The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c7.s7.16

c7.s7.16

A war carried on against so many enemies, in so many seas, and along so vast an extent of coast, necessarily lasted for very many years; and when the Turks had conquered Egypt they considered the expulsion of the Portuguese from the Persian gulf and from India as not less important than the Mameluke rulers had done.⁶ Therefore in 1538 Sulimán the Magnificent sent to this coast a fleet of seventy large vessels, on board of which were many Venetian galley-slaves and 7000 Janisaries.⁷ This force besieged the Portuguese in Diu, but was beaten off after the garrison had defended itself most heroically. A similar expedition and siege took place in 1546,¹ and that was apparently the last great attempt on the part of the former possessors of the Indian trade to expel the Portuguese. But as late as 1586 the Turks with ships built at Suez took two merchantmen of Chaul, and a fleet was accordingly sent against them, but was defeated by them at the entrance of the Red Sea.