| Battle of Dabul | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theAdil Shahi–Portuguese conflicts | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Portuguese Empire | Sultanate of Bijapur | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Francisco de Almeida | Unknown | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 19 ships 1,900 men | 4 merchant ships from Gujarat 6,000 men[1] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Negligible | All ships destroyed Unknown number of men killed, captured and wounded | ||||||
TheBattle of Dabul was a retaliatory attack by the forces of the Viceroy ofPortuguese India,Francisco de Almeida, upon the port city of Dabul (nowDabhol) in theSultanate of Bijapur. It occurred on 29 December 1508, in retaliation for attacking the Portuguese armadaen route to theBattle of Diu. Despite the presence of a double wooden wall and a ditch, the Portuguese using both anartillery bombardment and apincer movement of armed soldiers, "slammed into the town. What followed was a black day in the history of European conquest that would leave the Portuguese cursed on Indian soil."[2] The conquerors were merciless--all living creatures (male, female, old, young, human or animal) were slaughtered then the city set on fire to burn alive those who had managed to hide in secret. The Portuguese departed on January 5, 1509. "This massacre stood beside[Vasco de] Gama's destruction of [theHajj pilgrim ship] theMiri as an unforgiven act that lingered long in the memory".[3]