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, which was a protectorate of the Ottoman Empire, fought intermittently from 1519 to 1639 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 and the Dutch East India Company.
When Aceh began expanding their empire overseas, onto the Malay peninsula, the Portuguese and their allies faced the Acehnese efforts at conquering Malacca and aided other Malay or Sumatran states at resisting Aceh, mainly during the reign of the expansionist Sultan Iskandar Muda.
Background In the 15th century, three port kingdoms dominated northernmost Sumatra. Pasai had been a Muslim sultanate since the late 13th century, controlling part of the inter-Asian trade that went through the Strait of Malacca. However, by the early 16th century it was wrecked by political turmoil. Another important state was Pedir, now known as Pidie, which was a prominent producer of pepper and befriended the Portuguese since 1509. A third one was Daya (possibly at present-day Calang).
In 1511, the Portuguese governor of India Afonso de Albuquerque captured the great Malay city of Malacca. Malacca was the capital of the most important sultanate in the region and a prosperous trade center, through which all the trade between India, China and Insulindia flowed.
Having gained animosity of the Portuguese, many Muslim merchants moved to Aceh, which also exported high-quality pepper, thereby developing this trade and increasing the revenue of its sultan. Commercial, political and religious hostility would bring Aceh to clash with the Portuguese on various occasions throughout the 16th century, as Aceh attempted to expand its territory in Sumatra, the Malay peninsula and capture Malacca.
History Course of hostilities Early conflicts, 1519 The conflicts between Aceh and Portugal started in 1519, when a Portuguese ship under Gaspar de Costa was lost near Aceh and attacked by the Acehnese, killing its crew. Gaspar was captured and later ransomed, and it was not long after this that another ship under Joano de Lima was attacked near Aceh. All its crews were massacred.Amirul Hadi, Aceh and Portuguese, a study of the struggle of Islam in Southeast Asia, p. 53
Battle of Aceh, 1521
In 1521, a Portuguese fleet of 6 ships under the command of Jorge de Brito departed from Goa and anchored in the harbour of Aceh, where they found nine Portuguese who had shipwrecked there, led by João de Borba.Mark Dion, Sumatra through Portuguese eyes: excerpts from Joao de Barros Decadas de Asia, p. 156 Borba told Brito how the sultan of Aceh had attacked and plundered a number of Portuguese vessels who either passed by his shore or were wrecked there.Dion, p. 158. Brito asked the sultan to return the cargo, but as it was not forthcoming they attempted to sack a temple near the city of Aceh with 200 men. They captured a small settlement half-way between the port and the city of Aceh, but were later driven back aboard by an Acehnese counter-attack, having suffered more than 50 dead.Dion, pp. 160-161.
Battle of Pedir, 1522
Sultan Ali Mughayat Syah captured the neighbouring Sultanate of Pedir in 1522 by bribing its chief officials.William Marsden, The History of Sumatra, pp. 417–8 The sultan of Pedir fled with his family to neighbouring Pasai, where the Portuguese held a fort and requested its captain military aid to recover his throne. The captain of the fort dispatched Manuel Henriques with 80 Portuguese and 200 auxiliaries to Pedir by sea while the sultan marched by land with a force of 1000 men and 15 elephants. The Acehnese attacked the Portuguese and killed 35 men including the commander, after which the Portuguese returned to Pasai, suspecting of a trap.
Siege of Pasai, 1523–1524
In 1523 Aceh invaded Pasai, a Portuguese ally and after a few months campaign occupied its capital with much slaughter.William Marsden, The History of Sumatra, pp. 420-422. Turning towards the Portuguese fortress that existed there, they sieged it for several months. The Portuguese, numbering no more than 350 soldiers, many of them sick and wounded, repulsed several assaults, but after gathering a war-council decided to evacuate the fort.Danvers, Frederick Charles, The Portuguese In India Vol.1, pp. 356–357
Early Conflicts in the Indian Ocean
The first Portuguese-Acehnese conflict in the Indian Ocean erupted in 1526 when the Portuguese seized an Acehnese ship bound for Jeddah in the Arabian Sea, selling its cargo in Hormuz. Several years later, subsequent Portuguese attacks on Acehnese vessels off the Arabian coast resulted in the plunder of valuable cargoes.
Battle of Aceh, 1528
In 1527, Francisco de Mello sailed in an armed vessel with dispatches to Goa. On his journey, he met a pilgrim Acehnese ship coming from Mecca with a crew of three hundred Acehnese and forty Arabs.William Marsden, The History of Sumatra, pp. 423–4. They bombarded and sank it from a distance. The Portuguese massacred the surviving crews, prompting the Acehnese to seek retaliation. The Acehnese then attacked and captured the Portuguese galley.
Battle of Aceh, 1529 In an attempt to negotiate a treaty of commerce with the Acehnese Sultan, the governor of Malacca dispatched a company with precious gifts and arrived in Aceh, Immediately after they departed, however, some boats followed them and captured them, killing their crews. The governor assumed these ships were lost in accidents.William Marsden, p. 426
The Acehnese sultan, wishing to ratify the treaty, wished for some Portuguese presence. The governor dispatched a large ship under Manuel Pacheco alongside several merchants; when they arrived, they were surrounded by a great number of Acehnese boats, which led to suspicion between the Portuguese. An arrow killed Manuel, and the ship was captured. The crew was arrested and massacred.
Siege of Malacca, 1537
The first attack launched by Aceh on Malacca in September 1537 was led by Alauddin al-Kahar. This surprise attack, supported by about 3000 fighting men, landed at night near Malacca, and began ravaging the outskirts. However, over the following two nights, the Acehnese force was driven out by the Portuguese with a loss of 500 Acehnese.Amirul Hadi, p. 56William Marsden, p. 428
Action of 1546 In 1546, the Acehnese attacked a Portuguese junk belonging to Antonio de Sousa and successfully captured it. Due to this, the Portuguese governor, João de Castro, ordered all Portuguese ships to sail in convoy from India to Malacca.Amirul Hadi, p. 77Charles Ralph Boxer (1985), Portuguese conquest and commerce in southern Asia, 1500–1750, p. 105
Battle of Perlis River, 1547
The Sultanate of Aceh attempted in 1547 to attack Portuguese Malacca by surprise under the command of the King of Pedir Bayaya Soora.Saturnino Monteiro (1992): Batalhas e Combates da Marinha Portuguesa Volume III, pp. 95–103. The large Acehnese fleet, which included 3 galleys, 57 lancharas, 5000 men among sailors and warriors, 300 hulubalangs (ourobalões in Portuguese), plus 80 mercenaries from the Ottoman Empire, of which a number were former Janissary defectors was however detected by the Portuguese, ambushed while landing in the middle of the night and forced to withdraw north.Frederick Charles Danvers, (1894) The Portuguese in India: A.D. 1481–1571, W.H. Allen & Company, limited, Volume I p. 481.Through the encouragement of renown missionary Francis Xavier the Portuguese assembled a small flottilla and under the command of Dom Francisco de Eça set out after the Acehnese. Having anchored within Perlis River to try and subjugate the region, the Acehnese were cornered within the river. After a stiff but brief fight in December 6, almost the entirety of the Acehnese force was destroyed or captured. The Sultan of Perlis signed an alliance with Portugal and became a tributary vassal in the aftermath.
Battle of Qishn, 1561 In March or April 1561, a large 50-gun Acehnese ship manned by 500 Acehnese and other nations, including Turks, Arabs, and Abyssinians, was intercepted by a Portuguese fleet of two galleons and some foists near Qishn. A fierce battle ensued till night in which both Portuguese galleons and Acehnese ships caught fire, two of the Portuguese ships burned and drowned, and both sides suffered heavy casualties. The next day, the consort of the ship was spotted, and the Portuguese successfully forced her to engage; however, at night, the ship slipped away. Tired of chasing their prey, the Portuguese disengaged and cruised in the Red Sea for some time.C. R. Boxer, A Note on Portuguese Reactions to the Revival of the Red Sea Spice Trade and the Rise of Atjeh, 1540-1600, p. 418 The remaining crews of the Acehnese ship later arrived in Aden.R. B. Serjeant: The Portuguese Off the South Arabian Coast. Hadrami Chronicles, 1974, Oxford University Press, p. 110
Battle of Maldives, 1562 In 1565, the Portuguese received word that five Acehnese galleons loaded with pepper, spices and other goods were preparing to depart to Mecca while 9 Ottoman galleys coming to escort them. Hearing this, the Portuguese dispatched a force of 5 galleons and six galleys to Maldives to intercept them. Having learned of their arrival, the commander, Diego Pereyra, divided his forces into two and patrolled the Maldives channels. The Ottomans made a ruse and fired their cannons at several locations; they convinced both patrols that they had encountered the enemy.Giancarlo Casale (2010), The Ottoman Age of Exploration, p. 127 One Acehnese ship of 400 men ran into one of the galleons, Sao Sebastiao. The galleon began boarding the ship, and fierce fighting ensued. Both ships caught fire and destroyed.C. R. Boxer, A Note on Portuguese Reactions to the Revival of the Red Sea Spice Trade and the Rise of Atjeh, 1540-1600, p.419. The rest of the Ottoman-Acehnese ships successfully evaded the Portuguese.Giancarlo Casale (2010), The Ottoman Age of Exploration, p. 127
Siege of Malacca, 1568
In 1568 Sultan of Aceh Alauddin attacked Portuguese Malacca. The Ottomans supplied cannonneers to the alliance, but were unable to provide more due to the ongoing invasion of Cyprus and an uprising in Aden.By the sword and the cross Charles A. Truxillo p.59The army of the Sultan was composed of a large fleet of long galley-type oared ships, 15,000 troops, and Turkish mercenaries."In 1568 Sultan Alaal-Din of Acheh assembled a huge fleet, with 15000 troops and Turkish mercenaries, and besieged Malacca. Aided by Johore, Dom Leonis Pereira drove off the siege, but Achinese attacks continued for many years." in Dictionary of Battles and Sieges by Tony Jaques p.620Of fortresses and galleys Pierre-Yves MandrinTony Jaques (1 January 2007). Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: F-O. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 620–. J. M. Barwise; Nicholas J. White (2002). A Traveller's History of Southeast Asia. Interlink Books. pp. 110–. The city of Malacca was successfully defended by Dom Leonis Pereira, who was supported by the king of Johor.
Battle of Aceh, 1569
The Battle of Aceh was fought in 1569 off the coast of Sumatra between a lone Portuguese carrack (nau, in Portuguese) and an armada of the Sultanate of Aceh, that was about to stage an attack on Portuguese Malacca with 20 galleys, 20 war junks and 200 smaller craft. It ended in Portuguese victory and the withdrawal of the Aceh fleet after suffering heavy losses.Diogo do Couto (1673) Da Ásia, Decade VIII, chapter XXXArmando de Saturnino Monteiro (1992), Portuguese Sea Battles - Volume III - From Brazil to Japan 1539–1579 pp 315-317
Battle of Formoso River, 1570