This article needs additional citations for verification .(August 2010) |
Fort of Our Lady of the Conception | |
---|---|
Hormuz Island in Iran | |
Type | Fort |
Site history | |
Built | 1515 |
Materials | Stone |
You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Portuguese. (December 2015)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
The Fort of Our Lady of the Conception, also known as the Portuguese Castle, is a red stone fortress on Hormuz Island, Iran. It is one of the last surviving monuments of Portuguese colonial rule in the Persian Gulf. Ormuz (or Hormuz) was an important maritime city and a small kingdom near the entrance to the Persian Gulf. The original site of the city was on the north shore of the Gulf, about 30 miles east of the current Bandar Abbas. Around 1300, apparently in response to attacks from the Tartars, it moved to the small island of Gerun, which can be identified as the Organa of Nearcho, about 12 miles west and 5 miles from the coast.
Constructed on reddish stone on a rocky promontory at the far north of the island, the castle was originally cut off from the rest of the island by a moat, traces of which still remain. Although most of the roof caved in long ago, much of the lower part of the very substantial outer walls is intact, with the remains lying on different levels of the site.
The building of the castle was ordered by Portuguese commander Afonso de Albuquerque in 1507, when his forces seized the island for a short time, being then named "Fort of Our Lady of Victory" (Forte de Nossa Senhora da Vitória). Engaging his men of all ranks in the building works, Albuquerque faced a revolt and had to retreat. He came back and reconquered the island in 1515, when he completed and renamed the fort. The Persian Safavid king, Abbas I of Persia (1587–1629), wanted to end Portuguese rule in the south and eventually managed to convince the British East India Company to allow its ships to cooperate with his land forces to seize the island from the Portuguese in 1622.
A number of other Portuguese castles are found in the Persian Gulf islands, including the castle in Qeshm.
During the Habsburg dynasty (1581–1640), the Portuguese built a fortress in Dibba Al-Hisn and a wall around the city. [1] In August 1648, the Arabs besieged Muscat, Oman, and on 31 October 1648 a treaty was signed between the two opponents. The terms were as follows: the Portuguese should build the fortress of Kuriyat, Dibba Al-Hisn and Matrah (Oman).
Afonso de Albuquerque, 1st Duke of Goa, was a Portuguese general, admiral, and statesman. He served as viceroy of Portuguese India from 1509 to 1515, during which he expanded Portuguese influence across the Indian Ocean and built a reputation as a fierce and skilled military commander.
The Strait of Hormuz is a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and is one of the world's most strategically important choke points. On the north coast lies Iran, and on the south coast lies the Musandam peninsula, shared by the United Arab Emirates and the Musandam Governorate, an exclave of Oman. The strait is about 90 nautical miles (167 km) long, with a width varying from about 52 nmi (96 km) to 21 nmi (39 km).
The Kingdom of Ormus was located in the eastern side of the Persian Gulf and extended as far as Bahrain in the west at its zenith. The Kingdom was established in 11th century initially as a dependency of the Kerman Seljuk Sultanate, and later as an autonomous tributary of the Salghurids and the Ilkhanate of Iran. In its last phase Ormus became a client state of the Portuguese Empire in the East. Most of its territory was eventually annexed by the Safavid Empire in the 17th century.
Hormozgan Province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. Its capital is the city of Bandar Abbas. The province is in the south of the country, in Iran's Region 2. facing Oman, the United Arab Emirates and the Hormuz Straits. Its area is 70,697 km2 (27,296 sq mi), The province has 14 islands in the Persian Gulf and 1,000 km (620 mi) of coastline.
Bandar Abbas is a city in the Central District of Bandar Abbas County, Hormozgan province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. Bandar Abbas is a port on the southern coast of the country, on the Persian Gulf.
Dibbā is a coastal area at the northern tip of the eastern Arabian peninsula on the Gulf of Oman.
The Musandam Governorate is a governorate of Oman. With the exception of the exclave of Madha, it is located on the Musandam Peninsula, which juts into the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow entry into the Persian Gulf, from the Arabian Peninsula. The governorate is also an exclave, separated from the rest of Oman by the United Arab Emirates. Its location gives Oman partial control, shared with Iran, of the strategic strait. In the northern section of Musandam, around Kumzar, the language is Kumzari, which is a southwestern Iranian language closely related to Larestani and Luri. The Musandam Peninsula has an area of 1,800 km2 (690 sq mi) and, at the 2020 census, a population of 49,062.
Qeshm is an arrow-shaped Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz, separated from the mainland by the Clarence Strait/Khuran in the Persian Gulf. and the largest in the Persian Gulf.
Hormuz Island, also spelled Ormus, is an Iranian island in the Persian Gulf. Located in the Strait of Hormuz, 8 km (5 mi) off the Iranian coast, the island is part of Hormozgan Province. It is sparsely inhabited, but some development has taken place since the late 20th century.
Dibba Al-Hisn is a pene-exclave of the emirate of Al-Sharjah, one of the seven United Arab Emirates. It is bordered by the Gulf of Oman from the East, Dibba Al-Baya from the North, and Dibba Al-Fujairah from the South. It is also geographically part of the Dibba region. It is the smallest in size among the Dibbas. It is mostly known for its fish market and the ancient fortress from which it got its name. Also, it is known for its high density of population relative to the other Dibbas.
The Capture of Hormuz was a combined Anglo-Persian expedition that successfully captured the Portuguese garrison at Hormuz Island after a ten-week siege, thus opening up Persian trade with England in the Persian Gulf. Before the capture of Hormuz, the Portuguese had held the Castle of Hormuz for more than a century, since 1507 when Afonso de Albuquerque established it in the capture of Hormuz, giving them full control of the trade between India and Europe through the Persian Gulf. According to Stephen Neill, the capture of Hormuz entirely changed the balance of power and trade.
The Portuguese conquest of Hormuz in 1507 occurred when the Portuguese Afonso de Albuquerque attacked Hormuz Island to establish the Fortress of Hormuz. This conquest gave the Portuguese full control of the trade between India and Europe passing through the Persian Gulf.
The Portuguese–Safavid wars were a series of wars between the Portuguese Empire and Safavid Iran from 1507 to 1625. The Portuguese were also supported by Kingdom of Hormuz, its vassal, and Safavids had the help of the Kingdom of England on the other side.
The capture of Muscat occurred in 1552, when an Ottoman fleet under Piri Reis attacked Old Muscat, in modern Oman, and plundered the town from the Portuguese. These events followed the important Ottoman defeat in the third siege of Diu in 1546, which put a stop to their attempts in India, but also the successful capture of Aden in 1548, which allowed the Ottomans to resist the Portuguese in the northwestern part of the Indian Ocean.
Al Jalali Fort, or Ash Sharqiya Fort, is a fort in the harbor of Old Muscat, Oman. The fort was built by the Portuguese under Philip I of Portugal in the 1580s on an earlier Omani fortress to protect the harbor after Muscat had twice been sacked by Ottoman forces. The fort fell to Omani forces in 1650. During the civil wars between 1718 and 1747, the fort was twice captured by Persians who had been invited to assist one of the rival Imams. The fort was extensively rebuilt later.
The siege of Bahrain of 1559 occurred when forces of the Ottoman Empire, commanded by the governor of the Lahsa eyalet Mustafa Pasha, attempted to seize Bahrain, and thus wrest control of the island and its famed pearl trade from the Portuguese Empire. The siege was unsuccessful, and the Portuguese defeated the Turks when reinforcements were dispatched by sea from the fortress of Hormuz.
Portuguese Oman refers to the period during which the northern coastal cities of Oman were under Portuguese rule, between 1507 and 1656.
The siege of Muscat occurred in 1650, when an Omani army under Sultan bin Saif attacked the Portuguese fort of Muscat and captured the town from the Portuguese, ending the long Portuguese occupation of Muscat.
In 1614, the Persian army led by Imam Quli Khan conquered the Portuguese fort of Cambarão.
The Capture of Qeshm was a combined Anglo-Persian expedition that successfully captured the Portuguese garrison at Qeshm Island after months of siege.