page_title: Portuguese conquest of Ormuz
section_title: Battle
hierarchical_section_title: Portuguese conquest of Ormuz / First Conquest of Ormuz, 1507 / Battle
caption_attribution_description: English: Detail of a page from the Portuguese book Memória das Armadas que de Portugal passaram à Índia or "Memorandum of the Fleets" in English, circa 1568. Depicts the vessel of captain Luís Pires, part of the armada of Pedro Álvares Cabral 1500.
context_page_description: The Capture of Ormuz in 1507 occurred when the Portuguese Afonso de Albuquerque attacked Hormuz Island to establish the Fortress of Ormuz. This conquest gave the Portuguese full control of the trade between India and Europe passing through the Persian Gulf.
context_section_description: The Portuguese were surrounded by some 50 armed merchant-ships on the land side and somewhere between 120 to 200 light oarcraft on the sea side. Albuquerque made no attempts to escape this encirclement; he would instead take advantage of the excessive number of enemy vessels specifically to allow the artillery to fire for greater effect.
  As negotiations broke down by about 9 a.m. of the following day, Albuquerque's flagship Cirne opened fire, and the rest of the fleet followed suit. Volleys were exchanged between the Hormuzi fleet and the Portuguese, with a clear advantage to the latter, and large clouds of smoke formed around the ships, greatly impairing visibility.
  From the beaches, the inhabitants of Hormuz, the King included, observed the battle attentively; some were killed by stray cannonballs, and scattered.
  The Hormuzi light-oar ships, carrying a great number of mercenary Persian bowmen, maneuvered to attack the Portuguese fleet en masse. At this point, the Portuguese experienced some difficulties due to their lack of personnel, but the compact group of shallow enemy vessels made for an ideal target for Portuguese gunners: about a dozen were sunk and many more disabled, thus obstructing the path of the ones following.
  As confusion and discoordination set in amongst the Hormuzis, the Portuguese passed on the offensive: Albuquerque had his ship grapple the great carrack of Gujarat, which was boarded and rendered submissive after a stiff fight. One after the other, the Portuguese captured or burned most ships afloat. Finally, the Portuguese made a landing by the shipyards and began setting fire to the outskirts of Hormuz; fearing a bloody assault by the Portuguese, the vizier Cogeatar raised a white flag over the royal palace announcing the surrender.
  With no more than 500 men and six decaying ships, Albuquerque had subdued the most powerful naval power in the Gulf.
caption: Portuguese carrack
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