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Visitors from the West: A New Order

For the Portuguese the Habashab campaign to push them from the Swahili Coaat had made a dent in Portugal's trade with India, but it had not ended it. Portugal's fleet running the yearly India Run could still make the outer loop journey which took them, if timed right, past the southern tip of Madagascar and around the eastern coast up toward the southern tip of India. This route while helpful in passing the seasonal monsoons was still costly and by no means a perfect art of navigation. This route was longer and ran through the empty expanses of the Indian Ocean which was a Herculean task that left sailors and their ships on their last legs- scurvy, diseased and the forced scuttling of damaged ships was a guarantee with every voyage.


Portuguese outposts in Mozambique, Madagascar and at Malindi while a navigational gauntlet through the reefs and shoals of the Mozambique Channel did allow the Portuguese to supplement their trade goods with gold, ivory, slaves and other goods but also allow ships and their crews to rest and repair. The Habashabs forced the logistics of the India Run as Far East as they could and to the breaking point. Even with new supply outposts established on the scattered Mauritius Islands and Cape Hope the Portuguese found themselves harassed by Swahili and Somali pirates. These opportunists set up temporary camps around the southern coast of Madagascar and pounced on Portuguese ships. Even on the coast of India Anti-Portuguese states such as Gujrarat harassed the Portuguese, reclaiming Diu with Habashab guns.


Prior to Habashab attacks the percent rate of returning ships to Lisbon had been 90%, that had been reduced to 50%.


Portugal's initial response was to spend much of 1517-1518 launching reprisal fleets to raid the Swahili Coast but these raids only caused Habashah to tighten their grip building more forts and pressing the Swahili city-states into a subservient relationship. It was a war of distance and attrition, both of which Habashah had to their advantage. Indecision and fear reigned in Lisbon, with merchants and nobles losing investments calling for re-orientation toward West Africa and the Americas. Perhaps fortunately for the Portuguese an attempt to sue for peace with the Habashabs was well received.


With the Swahili Coast secured Negus Jamal ud-Din turned his attentions back toward the recent gains around the Great Lakes and the nebulous border with the Ottomans. There were after all other opportunities, trade across the Sahel and securing the Persian Gulf. The Habashabs had secured the Arabian Sea and the Mozambique Channel for themselves-the government was not interested in invading Portuguese India or rounding the cape. So the two sides agreed to peace, the Portuguese warned against attacking Muslim ships and interfering with local affairs. The Portuguese for the time were still banned from Habashab ports and the Portuguese for their part were grateful for the deal. By no means did it prevent future hostilities or even current ones but it allowed each state to give each other a wide berth for a time.


The Portuguese would still have to contend with the alliance of opposing states in India but even that was coming loose. Domestic and foreign squabbles would see them busy from uniting against Portugal.


In ways it was perhaps fate that Habashah and Portugal faced one another. Both were states that existed on the periphery, Portugal on Europe's and Habashah on the Mediterranean and Indian. Both innovated to force their way out of their respective peripheral areas. However, in the end the Habashah-Portugal War would in the long term be an extreme strategic blunder for the Portuguese. As the Portuguese soon noted that ships designed fairly similar to their carrack ships and caravels became a more and more common sight across the Indian Ocean. While Jamal ud-Din had expressed his disinterest with the sea, there were still plenty of Habesha, Swahili, Somali, and Arab merchants and sailors who did and appreciated the large cargo sizes of the carrack or maneuverability of the caravel designs. Even the cannons and guns manufactured in Germany found their way to the artillery workshops. Thousands of men stirred up by the naval war, now over, looked to follow the Portuguese example. Encouraged no less than by Guleed Ali, the next century would see Habesha making their mark from India to the Philippines and everything in between.