Second Siege of Diu

Second Siege of Diu
Part of Ottoman–Portuguese conflicts (1538–1557)
A battle between the Portuguese Armada and Turkish soldiers on horseback in Goa, western India
Date 20 April – 10 November 1546 Location Diu, Portuguese India Result Portuguese victory
Belligerents
Portuguese Empire	Gujarat Sultanate
Commanders and leaders
João de Mascarenhas João de Castro	Khadjar Safar †
Strength
18 May 440 men 19 July reinforcements consisting of 20 Fustas and 6 caturs with men arrived On 7 November governor Castro arrived with 35 Fustas,caturs, 3 galeons, naus and gales, with 3,000 Portuguese and 300 Indian men	10,000 men
Casualties and losses
more than 200	3,000 killed 600 prisoners
Location of Diu in present-day India

Coordinates: 20°N 71°E / 20°N 71°E / 20; 71

18 May 440 men

19 July reinforcements consisting of 20 Fustas and 6 caturs with men arrived

3,000 killed

The Second Siege of Diu was a siege of the Portuguese Indian city of Diu by the Gujarat Sultanate in 1546. It ended with a major Portuguese victory.

At the beginning of the 16th century, the Muslim Sultanate of Gujarat was the principal seapower in India. Gujarat fought the Portuguese fleets in collaboration with the Mamluks. The Portuguese were defeated by a combined Mamluk-Gujarati fleet in 1508, which was in turn destroyed by a Portuguese fleet in the Battle of Diu (1509). By 1536, the Portuguese had gained complete control of Diu, while Gujarat was under attack from the Mughals.

In 1538, the Ottomans, who had taken over Egypt (1517) and Aden (1538), joined hands with the Gujarat Sultanate to launch an anti-Portuguese offensive. They besieged Diu in 1538, but had to retreat.

After the failed siege of 1538, the Gujarati General Khadjar Safar besieged Diu again in an attempt to recapture the island. The siege lasted seven months from 20 April 1546 to 10 November 1546, during which João de Mascarenhas defended Diu.

The siege ended when a Portuguese fleet under Governor João de Castro arrived and routed the attackers.

Khadjar Safar and his son Muharram Rumi Khan (who were probably of Albanian origin) were both killed during the siege.