It Is Plentifully Supplied With
Provisions From The Province Of Mogostan Or Laristan In Persia, And From
The Islands Of Kishom, Kissmis, Or Kishmish, Larek, And Others.
About
the year 1273, Malek Kaez possessed all the land from the isle of Jerun
to that of Bahrayn, bordering on the kingdom of Gordunshah of the
province of Mogostan[98].
This king by subtile devices prevailed upon
Malek to give him the island of Jerun, being a place of no value
whatever; after which he fortified himself there, and transplanting the
inhabitants of the ancient city of Ormuz on the coast, where the king
used to reside to that island, the king of Persia, fearing he would
refuse the accustomed tribute, prepared to invade him: But the king of
Gordunshah diverted him from his purpose, by engaging to be responsible
for the tribute, and by doing homage by his ambassadors once in every
five years. By these means the city and kingdom of Ormuz was
established, which continued to be ruled over by the heirs of the first
possessor and others, mostly by violence[99].
[Footnote 98: The expression in the text is obscure. It appears that
Malek Kaez, ruled over the sea coast of the kingdom or province rather
of Mogostan, of which Gordunshah was king or governor. - E.]
[Footnote 99: The account in the text is unintelligible and
contradictory: But we fortunately have one more intelligible from the
editor of Astley's Collection, I. 65. c. which being too long for a
note, has been placed in the text between inverted commas. - E.]
"This account of the origin of the kingdom of Ormuz or Harmuz is related
differently in a history of that state written by one of its kings, and
given to us by Teixeira at the end of his history of Persia, as
follows. - In the year of Hejirah 700, and of Christ 1302, when the
Turkomans, or Turks from Turkestan, overran Persia as far as the Persian
Gulf, Mir Bahaddin Ayaz Seyfin, the fifteenth king of Ormuz, resolved,
to leave the continent where his dominions then were, and to retire to
some of the adjacent islands. He first passed over with his people to
the large island of Brokt or Kishmish[100], called Quixome by the
Portuguese, and afterwards removed to a desert isle two leagues distant
eastward, which he begged from Neyn king of Keys, and built a new
city, calling it Harmuz after the name of his former capital on the
coast, the ruins of which are still visible to the east of Gamrun or
Gambroon. By the Arabs and Persians, this island is called Jerun, from
a fisherman who lived there at the time when Ayaz first took possession.
In the course of two hundred years, this new city and kingdom advanced
so much in wealth and power, that it extended its dominion over a great
part of the coasts of Arabia and Persia, all the way to Basrah or
Basora. It became the chief mart of trade in all these parts, which had
formerly been established at Keys; but after the reduction of Ormuz, by
the Portuguese, its trade and consequence declined much, owing to their
tyranny and oppression. Ayaz Seyfin, was succeeded by Amir Ayas Oddin
Gordun Shah. Thus it appears distinctly, that the Malek Kaes in the text
of Faria, ought to have been called the Malek or king of Kaes or Keys;
and that instead of the kingdom of Gordunshah of the province of
Mogostan, it should have been Gordun Shah king of Mogostan; besides, the
island was not granted to him, but to his predecessor Ayaz. As a mark of
their sense of the riches of Ormuz, the orientals used to say
proverbially, if the world were considered as a ring, Ormuz was its
jewel."
[Footnote 100: In a plan of Ormuz given in Astley's Collection, the isle
of Kishoma or Kishmis is placed at a small distance from that of Ormuz
or Jerun, and is said to be the place whence Ormuz is supplied with
water. In fact the island of Kismis or Kishom is of considerable size
and some fertility, though exceedingly unhealthy, while that of Jerun on
which Ormuz was built, though barren and without water, was
comparatively healthy. It was a commercial garrison town of the Arabs,
for the purpose of carrying on the trade of the Persian Gulf, and at the
same time withdrawing from the oppressive rule of the Turkoman
conquerors of Persia. - E.]
When Albuquerque arrived at Ormuz about the end of September 1507, Sayf
Oddin a youth of twelve years of age was sovereign, under the
guardianship of a slave named Khojah Attar, a man of courage but of a
subtile and crafty disposition. Hearing what had been done by
Albuquerque at the towns upon the coast, Attar made great preparations
for resisting the new enemy. For this purpose he laid an embargo on all
the ships in the port, and hired troops from all the neighbouring
countries, so that when the Portuguese entered the port there were
30,000 armed men in the city, of whom 4000 were Persians, the most
expert archers then in the world. There were at that time 400 vessels in
the harbour, 60 of which were of considerable size, the crews of which
amounted to 2500 men. Albuquerque was not ignorant of the warlike
preparations which had been made for his reception; but to shew his
determined resolution, he came immediately to anchor in the midst of
five of the largest ships riding in the harbour, firing his cannon as he
sailed along to strike a terror into the inhabitants, and the shore was
soon lined by 8000 troops. As no message was sent to him by the king, he
commanded the captain of the largest ship, which seemed admiral over the
rest, to repair on board of him, who immediately complied, and was
received with much civility, but in great state. He then desired this
man to go on shore and inform the king of Ormuz, that he had orders from
the king of Portugal to take him under the protection of that crown, and
to grant him leave to trade in the Indian seas, on condition that he
submitted himself as vassal to the crown of Portugal, and agreed to pay
a reasonable tribute:
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