The Portuguese invasion of the Arabian Gulf and the Ottoman position on it 1507-1650

Abstract

The Arabian Gulf region occupies a privileged position in the strategies of major countries, and the fact that this region enjoys international and regional importance that extends throughout history to the present day, and comes as important as the Arabian Gulf region is an inaccessible route for maritime navigation, in addition to its political, economic and military importance and its possession of natural wealth. And when the renaissance of Europe began, Portugal headed the marine exploration campaigns, and the penetration began after the arrival of Vascorddeva to the Arabian Gulf region in 1497. This arrival represents the first beginnings of Western penetration in the region and the outbreak of a struggle that lasted one hundred and fifty years of the Portuguese invaders and the tribes of the Arab region. However, the valiant Arabs of the Gulf stood up bravely in the face of these foreign ambitions, especially when the region witnessed the birth of important Arab states such as the Ya'ariba state in Oman and the increase of its naval power in the Arabian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, which took upon itself to fight the Portuguese invasion until it was able to expel it from the Arabian Gulf, as well as The valiant Arab resistance, which played a major role in carrying out the revolutions against the European invasion, and which proved its steadfastness and resistance by standing in the face of this foreign invasion until it was able to expel it from the Gulf region, similar to what the Arabs did of heroic stances under the leadership of Nasser bin Murshid al-Yarubi. The European approach was not a sudden event, but it came at a time when weakness prevailed in the capabilities of the Muslim Arabs, especially after the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad in 1258, the fall of Granada in 1492, and the disintegration of the Arab Islamic state into weak entities that were unable to protect themselves from external dangers. The interests of the Europeans were concentrated in two Arab regions, the African coast represented by the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, and the other by the Arab waters called the Arabian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. By knowing the way by sea to the east or what is known as the Cape of Good Hope.