Giving the Devil His Diu: Malik Ayyaz, the Estada da India and Reassessing Comparative Naval Power in the Early Modern Indian Ocean

Abstract

The 1509 Battle of Diu is regularly cited as a definitive example of European naval superiority over the Asian powers of the Indian Ocean. Some authors, like the late Jan Glete, have gone so far as to assert that, after Diu, no Indian Ocean state was ever able to challenge the Portuguese at sea again. Yet these analyses ignore that Portugal’s primary adversary in India, Gujarati governor Malik Ayyaz, not only survived the battle of Diu but also continued to wage a private war against the Estada da India until shortly before his death in 1522. This article examines Ayyaz’s war against Portugal from beginning to end and uses his career as a lens through which to offer a re-evaluation of Gujarati naval strength in the early sixteenth century. Its findings suggest that the conflict between Ayyaz and the Estada da India was ultimately a draw, with neither side possessing a meaningful technological or military advantage over the other.