of the island of Diu. In the following year a great expedition, consisting of 400 vessels and 15,600 men, met in Bombay and sailed to the Kāthiāwāda coast. After vigorous assaults it was repulsed off Diu on the 17th February 1531. From that day the Portuguese made ceaseless efforts to obtain a footing on the island of Diu. In 1531 besides harrying the sea trade of Gujarāt the Portuguese sacked the towns of Tārāpur, Balsār, and Surat, and, to give colour to their pretensions, received under their protection Chānd Khān an illegitimate brother of Bahādur. In 1532, under James de Silveira, the Portuguese burned the south Kāthiāwāda ports of Pattan-Somnāth, Mangrul, Talāja, and Muzaffarābād, killing many of the people and carrying off 4000 as slaves. Shortly after the Portuguese took and destroyed Bassein in Thāna obtaining 400 cannon and much ammunition. They also burned Daman, Thāna, and Bombay. "All this" says the Portuguese historian "they did to straiten Diu and to oblige the king of Gujarāt to consent to their raising a fort on the island of Diu." When Bahādur was engaged with the Mughals (A.D. 1532-1534) the Portuguese Governor General deputed an embassy to wait on Humāyūn to obtain from him the cession of Diu, hoping by this action to work indirectly on the fears of Bahādur. At last in 1534 Bahādur consented to a peace by which he agreed to cede the town of Bassein to Portugal; not to construct ships of war in his ports; and not to combine with Turkish fleets against Portugal.