The siege of Calicut occurred in 1526, when the
Zamorin
The Samoothiri (Anglicised as Zamorin; Malayalam: , , Arabic: ''Sāmuri'', Portuguese: ''Samorim'', Dutch: ''Samorijn'', Chinese: ''Shamitihsi''Ma Huan's Ying-yai Sheng-lan: 'The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores' 433 Translated and Edi ...
, the local Indian ruler, captured the fort of
Calicut
Kozhikode (), also known as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. Known as the City of Spices, Kozhikode is listed among the City of Literature, UNESCO's Cities of Literature.
It is the nineteenth large ...
from the
Portuguese.
The Portuguese had plans for establishing a fort at Calicut since 1500, when
Pedro Álvares Cabral
Pedro Álvares Cabral (; born Pedro Álvares de Gouveia; ) was a Portuguese nobleman, military commander, navigator and explorer regarded as the European discoverer of Brazil. He was the first human in history to ever be on four continents, ...
received this mission.
The fort was finally completed in 1513, on the spot of an earlier "
Serame", after a peace treaty was signed between the king of Portugal and the Zamorin.
Hostilities were triggered when
Duarte de Menezes
Dom (honorific), Dom Duarte de Menezes (sometimes ''de Meneses'')(before 1488 – after 1539) was a 16th-century Portuguese nobleman and colonial administrator, List of governors of Tangier, Governor of Tangier from 1508 to 1521 and 1536 to 153 ...
attacked and destroyed a fleet of the Zamorin at
Ponnani
Ponnani () is a Nagar Palika (Municipality), municipality in Ponnani Taluk, Malappuram District, in the state of Kerala, India. It serves as the administrative center of the Taluk and Block Panchayat of the same name. It is situated at the est ...
on 26 March 1525.
In reprisal, the Zamorin attacked the fort of Calicut on 3 June 1526.
There were 300 Portuguese defenders in the fort, under
João de Lima.
Reinforcements came from
Goa
Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...
on 20 September, with the intent of embarking the defenders and attacking the troops of the Zamorin.
Faced with the continuous hostility of the Zamorin however, the Portuguese decided to abandon and partly destroy the fort, which was then captured by the Zamorin.
See also
*
Portuguese India
The State of India, also known as the Portuguese State of India or Portuguese India, was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded seven years after the discovery of the sea route to the Indian subcontinent by Vasco da Gama, a subject of the ...
Notes
{{coord missing, Kerala
1526 in India
Calicut
Kozhikode (), also known as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. Known as the City of Spices, Kozhikode is listed among the City of Literature, UNESCO's Cities of Literature.
It is the nineteenth large ...
Portuguese colonisation in Asia
History of Kozhikode
Calicut
Kozhikode (), also known as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. Known as the City of Spices, Kozhikode is listed among the City of Literature, UNESCO's Cities of Literature.
It is the nineteenth large ...
1526 in Portugal