Aceh expedition (1606) | |||||||
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Part of Acehnese-Portuguese conflicts | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Martim Afonso de Castro | Iskandar Muda | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
3000 men 15 or 16 full-rigged ships 2 Carracks 1 Caravel 4 Galleys 23 Fustas and Galliots | Unknown | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
200 or 300 killed | 2 cannons captured |
The Aceh Expedition was a military expedition launched by the Portuguese against the Acehnese to force them to build a Portuguese fortress near Aceh. However, the expedition ended in failure.
Since the rise of the Aceh Sultanate, the Acehnese entered with the Portuguese a long series of conflicts to dominate the Straits of Malacca, in 1568, the Acehnese backed by Ottomans besieged Malacca but no avail, in between 1570 and 1575 they came close to capture Malacca but failed.
The nature of the conflict changed when the new Portuguese enemy arrived. The dutch sought to establish their own empire entering a long conflict with the Portuguese. In 1600 the Dutch were welcomed by the Acehnese who sought allies against the Portuguese, [1] which made relations with Portuguese strained and sought to punish them for breaking a pact between them before, but the Portuguese also wanted to erect a fort near Aceh, as demonstrated by Philip's letter to Martim Afonso de Castro: [2]
And because, according to what has been clear for a long time here about how important it is to build a fortress in Aceh, as well as because, since you are in those lands, you will better understand the need for this, I am certain that you will execute this accordingly. However, I must once again order and entrust you [to take care] about the quality of the materials, as I am doing [now]. You must build the said fortress no matter what.
In May 1606, the Portuguese fleet left Goa with a ship of 15 or 16 full-rigged ships they were joined by two Carracks, followed by a Caravel, four Galleys, and 23 Fustas and Galliots. [3] The armada carried 3000 soldiers. [4] [5] They arrived in June and spotted three Acehnese cargo ships sailing, they were captured, [6] Dom Martim then dispatched an envoy to Aceh demanding its sultan to allow them to establish a fortress. The Acehnese were interested in negotiations but this proved to be trick, as the Acehnese extended the negotiations in order to prepare for the upcoming attack and strengthen their resistance inland, which caused delays in embarking. [7] [8]
After the negotiations ended, the Acehnese bombarded the armada, and in response, Dom Martim launched an amphibious assault and captured a fortress on the coast, capturing 2 cannons then marched to capture the second one. [9] [10] Alarmed by their success, the Acehnese prince Iskandar Muda who was imprisoned at that time after losing a civil war with his father Ali Ri'ayat Syah III, he begged his father to release him and allow him to lead the Acehnese army, which he accepted, [11] under the prince, the Acehnese succeeded in halting the Portuguese attack with two or three attacks and the fighting had lasted for two days, having gained no advantage against Aceh, Dom Martin ordered a withdraw [12] [13] upon learning a combined Dutch-Johorese attack on Malacca. [14] [15] Despite capturing a fortress, the operation caused 200 or 300 of their "best men" to be killed. [16] [17]
The Sultanate of Aceh, officially the Kingdom of Aceh Darussalam, was a sultanate centered in the modern-day Indonesian province of Aceh. It was a major regional power in the 16th and 17th centuries, before experiencing a long period of decline. Its capital was Kutaraja, the present-day Banda Aceh.
The Battle of Cape Rachado, off the present-day Malaccan exclave of Cape Rachado in 1606, was an important naval engagement between the Dutch East India Company and Portuguese fleets.
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The Ottoman expedition to Aceh started from around 1565 when the Ottoman Empire endeavoured to support the Aceh Sultanate in its fight against the Portuguese Empire in Malacca. The expedition followed an envoy sent by the Acehnese Sultan Alauddin Riayat Syah al-Kahhar (1539–71) to Suleiman the Magnificent in 1564, and possibly as early as 1562, requesting Ottoman support against the Portuguese.
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André Furtado de Mendonça was a captain and governor of Portuguese India, and a military commander during Portuguese expansion into Ceylon, India, Indonesia and Malacca.
The Battle of Aceh was fought in 1569 off the coast of Sumatra between a lone Portuguese carrack and an armada of the Sultanate of Aceh, that was about to stage an attack on Portuguese Malacca. It ended in Portuguese victory and the withdrawal of the Aceh fleet after suffering heavy losses.
The War of the League of the Indies was a military conflict in which a pan-Asian alliance formed primarily by the Sultanate of Bijapur, the Sultanate of Ahmadnagar, the Kingdom of Calicut, and the Sultanate of Aceh, referred to by the Portuguese historian António Pinto Pereira as the "league of kings of India", "the confederated kings", or simply "the league", attempted to decisively overturn Portuguese presence in the Indian Ocean through a combined assault on some of the main possessions of the Portuguese State of India: Malacca, Chaul, Chale fort, and the capital of the maritime empire in Asia, Goa.
The Battle of Aceh was a military engagement between the rising Sultanate of Aceh and the expeditionary Portuguese force in the northern Sumatra city of Aceh, the Portuguese were soundly defeated alongside its leader.
The Acehnese launched their invasion of Johor between 1613 and 1615 to subjugate and vassalize the Johor Sultanate, as part of the Acehenese expansion in the Malay peninsula under Iskandar Muda reign.
The Conquest of Perak was a military invasion launched by the Acehnese Sultanate to capture the port of Perak from its Sultan Mukaddam Shah of Perak, the attack was successful and its sultan was captured.
The Pedir expedition was launched by the Portuguese in order to support the Sultanate of Pedir during the Acehnese invasion of the capital, the expedition ended in failure.
The Conquest of Pasai was a military campaign in 1523–1524 launched by the Sultanate of Aceh against the Samudera Pasai Sultanate and the Portuguese fortress there. The operation was a success for the Acehnese.
The Battle of Aceh was a 1528 military engagement between a lone Portuguese Galley and an Acehnese armada near the coast of Aceh, located in present-day Indonesia. The Acehnese captured the Portuguese galley.
The Battle of Perlis River was an armed engagement that took place in 1547 within Perlis River, Malaysia, between a Portuguese fleet and a fleet of the Sultanate of Aceh. The Portuguese achieved "a complete victory" over the Acehnese fleet, which was almost completely destroyed.
The Battle of Formoso River of 1615 was an naval battle that took place in Malaysia within Formoso River, between a Portuguese fleet and a large fleet of the Sultanate of Aceh, one of the largest Aceh had ever mobilized against the Portuguese in Malacca.
Malay-Portuguese conflicts refer to the military engagements between the forces of the Portuguese Empire and the various Malay states and dynasties, fought intermittently from 1509 to 1641 in the Malay Peninsula and Strait of Malacca.
Acehnese–Portuguese conflicts were the military engagements between the forces of the Portuguese Empire, established at Malacca in the Malay Peninsula, and the Sultanate of Aceh, fought intermittently from 1521 to 1629 in Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula or the Strait of Malacca. The Portuguese supported, or were supported, by various Malay or Sumatran states who opposed Acehnese expansionism, while the Acehnese received support from the Ottoman Empire.