Lecture 14: Frigidus, Badr, Diu—Obscure Turning Points
remarkably practical understanding of geopolitics and economics:
“Nothing would serve us better than to have a fortress at the mouth
of the Red Sea ... because from there we could cut off the spices
... and all those in India from now on could only trade through us.”x Correctly perceiving Almeida’s expedition as a threat to their
monopoly, an unlikely coalition of Mamluks of Egypt, Ottoman
Turks, and ships from the local Indian rulers banded their naval
forces together to oppose him. The Venetian Republic also felt
threatened by the Portuguese and offered assistance.x $OPHLGDFDXJKWXSZLWKWKHFRPELQHGÀHHWDWWKH,QGLDQSRUWRI'LX
in 1509 and sailed boldly in to attack them. Almeida had 1,200 men
on 19 oceangoing ships, 12 of which were of a carrack design and
7 of a caravel type.x 7KHFRPELQHGÀHHWRSSRVLQJKLPQXPEHUHGPRUHWKDQYHVVHOV
80 to100 war galleys and the rest dhows and other small coastal craft.x 7KHEDWWOHZDVDZLOGPHOHHZLWKWKHVWXUG\3RUWXJXHVHVKLSV¿ULQJ
broadsides from their rows of cannons while the swarms of galleys
and other boats attempted to ram or run alongside and board. The
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entirely wiped out.x Over the next several decades, there would be at least three more
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along the northwestern coast of India, but all would end the
same way.x 'LXPDUNHGWKHPRPHQWZKHQ(XURSH¿QDOO\EURNHIUHHRIWKH
crippling Islamic monopoly on trade with the East and began its
steady rise to world domination. The economic shift resulting
from the battle also set into motion the slow decline and eventual
disintegration of the once-mighty Ottoman Empire.