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{{Short description|Siege in India}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict = Siege of Cannanore (1507)
| image = Kannur-Fort-22.jpg
| image_size = 300px
| caption = [[St. Angelo Fort]] in [[Kannur|Cannanore]]
| partof = the [[First Luso-Malabarese War]]
| date = 27 April – 27 August 1507 ({{Age in years, months, weeks and days|month1=04|day1=27|year1=1507|month2=08|day2=27|year2=1507}})
| place = [[Kannur|Cannanore]], India|
| result = Portuguese victory
| combatant1 = [[Portuguese Empire]]
| combatant2 = [[Kōlattunād]] [[Calicut (kingdom)|Calicut]]
| commander1 = Lourenço de Brito
| commander2 = [[Kolathiri]] [[Zamorin|Samorin]]
| strength1 = 2 ships 150 soldiers<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kl3IR3RJTIEC&pg=PA165|page=165|title=History of the Portuguese navigation in India, 1497–1600|author=K. M. Mathew|publisher=Mittal Publications|year=1988|isbn=81-7099-046-7}}</ref>
| strength2 = 21 cannons 40,000 [[Nāyars]] 20,000 men from the [[Zamorin]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=9mR2QXrVEJIC&pg=RA1-PA315 ''Malabar manual'' William Logan p.315]</ref>
| casualties1 =
| casualties2 =
}}
{{Portuguese colonial campaigns}}

The '''siege of Cannanore''' was a four-month [[siege]], from 27 April 1507 to 27 August 1507, when troops of the local ruler (the [[Kōlattiri]] Raja of [[Kannur|Cannanore]]), supported by the [[Zamorin]] of [[Kozhikode|Calicut]] besieged the Portuguese garrison at [[St. Angelo Fort]] in [[Kannur|Cannanore]], in what is now the [[India]]n state of [[Kerala]]. It followed the [[Battle of Cannanore]], in which the fleet of the Zamorin was defeated by the Portuguese.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=9mR2QXrVEJIC&pg=RA1-PA314 ''Malabar manual'' by William Logan p.314]</ref>

==Background==
In [[2nd Portuguese India Armada (Cabral, 1500)|early 1501]], shortly after the opening of hostilities between the Portuguese admiral [[Pedro Álvares Cabral]] and the [[Zamorin]] of [[Kozhikode|Calicut]], the [[Kōlattiri]] Raja of [[Kannur|Cannanore]] invited the Portuguese to trade in the spice markets of Cannanore instead. Treaties were signed and a crown [[Factory (trading post)|factory]], defended by a small palisade, was [[4th Portuguese India Armada (Gama, 1502)|established in 1502]]. In [[7th Portuguese India Armada (Almeida, 1505)|late 1505]], D. [[Francisco de Almeida]], the first Portuguese [[List of colonial heads of Portuguese India|vice-roy of the Indies]], secured permission to erect the stone [[St. Angelo Fort|fortress of Santo Angelo]] in Cannanore. The fortress garrison of 150 men was placed under the command of Lourenço de Brito.<ref>Barros, ''Decadas da Asia'', v.2, p.344-45.</ref>

The old Kolathiri Raja who had energetically pursued the Portuguese alliance died sometime in 1506. As the succession was disputed, the [[Zamorin]] of Calicut, as formal suzerain of the [[Kerala]] coast, nominated an arbitrator to sort through the candidates. The new Kolathiri Raja of Cannanore was consequently indebted to the Zamorin and less inclined to the Portuguese.<ref name="Logan312">[https://books.google.com/books?id=9mR2QXrVEJIC&pg=RA1-PA312 ''Malabar manual'' William Logan p.314]</ref>

Hostilities were in large part due to the Portuguese sinking an Indian ship and killing the crew by stitching them into sails and throwing them into the sea, on the grounds that they were not carrying one of the ''[[Cartaz]]'', the passes the Portuguese were imposing on all ships of the region.<ref>Logan (p.314) identifies the offending captain as "Gonçalo Vaz" and suggests he was acting on his own. Cannnanore fort captain Lourenço de Brito protested his innocence, asserting he authorized no such action. Gonçalo Vaz was immediately dismissed by vice-roy Francisco de Almeida, but this did little to assuage the angered people of Cannanore.</ref> Such passes had to be signed by either the commander of Cochin or Cannanore.<ref name="Logan"/> The population of the adjoining state of [[Kōlattunād]] was greatly angered by this event, and asked their ruler, the Kōlattiri, to attack the Portuguese.<ref name="Logan"/>

==Siege==
The siege started on 27 April 1507, and was to last for four months.<ref name="Logan"/>

The Kōlattiri had 40,000 [[Nāyars]] attack the position.<ref name="Logan"/> The Zamorin supplied the ruler of Cannanore with 21 pieces of artillery and 20,000 auxiliaries.<ref name="Logan">[https://books.google.com/books?id=9mR2QXrVEJIC&pg=RA1-PA315 ''Malabar manual'' William Logan p.314''ff'']</ref><ref name="Diffie">''Foundations of the Portuguese empire, 1415–1580'' by Bailey Wallys Diffie p.233 [https://books.google.com/books?id=vtZtMBLJ7GgC&pg=PA233]</ref>

The firepower of the garrison under Lourenço de Brito allowed it to repulse massive attacks involving thousands of men.<ref name="Logan"/> The siege soon entered a stalemate, with the Malabari trenches being protected from Portuguese cannon fire by walls of cotton bales, and the Portuguese being slowly forced into starvation.<ref name="Logan"/> [[Fernão Lopes de Castanheda|Castanheda's]] detailed report of the siege states that they were then surprised – and saved – by a tidal wave of [[lobsters]] that washed ashore on 15 August.<ref>[[Castanheda]], Fernão Lopes de, "[https://books.google.com/books?id=mxwPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP9 História do descobrimento e conquista da Índia pelos portugueses]", p.158 (Full text in Portuguese).</ref> A major assault before the [[Onam festival]] nearly overcame the defenders, but was eventually repulsed. However, a large part of the garrison was wounded in the attempt.<ref name="Logan"/>

The Portuguese garrison was on the verge of being overwhelmed when, on 27 August 1507, a fleet of 11 [[8th Portuguese India Armada (Cunha, 1506)|8th Armada]] ships under [[Tristão da Cunha]] arrived from [[Socotra]]. The fleet landed 300 Portuguese soldiers, forcing the lifting of the siege and relieving the fortress.<ref name="Logan"/><ref name="Diffie"/>

Peace was negotiated between the Portuguese and the Kōlattiri Raja, confirming the continued presence of the Portuguese in [[Kannur|Cannanore]] and the resumption of their access to its spice markets.<ref name="Logan"/> These events would eventually be followed by the defeat of the Portuguese at the [[Battle of Chaul]] in 1508.

==See also==
* [[Portuguese India]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}

{{coord missing|Kerala}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Siege Of Cannanore (1507)}}
[[Category:Sieges involving Portugal|Cannanore (1507)]]
[[Category:Maritime history of Portugal]]
[[Category:Portuguese colonisation in Asia]]
[[Category:1507 in India]]
[[Category:Portuguese India Armadas]]
[[Category:1507 in Portugal]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1507]]
[[Category:Calicut kingdom]]
[[Category:Battles involving the Kingdom of Calicut]]

Siege of Cannanore (1507) - Revision history

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