The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c7.s6.48

c7.s6.48

The date of the establishment of the Abyssinians in Janjira cannot be clearly made out. There is one legend which shows them to have got possession about 1489. Another account puts them a great deal later. Two of them were, however, admirals of the Nizám Sháhi fleet in the time of Malik Ambar, and another had charge of Ráiri.³ The large number of Abyssinians and other foreigners employed in the armies of the Musalmán kings, not only as private soldiers but also in high command, is noticeable. In Daman there was a garrison of 3000 “Abyssinian Turks and other white men,”⁴ and they are mentioned on several other occasions. In fact, it is evident from the various alliances of Egyptians and Turks with the Rájás of Cochin Cambay &c. and by the whole history of the first voyages of the Portuguese that the Musalmán powers of Europe and Africa were then much more closely connected with the Musalmáns of this coast than at any later time.⁵ And this is not to be wondered at, seeing how entirely the followers of that creed had monopolised the trade of Asia.