The prangi, paranki, piranki, pirangi, farangi, firingi, or firingiha was a type of cannon produced by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. It was subsequently copied and produced in other places such as the

Mughal empire The Mughal Empire was an Early modern period, early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to ...

under

Babur Babur (; 14 February 148326 December 1530; born Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad) was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through his father and mother respectively. He was also ...

. The prangi was a breech-loading swivel gun.

Etymology

Prangi was written in Ottoman sources in various words as prankı, pirankı, parangi, parangı, pranga, pranku, prangu, and parangu. The Ottoman term goes back to the Italian/Spanish ''braga'', short for "''petriero'' ''a barga''" and "''pedrero'' ''de'' ''braga''", a small breech-loading swivel gun.Agoston, Gabor (2019)
''Firangi'', ''Zarbzan, and Rum Dasturi'': The Ottomans and the Diffusion of Firearms in Asia
In Pál Fodor, Nándor E. Kovács and Benedek Péri eds., ''Şerefe. Studies in Honour of Prof. Géza Dávid on His Seventieth Birthday'', Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Budapest: Research Center for the Humanities, 89–104. ''Braga'' itself means "pants" or "breech". Babur called this weapon firingiha and farangi. Tamil and Telugu speakers call it pīranki and pīrangi.

History and description

Prangi is a small Ottoman breech-loading swivel gun, firing shots, they were built mostly by cast bronze, but iron ones were also used. The Ottomans used the prangi from the mid-15th century onwards in field battles, aboard their ships, and in their forts, where prangis often comprised the majority of the ordnance. At the end of the 15th century, Ottoman

galley A galley is a type of ship optimised for propulsion by oars. Galleys were historically used for naval warfare, warfare, Maritime transport, trade, and piracy mostly in the seas surrounding Europe. It developed in the Mediterranean world during ...

were equipped with a big cannon and 4 guns (''darbzen'') and 8 ''prangi'' cannons. These ships were long with three sails carrying about 328 people. Prangi was a standard piece of Ottoman secondary naval armament. An Ottoman naval record book of inventory and survey dated 10 April 1488 mentioned that Ottoman ''barça'' (barque) had 35 prangi, ''agrıpar'' ( galleas) had 16 prangi, ''kadırga'' (galley) had 8 prangi, ''kalıt'' (

galliot A galiot, galliot or galiote, was a small galley boat propelled by sail or oars. There are three different types of naval galiots that sailed on different seas. A ''galiote'' was a type of French flat-bottom river boat or barge and also a fla ...

) and ''kayık'' (

fusta The fusta or fuste (also called foist) was a narrow, light and fast ship with shallow draft, powered by both oars and sail—in essence a small galley. It typically had 12 to 18 two-man rowing benches on each side, a single mast with a lateen ...

) had 4 prangi. The spread of prangi cannon to the east resulted in the appearance of the western-style cetbang in the Nusantara archipelago after 1460 CE.Averoes, Muhammad (2020). Antara Cerita dan Sejarah: Meriam Cetbang Majapahit. ''Jurnal Sejarah'', 3(2), 89–100. In China, these cannons are known by the name of ''Folangji'' (佛郎机), ''Folangji chong'' (佛郎机铳), or ''Fo-lang-chi p'ao'' (佛朗机炮 or 佛朗機砲). Prangi guns reached China before either Ottoman or Portuguese ships did. They may have also reached China via the

Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...

. In the ''History of the reign of Wan Li'' (萬厲野獲編), by

Shen Defu Shen Defu () (1578–1642) was a Chinese writer and bureaucrat during the Ming Dynasty. He lived in Zhejiang. In 1618, he achieved the rank of ''juren'' in the Imperial examinations, but failed an exam for promotion to the rank of ''jinshi'' a yea ...

, it is said that "After the reign of

Hong Zhi Hong may refer to: Places *Høng, a town in Denmark *Hong Kong, a city and a special administrative region in China *Hong, Nigeria *Hong River in China and Vietnam *Lake Hong in China Surnames *Hong (Chinese surname) *Hong (Korean surname) O ...

(1445–1505), China started having ''Fu-Lang-Ji'' cannons, the country of which was called in the old times ''Sam Fu Qi''". In volume 30 about "The Red-Haired Foreigners" he wrote "After the reign of

Zhengtong , succession = Emperor of the Ming dynasty , reign-type = First reign , reign = 31 January 1435 – 22 September 1449 , coronation = 7 February 1435 , cor-type = Enthronement , regent = , reg-type = Regents , ...

(1436–1449) China got hold of ''Fu-Lang-Ji'' cannons, the most important magic instrument of foreign people". He mentioned the cannons some 60 or 70 years prior to the first reference to the Portuguese. Pelliot believed that the ''folangji'' gun reached China before Portuguese did, possibly by anonymous carriers from Malaya. Needham noted that breech-loading guns were already familiar in Southern China in 1510, as a rebellion in Huang Kuan was destroyed by more than 100 ''folangji''. It may even be earlier, brought to Fujian by a man named Wei Sheng and used in quelling a pirate incident in 1507.

References

{{Artillery of the Middle Ages Firearm terminology Naval artillery Cannon Artillery of the Ottoman Empire Indo-Persian weaponry

Etymology

History and description

See also

References