Siege of Malacca

1568 CE.

Shown on the map at 2.189°, 102.251°.

The siege of Malacca occurred in 1568, when the Sultan of Aceh Alauddin attacked the Portuguese-held city of Malacca. The city had been held by the Portuguese since its capture by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1511. The offensive was the result of a pan-Islamic alliance to try to repel the Portuguese from Malacca and the coasts of India. The Ottoman Empire supplied cannonneers to the alliance, but were unable to provide more due to the ongoing invasion of Cyprus and an uprising in Aden. The army of the Sultan was composed of a large fleet of long galley-type oared ships, 15,000 troops, and Ottoman mercenaries. The city of Malacca was successfully defended by Dom Leonis Pereira, who was supported by the king of Johore. Pereira led 1,500 men while only 200 were Portuguese, some of the rest included Malays. The Acehnese led a heavy discharge of cannons and brought 200 ladders to scale the city walls but was hurled down by the defenders. Eventually, Portuguese forces sallied on the Acehnese defensive earthworks and killed a great number, capturing scimitars, muskets and a cannon.

Text from the Wikipedia article Siege of Malacca (1568), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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