Editing Mamluk (section)

===Portuguese–Mamluk Wars===
[[Vasco da Gama]] in 1497 sailed around the [[Cape of Good Hope]] and pushed his way east across the Indian Ocean to the shores of [[Zamorin|Malabar]] and [[Kozhikode]]. There he [[Portuguese-Mamluk naval war|attacked the fleets]] that carried freight and Muslim pilgrims from India to the [[Red Sea]], and struck terror into the potentates all around. Various engagements took place. Cairo's Mamluk sultan [[Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri]] was affronted at the attacks around the Red Sea, the loss of tolls and traffic, the indignities to which [[Mecca]] and its port were subjected, and above all for losing one of his ships. He vowed vengeance upon Portugal, first sending monks from the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]] as envoys, he threatened [[Pope Julius II]] that if he did not check [[Manuel I of Portugal]] in his depredations on the Indian Sea, he would destroy all Christian holy places.<ref>Palmira Johnson Brummett, [https://books.google.com/books?id=bTnK1csz0swC&dq=Mamluk+pope+portuguese&pg=PA113 ''Ottoman Seapower and Levantine Diplomacy in the Age of Discovery''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405223409/https://books.google.com/books?id=bTnK1csz0swC&dq=Mamluk+pope+portuguese&pg=PA113 |date=5 April 2023 }}, SUNY Press, 1994, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-1701-0}}</ref>

The rulers of [[Gujarat]] in India and [[Yemen]] also turned for help to the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt. They wanted a fleet to be armed in the Red Sea that could protect their important trading sea routes from Portuguese attacks. [[Jeddah]] was soon fortified as a harbor of refuge so [[Arabia]] and the Red Sea were protected. But the fleets in the Indian Ocean were still at the mercy of the enemy.

The last Mamluk sultan, Al-Ghawri, fitted out a fleet of 50 vessels. As Mamluks had little expertise in naval warfare, he sought help from the Ottomans to develop this naval enterprise.<ref>Andrew James McGregor, [https://books.google.com/books?id=QZpWx-dgbYcC&dq=Mamluk+pope+portuguese&pg=PA20 ''A Military History of Modern Egypt: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Ramadan War''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404171644/https://books.google.com/books?id=QZpWx-dgbYcC&dq=Mamluk+pope+portuguese&pg=PA20 |date=4 April 2023 }}, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006 {{ISBN|978-0-275-98601-8}}</ref> In 1508 at the [[Battle of Chaul (1508)|Battle of Chaul]], the Mamluk fleet defeated the Portuguese viceroy's son [[Lourenço de Almeida]].

But, in the following year, the Portuguese won the [[Battle of Diu (1509)|Battle of Diu]] and wrested the port city of [[Diu, India|Diu]] from the [[Gujarat Sultanate]]. Some years after, [[Afonso de Albuquerque]] attacked [[Siege of Aden|Aden]], and Egyptian troops suffered disaster from the Portuguese in Yemen. Al-Ghawri fitted out a new fleet to punish the enemy and protect the Indian trade. Before it could exert much power, Egypt had lost its sovereignty. The Ottoman Empire took over Egypt and the Red Sea, together with [[Mecca]] and all its Arabian interests.