Forts and Cannon of Oman.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Salaams All, I have decided to create a new thread entitled Forts and Cannon of Oman...The one can hardly exist without the other, thus, the combined thread. In fact when studying Omani cannon one rarely sees any other than European examples(British or Portuguese)...and there is always the funny story of one cannon ball between two warring Forts ! The wooden trolley or limbres which the cannon were originally mounted on are long gone, thus, they invariably have remade items in the likeness of ...There are a thousand Forts in Oman however I shall deal with the main instalations first.

I will deal with the Muscat forts of Mirani and Jelali separately later and as it happens these were the only two that were constructed by the Portuguese.

Currently I am on a project adjacent the great fort in Barka on the Baatinah Coast near Muscat though, in fact, my office in Buraimi is in the shadow of the huge fort al Khandak in the town centre. In fact in Oman you could say Forts are us !

First a map and then on with the show...

~The Barka main fort next to the sea and shot from the air below.. is famous since Ahmad Said bin Mohammed bin Khalaff bin Saaid al Busaidi the first of the current dynasty in 1743 invited the entire Persian invader contingent (who were demanding payment ) to the fort for a Haffla (banquet) and subsequently murdered the lot of them ...

In fact, he is buried in another great fort at Rostaq in the mountains not far from Barka.~ What is really interesting about Barka is...that the old town is split into factions made up of different peoples involved down the ages ladder in this town on the Baatinah... There are Balooshi, Persian Faraasi and Zadjali contingents..all now integrated as Omani tribes but retaining their own special characteristics and parts of town. We have a field trip organised tomorrow into the Fort, thus, I expect a few pictures !! Stay tuned !!

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi. :shrug:

Notes;I have recieved special permission from David A. Lockwood (d.a.lockwood.659@gmail.com) to display his great pictures of Omani Cannon throughout this thread.The Barka Fort aeriel picture is courtesy of Ali Said al Namaani; one of my students. Other pictures from http://www.y-oman.com/2013/11/destination-samail-castle/ Maps from http://www.swaen.com/antique-map-of.php?id=3628

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

As a background margin note I have to say that the efforts to revive Omans Forts has been considerable as many were in total despair having been washed out by the heavy rains and generally left to fall apart down the ages. The question of how to handle this situation is not easy to answer since ...do you restore or leave alone the original and build a faximile next to it... Do you flatten it and start again... or is... was there ...a way of retaining the main fort structure and restoring where possible?

Here is a before and after shot of one of Omans most famous fortresses at Bahla originally errected by the Persians in pre Islamic times...It has a perimeter wall surrounding gardens and farms in the shadow of the Fort 12 kilometres long ! In the old picture you can just make out the outline of what is the right side of the Castle..One sneeze would have brought the lot down !

Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

For a brief but interesting view of what appears to be an Omani Cannon made in Nizwa in the 17th C please see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN8TCs_u05c :shrug:

Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Jim McDougall]

What an outstanding topic Ibrahiim!!! and though it is noted that with the cannon used by Omani's they are nearly exclusively European, British or Portuguese, I believe that discussion can be carried out effectively here without a parallel European forum thread .
What is interesting is that here on the ethnographic forum, cannon are almost never covered (aside from lantaka), while of course on the European forum all manner of ordnance is represented, mostly medieval and renaissance.

It does seem that many of these forts were originally Portuguese, and the same is often the case in many colonial regions in other spheres.

It will be interesting to look into these forts and associated ordnance, and some of the history seen with them. Thank you for citing the sources and links credited with material...nicely done!!!

[Norman McCormick]

Mine's bigger than yours !!! :D :D :D


Cannon at Fort Deeg, Rajasthan. Photo 1900, British Library.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

What an outstanding topic Ibrahiim!!! and though it is noted that with the cannon used by Omani's they are nearly exclusively European, British or Portuguese, I believe that discussion can be carried out effectively here without a parallel European forum thread .
What is interesting is that here on the ethnographic forum, cannon are almost never covered (aside from lantaka), while of course on the European forum all manner of ordnance is represented, mostly medieval and renaissance.

It does seem that many of these forts were originally Portuguese, and the same is often the case in many colonial regions in other spheres.

It will be interesting to look into these forts and associated ordnance, and some of the history seen with them. Thank you for citing the sources and links credited with material...nicely done!!!


Salaams Jim, You are right as Michael and many other excellent people have most of the options covered over on the European whilst few cannon have been examined here... despite magnificent pieces of Indian, Persian and Omani work...home grown, perloined, gifted or borrowed.. I hope the blend of Cannon and Forts works well. Regarding Portuguese input it is true that they were superb masters in Fort construction and they did build Mirani and Jelali in Muscat and others like Bahrain however they don't seem to have constructed any others in Oman as the remainder appear to be locally made. I hope members can stay the course with me as with 1,000 Forts and countless cannon it will be a long thread. A bit like making a decent curry !
I was viewing the Met museums Indian cannon exhibits and noted some woppers in that... and as posted by Norman. :)

In about half an hour I have a full team (10 students) going in to report on The Barka Fort!

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Barka Fort proved to be more incredible as access was granted for a special visit today. You dont at first realise that the fort originally stood inside a giant triangular wall making defence doubly strong. Each point of the triangle had a further tower and heavy armament. The main doors had slots above so that should the enemy be fortunate in getting that close hot molten dates could be poured on top of them. The doors in addition were iron spiked against elephant attack.

Cannon varied at the Barka Fort from English 6 pounder through Armstrong 9 pounder to Monks and Dundas 32 pounder balls fired from two and a half ton barrels!!...Cannon were first used by Oman in 1616 at Sohar fort.

What is clear is that gunpowder was a game changer… Forts had to be re constructed to take the heavy recoil and for protection against incoming rounds. Barka has one peculiar cannon designed to fire small shot like a claymore charge.

My favourite Cannon are a pair of weapons gifted by the English and stamped and decorated with the rose configuration and ER and dated 1587. A makers mark IP? appears over the breach end with their regimental numbers. There were a few shot out barrels discovered excavated from the sand in front of the Fort near the sea, badly corroded but probably English 6 pounders and one barrel blown apart.
The Fort cannon are complete with all their oak water barrels and ash ramrods etc.

As noted the first thing to note about the Fort is that the huge triangular external defensive wall is absent! see pictures below. Apparently local people helped themselves to that wall to build their houses about 250 years ago. It therefor stood inside a massive external triangular 20 foot high perimeter wall with a tower in each corner and must have protected a small population of traders, probably slavers soldiers and local people. The extra layer of defence would have been formidable and with the addition of the fort proper… almost invincible. The fort is built around two massive towers one of 8 sides and the other round. There are hundreds of rifle ports in addition.

Cannon and inhabitants use a lot of water so Barka was built with 4 water wells built into it. The Fort has dungeons simply very deep holes down which prisoners were lowered and a grate dropped over the hole. Food was simply dropped down the hole.

Shown below are a variety of cannon some from different forts as "examples" of weaponry in general circulation including at Rostaq, Jabreen and in the South at Mirbat (with the peculiar spoked wheels).

Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Note as to originality of what is on view~ both in the Fort structures and Cannons and Equipment. As has been said the first Omani cannon shots were fired at Sohar in 1616. Forts at that time and between then and now have fallen apart and been rebuilt for different reasons not least because heavy rain often washed out the walls causing partial collapse and because some of the forts were ancient they simply fell to bits. Rebuilding to take the extra weight of cannon and recoil as well as a program to refurbish Forts has meant a clouding of the original form and in some cases; drastic rebuilding. If you ask me to what extent Barka fort has been rebuilt I would have to say plus of 80%...including innerds that were not in the original and of course minus the great outer triangular wall...now incorporated into local houses. I am uncertain as to why Omani Forts have crenelated tops like Beau Geste Morocan fortifications since that was not the Omani style...however Morocan builders were employed in the 80s to renovate many Forts...

In terms of Cannon it appears that weapons have been centralised in the modern era after 1970...and redistributed to Forts as they have been renovated. This means two things viz;

1. Cannon have moved about and are not in their original locations....
2. Replicas are present in several locations including replica auxiliary equipments...ramrods water buckets cannon balls etc.

For that reason I show for example above at Barka fort in addition to the cannon on display there...other cannon from other Forts. No one is able to say what exact cannon there were in each location...such was the decay and condition of Omans Forts and Cannon stock.

Where possible if evidence exists such as in the case of the rusted barrels above ...being found at Barka just in front of the Fort in beach sand I shall give that information. Generally it appears that a mix of cannon were used in Omani Forts though precise details are not extant. :shrug:

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

This print shows Forts Mirani and Jellali ..The two major Forts constructed by the Portuguese ..There also built a few towers around Muttrah.

[Kubur]

Salaam,

A good reference for Omani forts in East Africa
https://www.academia.edu/4719393/Omani_Forts_Oman_in_East_Africa_

best

[fernando]

Very often fortifications were built over the foundations or remnants of earlier castles, although with designs more compatible with contemporaneous defence needs.
Fortifications Jalali (ex-São João) & Mirani do not escape the rule; they were built upon earlier Islamic forifications by Portuguese Rui Freire.
Mucat presents an extremely nice and curious defence net. Formed by three defence sysems, each with a different purpose.
The first one composed by a wall of envolving the city, as a primary line of defence. In the surrounding mountain heights towers of survey and atck form a circle around the harbour and the city.
These third complex, Jalali and Mirani together with Matrah, were the more sophisticated expression of what may be called the art of defence based in a Luso-Arab cultural whole and not Luso-European.
This might have been the greatest Lusitanian creation on what concerns their way of projecting and living architeture. Seeking to mix with the gigantic landscape that involves it and to which forms an integring part, all geographic irregularities are profited, with the capacity and shrewdness well typical of their know how to live with geographic discontinuity.
Although this formidable defence complex was considered unassailable, it was subdued by the Omanits in 1653.


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[fernando]

Being nowadays a Sultanate Government-institute, also apparently the fort of Soar was rebuilt by Portuguese, in the case by Rui Freire de Andrade, having had at the time for Captain Gonçalo da Silveira,
It is also beleived that Soar was fortified with trace of Architet Inofre de Carvalho.


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[fernando]

I wonder where the more comprehensive displays of artillery in Oman are already open to public. In fact a rather complex and expensive work took place quite a few years ago for the purpose; an episode that i happened to follow at the time.
Those are the Castles of Al Hazm, turned into an artillery museum and Bayt Ar Rudaydah, this one converted into a heritage small arms museum which displays the historical progression traditional weapons in Oman.

Attached a picture of a Portuguese crest in a cannon at the entrance of one of Muscat forts

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[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

I wonder where the more comprehensive displays of artillery in Oman are already open to public. In fact a rather complex and expensive work took place quite a few years ago for the purpose; an episode that i happened to follow at the time.
Those are the Castles of Al Hazm, turned into an artillery museum and Bayt Ar Rudaydah, this one converted into a heritage small arms museum which displays the historical progression traditional weapons in Oman.

Attached a picture of a Portuguese crest in a cannon at the entrance of one of Muscat forts

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Salaams fernando...True indeed ...I haven't got to those exhibitions yet but am working round to them...There are a number of Portuguese cannon and certainly one at the gates of Nizwa with a Swiss Cannon also. They often have the crest of the particular General etc over the barrel..I will pick up on those and the exhibition which I believe were the result of comprehensive work by Dr Roads. See Martini Henry...http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=16123&page=2&pp=30 at #34

Your comments about Sohar...called Soar in the old maps (and correctly mentioned as such in your post)... is interesting and I think you are correct...although details I have read indicate the first Omani firing of cannon was in 1616 from that fort...but it is vague and unclear. Certainly I have Mirani and Jelali plus the towers at Muttrah as Portuguese, though, there must be at least influence if not involvement in other fortified projects. It is also true that they retreated inland when the Piri Reius Turkish expedition attacked Muscat pre the building of Mirani and Jelali... Did not the Portuguese pass on their techniques in areas like Nizwa and Mannah...the latter being a fortified town reminiscent of Portuguese work? The question as to when these cannon arrived at the forts they are now in...is as yet, not answered but I hope to do that as the thread develops.

Thank you for the excellent details...

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Salaam,

A good reference for Omani forts in East Africa
https://www.academia.edu/4719393/Omani_Forts_Oman_in_East_Africa_

best


Salaams Kubur... That is a superb resource ... I wonder if there is a majic button to get it translated into English for Forum Library that I haven't seen on the site... non the less it is in easy to follow French and the diagrams are great... Thanks for adding that fine reference :shrug:

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[fernando]

...the exhibition which I believe were the result of comprehensive work by Dr Roads..
Correct; he was the mentor ... and his nephew was on the ground.


Certainly I have Mirani and Jelali plus the towers at Muttrah as Portuguese, though, there must be at least influence if not involvement in other fortified projects..
Countless; either built, rebuilt or modified.
Built from the ground were, for example,
Kalba (Quelba) under Portuguese rule in the XVI century.
Khor Fakkan (Curfacão) in the Sharjah side, with its triangular fort already in ruins by 1666.
The you have Diba Hisn (Doba) (the smallest of three Dibas) which, as you know, was once Omani Capital. Under Portuguese rule from 1624 to 1648, it is beleived they built a fort there.
You also have Qurayyat (Curiate), conquered in 1507. Its rectangular fort built by the Arabs was rebuilt by the Portuguese in the last quarter XVI century.

One must refrain from quoting other examples, as the doubt remains in whether a fortification was Portuguese because the place was under their rule, or indeed was built or rebuilt by them ... something often unclear in citations.
Also to be taken into account that present decharacterization occurs when archelogic autorities, carrying restorations interventions, promote the islamization of certain aspects ... battlements and other.


The question as to when these cannon arrived at the forts they are now in....
One thing inevitable to mind when you take over a medieval castle is to modify it for artillery purposes.
Cannons are heavy, but are portable ... and a vital asset in the period. They moved them a lot ... everywhere ... for the most varied reasons. You take them from you adversary when you win the battle and start using them yourself, you take them as a war trophy and you certainly take them from remote distances to exhibit them in a museum or at the door of somebody important.
One of the most formidable Muslim cannons that ever existed in India resides nowadays in Lisbon Military Museum

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[Kubur]

The best Muslim canon is in Leeds

http://www.royalarmouries.org/galleries/single-object/196

It's my own taste, it's up to you to follow...

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

The best Muslim canon is in Leeds

http://www.royalarmouries.org/galleries/single-object/196

It's my own taste, it's up to you to follow...

Thats another excellent reference Kubur... Thanks
Ibrahiim al Balooshi

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Correct; he was the mentor ... and his nephew was on the ground.



Countless; either built, rebuilt or modified.
Built from the ground were, for example,
Kalba (Quelba) under Portuguese rule in the XVI century.
Khor Fakkan (Curfacão) in the Sharjah side, with its triangular fort already in ruins by 1666.
The you have Diba Hisn (Doba) (the smallest of three Dibas) which, as you know, was once Omani Capital. Under Portuguese rule from 1624 to 1648, it is beleived they built a fort there.
You also have Qurayyat (Curiate), conquered in 1507. Its rectangular fort built by the Arabs was rebuilt by the Portuguese in the last quarter XVI century.

One must refrain from quoting other examples, as the doubt remains in whether a fortification was Portuguese because the place was under their rule, or indeed was built or rebuilt by them ... something often unclear in citations.
Also to be taken into account that present decharacterization occurs when archelogic autorities, carrying restorations interventions, promote the islamization of certain aspects ... battlements and other.



One thing inevitable to mind when you take over a medieval castle is to modify it for artillery purposes.
Cannons are heavy, but are portable ... and a vital asset in the period. They moved them a lot ... everywhere ... for the most varied reasons. You take them from you adversary when you win the battle and start using them yourself, you take them as a war trophy and you certainly take them from remote distances to exhibit them in a museum or at the door of somebody important.
One of the most formidable Muslim cannons that ever existed in India resides nowadays in Lisbon Military Museum

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Salaams Fernando ~ The politics on Forts is thicker than the walls!! Interesting that Corfecan fort is pictured as for the Fort at Barka.. unless they were identical. Possibly a mistake? Once I have a few more details I think it will become clearer as to the cloudy issue on Forts here...and bearing in mind the various attempts to rebuild...sometimes with more artistic licence than it perhaps required...and with additions and adaptions that were never there originally..I agree entirely with your descriptions and it is clear to me that a lot more Portuguese influence is apparent than openly claimed. I am certain that this can be corrected.
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Bahla Fort Gate Cannon.

So what is this weapon?? The P and Crown appear to be proof marks ...The numbers not pictured over the thick end of the barrel would give the weight in hundredweight quarters and pounds...see site below for details and mathematics.

Ibrahiim al Balooshi. :shrug:

Note;Pictures Courtesy of David Lockwood.

I viewed http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/shipwrecks/15627-cannon-markings.html for cannon marks and discovered some how to spot the cannon weight and other details...worth logging .

[fernando]

... Interesting that Corfecan fort is pictured as for the Fort at Barka.. unless they were identical. Possibly a mistake?...
No, not a mistake. Corfecão, Borca (Barkah) and Sibo (As Sib) are equally triangular.
The one in Sibo aleady existed when the Potuguese arrived, quoted by them as having been built by the 'Arabios'.
Corfecão had 26 mts. in its longer side an pentagonal bastions in the vertexes. In the center, a circular tower, which protected a water well. The garrizon was formed by a Lascarin capitain and 23 soldiers.

[fernando]

... non the less it is in easy to follow French and the diagrams are great...
There you may discern a good example of the said difference between property and origin, when you read the title 'Omani Forts in East Africa'.
As may be read in the text, the Fort Jesus de Mombaça (as the name Jesus denotes), was built by Portuguese in 1593-1596 and only taken by the Omani in 1698.
Built upon a coral formation, is considered one the more significant examples of Portuguese military architeture of the XVI century in the oriental African coast; nowadays classified as world patrimony by UNESCO.

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[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

No, not a mistake. Corfecão, Borca (Barkah) and Sibo (As Sib) are equally triangular.
The one in Sibo aleady existed when the Potuguese arrived, quoted by them as having been built by the 'Arabios'.
Corfecão had 26 mts. in its longer side an pentagonal bastions in the vertexes. In the center, a circular tower, which protected a water well. The garrizon was formed by a Lascarin capitain and 23 soldiers.

Salaams fernando...Glad to hear that... I am on a project next to Barka Fort for a month and Seeb is near my appartment. Corfecan may be a bit more difficult but I shall endeavor to raise pictures of the current instalations. You refer to the Fort Jesus which is entirely described here as Portuguese though changed hands later...The Fort at Bahrain is also Portuguese. Forts were not reclassified Omani Forts because of some religious decision but perhaps since some were either largely or totally rebuilt... I mean for example the fort at Bahla is an Omani Fort but was built by the Persians ...originally.

What I want to know is who was involved in either the design or rebuilding in each case and when was each one modified so that a precise picture can be presented. Such was the deterioration that in some cases the entire surrounding triangular wall ...e.g. at Barka has vanished; incorporated into the surrounding old houses construction which can be seen ...and I shall photograph those exposed walls next week..I am fascinated that 3 forts were essentially identical; Seeb, Corfecan and Barka.

It can be said that Bahla is totally reconstructed and was in such bad condition that no cannon of any size would have been used from inside it...as it would have brought the fort crashing down with the vibrations...

There are differing types of reconstruction down the ages;
1. Preparing the forts for cannon.
2. Running repairs say after heavy rains or part collapse...
3. The third type of renovation is because of tourism requirements.

My view is that the outer surrounding walls need to be repaired...reclaimed..and that a complete and true picture be assembled as to what cannons were at which Forts ...moreover who built the installations and when...The record book can then be retuned..

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

For a comprehensive background to Forts and Cannon of Oman etc see http://www.klm-mra.be/icomam/downloads/issue07.pdf :shrug:

[fernando]

The best Muslim canon is in Leeds

http://www.royalarmouries.org/galleries/single-object/196

It's my own taste, it's up to you to follow...
Well, when i said " One of the most formidable Muslim cannons that ever existed in India resides nowadays in Lisbon Military Museum" i was far from ensuring it is the best. Despite my personal appreciation for such specimen, i am far from being able to classify cannons but, the quotation on it stated by scholars is that it is one of admirable greatness since the XVI century and one of the largest basilisks in the world, with its 6,11 mts length, 19.499 Kilos weight and a caliber of 23,5 cms, throwing 43 kilos iron projectiles.
But what is important is its symbolic value, rather than its sophistication or dimension.

(I have already posted this cannon in a different approach. It is somwehere in the archives; can't spot it)

The iscription it contains saved it from being molten for the casting of a statue of King Dom José I around 1770 when, at the last moment, intelectual Friar José de S. Antonio Moura translated the said inscription which reads (Arabic writers may correct ):

From our Lord the Sultan of Sultans of time; verifier of the tradition of the Prophet of (God) Merciful; who combats for the exaltation of the precepts of the Koran; the demolisher of the arguments of the supporters of impiety; the one that removes the houses of worshipers of idols; the Victor in the day when the two armies encounter; heir to the kingdom of Solomon; trusted in the God the Benefactor; the possessor of the virtues – Bahadur-Shah Sultan; this piece was made in day 5 of the month Dhul Ka'da, year 939.

This cannon, built in 1533, was captured and brought to Portugal in 1538 and had practical use in Lisbon defences, before its ending in exhibition.
It is known as O Tiro de Diu (The shot of Diu), name given after its use in the siege of Diu in 1538.


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[fernando]

For a comprehensive background to Forts and Cannon of Oman etc see http://www.klm-mra.be/icomam/downloads/issue07.pdf :shrug:
Excelent. The Portuguese part, for one, looks rather comprehensive and competent.
I've saved it.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

1.For a very excellent technical approach to Nizwa Fort , its floor plan and shooting positions etc please see http://www.behance.net/gallery/15940189/The-Great-Fort-of-Nizwa

2. See the books on Portuguese Forts in Oman...http://www.colonialvoyage.com/category/asia/oman/#

3. For a sympathetic outline of Omans Forts please read http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/199101/fortified.oman.htm note it is slightly out of date in that Bahla has by now been more or less restored.

4. A small pocket book style guide and a short video on Omani Forts exists at http://omanpocketguide.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=97&Itemid=132

5. Take a look at these old pictures of Oman...Note the destruction caused by neglect in the pictured forts...In some cases the later reconstruction had to be virtually from scratch. http://qal3ataltareekh.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/blog-post.html?m=1

[fernando]

...e.g. at Barka has vanished; incorporated into the surrounding old houses construction which can be seen .
Typical ... also over here. The local fort in my home town was once almost swallowed by houses, till some good soul from the authorities demolished a few of them... to recuperate historic dignity and aesthetics.


...There are differing types of reconstruction down the ages;
1. Preparing the forts for cannon. .
Yes, in the most varied ways, according to period specialists and their origin. For example, sometimes you open embrasures in the walls for the cannons, other you build access ramps in which cannons shoot over the walls, an easier process. I can see both systems in mine and next town fortresses.

... 2. Running repairs say after heavy rains or part collapse....
A critical and chronic situation. Cements were not so good those days; walls used to fall apart in no time. Also artillery degradated a lot. I can read reports from local fort Captains claiming for repairs and gun replacements every now and then. One of the reasons is also because, depending on timely strategies forts were abandoned for long periods, nobody caring to maintain them in the meantime and, when you decide is vital to use them again, the whole thing is in bad shape and requiring lots of work.

... 3. The third type of renovation is because of tourism requirements.....
The more risky part. That's when they decide to transform a genuine monument into showbusiness ... either to please the sponsor or enjoy the indifferent visitor.

But you miss a fourth part, which is 'deconstruction'; something ocurred in not so old days, at least over here. Palaces and castles were partly dismantled to use the stones in other constructions; either donated by the State to those interested in building their own facilities or even the castle owner himself to make another palace or a chapel around the corner. I know about both specific cases.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

A great report on Bayt Rudayday is at http://www.muscatdaily.com/Archive/Oman/Oman-s-arms-collection-to-open-for-limited-viewing-1znc

Quote''According to Dr Roads, a leading world expert said that one of the rarest cannons of British origin is present in Oman.

“The cannon belongs to the English Commonwealth era, which was from 1649 to 1660. After Charles II came back to power in 1660, he ordered defacing of all arms and cannons which had the conjoined shields of England and Scotland from the Commonwealth era. The cannon in Oman could be one of the only two known to exist from the period.

Dr Roads believes that Oman has an amazing collection of muzzle-loading cannons and carriages from more than ten countries. “There are 27 different carriages at Barka Castle and Al Hazm Fort and there are plans to add another six. With Iberian cannon and carriages, the variety in Al Hazm far exceeds those existing in Spain and Portugal combined together.” "Unquote.

In another article he states that Quote “With more than 1,000 forts that dot the country, each has one or more cannon, not forgetting many that adorn government buildings and walis' offices.(A Wali is a county governor) There are also many distinguished cannons, like the one which is believed to be the oldest, dating back to 1575 of Portuguese-Indian origin, and found in the vicinity of Nizwa castle, entirely overlooked and unrecognised.”Unquote.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Salaams....One of the most peculiar Ethnographic arms I have seen in Oman is...The Palm Tree. Defenders of Forts used the boiling oil from date palms to pour down specially built-in slots above main doorways on top of raiders. :shrug:

Shown below is Nakhl Fort surrounded by Date Palms.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi. :shrug:

[fernando]

Salaams....One of the most peculiar Ethnographic arms I have seen in Oman is...The Palm Tree. Defenders of Forts used the boiling oil from date palms to pour down specially built-in slots above main doorways on top of raiders. :shrug:

Shown below is Nakhl Fort surrounded by Date Palms.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi. :shrug:
Present in the majority of local medieval castles, the machicolations, known in portuguese with the sugestive name of mata-cães (dog killers), have seen passing through their holes, the most varied materials ... arrows, stones, boiling water, boiling olive oil, but not boiling date oil.
Therefore our equivalent Ethno weapon is ... the Olive Tree :cool: ;)

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[fernando]

... Dr Roads believes that Oman has an amazing collection of muzzle-loading cannons and carriages from more than ten countries. “There are 27 different carriages at Barka Castle and Al Hazm Fort and there are plans to add another six. With Iberian cannon and carriages, the variety in Al Hazm far exceeds those existing in Spain and Portugal combined together.” "Unquote...
As i said before, i had the oportunity (previlege) to follow (from here) the works in Al Hazm back in 2005. I am aware that Dr. Roads is an expert of international recognition.
One may also ponder on the interpretation of determined afirmations, which either go together with a certain context or are brought to paper by the free hand of the Media.
I absolutely accept that the collection in Al Hazm is imense but (and) take in consideration the term variety ... which is not necessarily quantity.
I say this because the collection of bronze cannons in the Portuguese Military Museum is said to be unpaired (uncomparable) in the world. Then again, this may refer to variety, or and quantity ... or uniqueness.
From primitive cannons (trons) made in 1382 and early pieces made between 1370-1495, to regular examples cast during the realm of sixteen different Kings (1495-1908), adding those made overseas and also from foreign countries, is something worth to see ... if ever you come around.
And, if we consider that Spain, for one, was a greater might in the area, one may guess how great and varied must be their cannon collections.
I sincerely hope you don't mind my diverting from the thread topic which is Oman forts and cannons but, one gets excited and is difficult to keep this type of things severely restricted.
A couple images from the Museum, arranged without any quality.

.

[fernando]

One more :o .

.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

I would be amazed if al Hazm can beat that !

In terms of Portuguese Forts in Oman I believe the situation is blurred by terminology; Someone may have noted that there are a lot of forts in Oman which originate as Portuguese design, influence or creation. What I think has transpired is a perception that this meant a lot of the 1000 or so Forts were Portuguese...when in fact there are perhaps 12...all on the coast. Portugal had no reason to build other than on coastal sites thus no inland forts exist. To some people 12 is quite a lot of forts...but compared to the 1000 or so, numerically, it is but a few. Thus the mis quote that only a few forts are Portuguese. Here are the maps..How that became interpretted as only Mirani and Jelali plus the turrets at Muttrah I have no idea...
Once I can get into al Hazm I will take the pictures of their Iberian Cannon... which apparently are very impressive. It would indeed be incredible if the number and quality were of equal or superior to those you display.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[fernando]

... What I think has transpired is a perception that this meant a lot of the 1000 or so Forts were Portuguese...when in fact there are perhaps 12...all on the coast. Portugal had no reason to build other than on coastal sites thus no inland forts exist. To some people 12 is quite a lot of forts...but compared to the 1000 or so, numerically, it is but a few. Thus the mis quote that only a few forts are Portuguese. ...
Obviously a question of context ... or the universe you are reffering to.
12 forts in 1000 are nothing but a residual fraction. 12 forts in themselves built in the Omani coast for foreign occupation are quite a few.
... Taking in consideration that Oman, in the Ormuz straight, played a rather strategic role in the period ... and not only.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Obviously a question of context ... or the universe you are reffering to.
12 forts in 1000 are nothing but a residual fraction. 12 forts in themselves built in the Omani coast for foreign occupation are quite a few.
... Taking in consideration that Oman, in the Ormuz straight, played a rather strategic role in the period ... and not only.


I agree. I also believe there was a Portuguese fort on Mazira Island possibly protecting a mine of some sort. I am still at Barka on a project for 3 more weeks ..but I shall work my way around to the Al Hazm exhibition later...with camera.

Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Barka in May 2014; Some definition to the extent of wall removal..It appears that something like 300 to 500 metres of outer wall plus at least two turret instalations (the outer wall thickness several feet thick and perhaps 10 feet high) has been incorporated into other buildings adjacent to the fort and may even have been co-opted into actual main fort extensions and repairs.

Also showing the slot down which boiling hot oil was poured turning the attackers into human toffee apples !

:shrug:

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Traders have always operated in the shadow of Forts. :)

[fernando]

Traders have always operated in the shadow of Forts. :)
What place is this ? The shop owner might as well sleep in the fort facilities :eek: .

My home town fortress has a clear periphery since the last several decades. Not that the situation is completely innocuous, with its 'kitsch' kitchen exhaust. This fortress was adapted to coast guard barracks for a long while; not any longer ... but the chimney is still there :(

.

[fernando]

... Also showing the slot down which boiling hot oil was poured turning the attackers into human toffee apples ! ...
Amazing. I have never seen 'murder holes' in the form of slits; quite handy for pouring scalding date syrup.
As in this side of the world is stone that abounds, holes are circular, as 'non holes' are also available; it is the intention that counts.
You have them also by the dozen, as in this example situated in the middle of the country, where machicolations, toped by brick arches, must have been a Mudejar (you know the term ?) work.

.

[fernando]

I agree. I also believe there was a Portuguese fort on Mazira Island possibly protecting a mine of some sort. I am still at Barka on a project for 3 more weeks ..but I shall work my way around to the Al Hazm exhibition later...with camera.

Ibrahiim al Balooshi.
Some authors beleive that Cristovão de Mendonça, who was Captain of the Ormuz fort as from 1523, would have built a fort in Mazirah. The ruins of this fort are situated near a (copper?) mine and it is thought that Cristovão de Mendonça was involved in its exploration.
Meanwhile, browsing the Web on these matters i have learnt that a person who is able to expand in this issue of possible traces of Portuguese presence in Oman is Professor Mohamed Said Nasser Al-Wahaibi, responsible for the Department of History of the Ministery of Culture and Patrimony of Oman. This eminent Cathedratic has been twice in Portugal, organizing Omani seminars and is acquainted with local scholars. He is said to have been impressed with the quantity of documentation he found in Lisbon National Archives.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Some authors beleive that Cristovão de Mendonça, who was Captain of the Ormuz fort as from 1523, would have built a fort in Mazirah. The ruins of this fort are situated near a (copper?) mine and it is thought that Cristovão de Mendonça was involved in its exploration.
Meanwhile, browsing the Web on these matters i have learnt that a person who is able to expand in this issue of possible traces of Portuguese presence in Oman is Professor Mohamed Said Nasser Al-Wahaibi, responsible for the Department of History of the Ministery of Culture and Patrimony of Oman. This eminent Cathedratic has been twice in Portugal, organizing Omani seminars and is acquainted with local scholars. He is said to have been impressed with the quantity of documentation he found in Lisbon National Archives.


Salaams ...Yes I saw the various websites on the subject ...http://www.maphist.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=182 and a good wikepedia reference at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crist%C3%B3v%C3%A3o_de_Mendon%C3%A7a

Interesting that modern adendum to ancient forts always incude such objects as chimneys, aeriels, lamp posts and road signs!! It seems to be a modern disease. I hope you are spared the gigantic, pink, tailors shops....

Below ~ I am back into Barka fort to shoot more cannon...I wish ! but for now only with a camera. The fat boys (bigger barrels ) are from 3 British barrel makers; Monks~ Dondas ~Armstrong . Both Monks and Dondas fire a 32 pound ball and barrels weigh 2 and 2 and a half tons.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

I just happened to be in Sohar yesterday (24 May 2014 at 4 pm)...and passed by the old Fort which is accredited as being the area from which cannon were first fired in Oman in 1616.

By chance I caught the Fort disrobed of its usual overall thick covering of whitewash (view the whitewash lining the gun ports...)and underneath is the amazing myriad of brick and stonework showing its repairs and renovation down the ages.. A couple of English cannon grace the main doors..plus plastic rain/dust covers.. :shrug: :shrug:

There is an ongoing major restoration and repair underway... :shrug:

[fernando]

Most impressive; i wish i could visit it !
Visible are modifications carried out through time, as in many or all fortifications everywhere.
It is comforting to know that your nation cares to perserve its historic assets; i see that plenty Omani forts are or were restored ... something not so intense over here, i guess. Naturaly you need funds to go ahead with these works, which are not at all that cheap.
I take it that those two cannons are not wearing a 'raincoat' to prevent them to catch a cold but a 'dustcoat' to save them from the dirt caused by the restoring works.
This is not the first time you mention that this is the place where cannons were first fired in Oman (1616). Am i missing something in the approach? Do you mean cannons first fired by Omani or first fired at all ? Wasn't Portuguese artillery used all through the 16th. century ?
Amazing and somehow off topic is the brick pavement on the walkway, like where the cannons are standing; same as used here in many places, like in my own residence park, for one. Could they have been imported from here ? ;) :eek:

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Most impressive; i wish i could visit it !
Visible are modifications carried out through time, as in many or all fortifications everywhere.
It is comforting to know that your nation cares to perserve its historic assets; i see that plenty Omani forts are or were restored ... something not so intense over here, i guess. Naturaly you need funds to go ahead with these works, which are not at all that cheap.
I take it that those two cannons are not wearing a 'raincoat' to prevent them to catch a cold but a 'dustcoat' to save them from the dirt caused by the restoring works.
This is not the first time you mention that this is the place where cannons were first fired in Oman (1616). Am i missing something in the approach? Do you mean cannons first fired by Omani or first fired at all ? Wasn't Portuguese artillery used all through the 16th. century ?
Amazing and somehow off topic is the brick pavement on the walkway, like where the cannons are standing; same as used here in many places, like in my own residence park, for one. Could they have been imported from here ? ;) :eek:

Well spotted on the new pavements! Where does the modern world begin and the old one end?
In terms of the 1616 reference I deliberately go no further than that since I have not seen any documentation of who was firing at who? Nor do I know of the outcome...For now just a strange date....1616. I assume that refers to cannon fired by Omani gunners from the shore instalation at Sohar.
So far as the dustcoats are concerned ....no idea.
:) Do cannon suffer from dust? Maybe some acidic reaction or when they were removing the thick coat of whitewash...It may simply be standard proceedure as there is a team of retorers I believe from Morocco working on the entire system presumeably Fort by Fort.


I will discover more as I move around the Forts.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[fernando]

...It may simply be standard procedure as there is a team of restorers ...
I see it as the one and only reason. You are not going to mess with ancient patina by allowing the fall of inopportune paint drops and all kinds of dirt and then having to rub here and there with whatever necessary means to remove their presence.

[fernando]

... Also showing the slot down which boiling hot oil was poured turning the attackers into human toffee apples ! ...
So they call it asal, a sticky, boiling brew made from dates (quote).
I am starting to realize that the slot idea, contrary to the round holes system, is an Omani exclusive.
My wife loves tamaras, as we call them here; for some reason the term derives from the arab tamar ( التمر )

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

So they call it asal, a sticky, boiling brew made from dates (quote).
I am starting to realize that the slot idea, contrary to the round holes system, is an Omani exclusive.
My wife loves tamaras, as we call them here; for some reason the term derives from the arab tamar ( التمر )



Timmer or timmur is dates whilst the tree is the Nakhl (date palm tree) The traditional old greeting in our Oasis ... Buraimi... is Kayf Haalaq ?...How are you ?...or how is your health?......Reply... Foq'l Nakhl ...Up a palm tree !!

Asel is usually reserved for honey..though also used for boiling hot dates(asel-timmer) though "dhips" is another term...
Either way the recipient is scalded in boiling oil. Medaeval napalm!!

Meanwhile I was passing the seaport and fishing harbour of Sur...now with its expanding industrial port and took a picture of one of its Forts ... and Dhow yard... traditional floating forts like these have been built here for generations and with the quick lanteen sails they were fast in the water(and quick to turn) and their low draft enabled them to navigate in shallow water.

[fernando]

... Timmer or timmur is dates whilst the tree is the Nakhl (date palm tree) The traditional old greeting in our Oasis ... Buraimi... is Kayf Haalaq ?...How are you ?...or how is your health?......Reply... Foq'l Nakhl ...Up a palm tree !!.
Ah, words and languages :shrug: .
Could it be that timmer or timmur is Gulf Arabic ? :o :cool: .
My sources are more fluent in Moroccan Arabic ;) ; you know Morocco is just across the Straight of Gibraltar(Being there a few times). My dictionary says tamara derives from the Arabic tamrã.

... ... and Dhow yard... traditional floating forts like these have been built here for generations and with the quick lanteen sails they were fast in the water(and quick to turn) and their low draft enabled them to navigate in shallow water.
The great Dhow, the Persian Gulf version of the Indian Pangaio, a ship built in a way to last sometimes 90 years, ten times more than Portuguese Caravelas and Naus (carracks), using the lapes or galagala, a special bitumen that protected its hul and sub-hull against wear and even small artillery. Its triangular sail (Bastard in the Gulf and Latin in the Mediterranean), together with lots of knowledge in the art of sailing were the greatest resource for Western maritime evolution. A lot of techniques used in the discoveries period by Portuguese evoluted from Arab Muslim navigation expertise.

.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

A picture of a Dhow in earlier times..from "Richardson and Dor" the Historical Association publication.

[fernando]

Double post. Mislead by frequent time outs and apparent text lost.

[fernando]

A picture of a Dhow in earlier times..
Can you define earlier times ?
I wish i knew enough about sails to define the rig of this specific Dhow. It looks square (to me :o ) and not the bastard lateen expected in these historic ships. I wonder if this one can sail 'against' the wind, using the 'beating', a series of 'tacks' executed in a zigzag mode.
Square sails achieve faster speeds but only travel with the wind by the back (before wind, they say). They have to ponder in their route to reach a determined destination; in such way that, as is said, Cabral 'found' Brazil due to his having to sail far to West to then turn around to touch the Cape, on his way to India, whilst seeking favourable winds.
But if contrary winds constituted a serious problem for tall sailing ships, total wind absency was even lethal, when they were caught in the middle of the Ocean. The (only) alternative was to tow the ships, using their own rowing boats, to either a wind blowing area or a favourable position when in combat.
I bring this appendix to attention as, by coincidence (or not), the Dhow you posted looks as being towed, with the waters (and wind) so calm and a rowing boat right in front at close distance.
May i attach pictures of an example of lateen sail used over here, in this case a deep waters fishing boat specimen exclusive to my home town. Having disapeared from circulation in the fifties to give place to motorization, the locals built a fully functional replica totally faithfull to original techniques. This lateen sail version is called 'pendão' (pennant) due to the manner it pends from the mast, held by a huge spar.

.

[Rick]

Nelson's HMS Victory 104 guns, launched 1765, carried a lateen rig on her mizzen mast in the early years of her career . :)

It was also one of the easiest of 'jury' rigs available to mariners of those days .

[Miqueleter]

Rick et al,

Here is an article from an international museum committee site that is certainly germane to the original topic. I really enjoy all Ibrahiim al Balooshi posts and we are truly fortunate to have such an arms and armour devotee from that part of globe share his passion with us . Enjoy

http://www.klm-mra.be/icomam/downloads/issue07.pdf

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Rick et al,

Here is an article from an international museum committee site that is certainly germane to the original topic. I really enjoy all Ibrahiim al Balooshi posts and we are truly fortunate to have such an arms and armour devotee from that part of globe share his passion with us . Enjoy

http://www.klm-mra.be/icomam/downloads/issue07.pdf


Salaams Miqueleter ...The reference is excellent and I use it on a lot as a backdrop to various topics thus I have refered to it in other aspects of my work here on Khanjars, Forts 'n Cannon and... everything Omani. Thank you for your post...
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Nelson's HMS Victory 104 guns, launched 1765, carried a lateen rig on her mizzen mast in the early years of her career . :)

It was also one of the easiest of 'jury' rigs available to mariners of those days .

A good friend of mine was on the Victory... which although tied alongside was/is still a posting in the Royal Navy.
Ibrahiim al Balooshi. :shrug:

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Can you define earlier times ?
I wish i knew enough about sails to define the rig of this specific Dhow. It looks square (to me :o ) and not the bastard lateen expected in these historic ships. I wonder if this one can sail 'against' the wind, using the 'beating', a series of 'tacks' executed in a zigzag mode.
Square sails achieve faster speeds but only travel with the wind by the back (before wind, they say). They have to ponder in their route to reach a determined destination; in such way that, as is said, Cabral 'found' Brazil due to his having to sail far to West to then turn around to touch the Cape, on his way to India, whilst seeking favourable winds.
But if contrary winds constituted a serious problem for tall sailing ships, total wind absency was even lethal, when they were caught in the middle of the Ocean. The (only) alternative was to tow the ships, using their own rowing boats, to either a wind blowing area or a favourable position when in combat.
I bring this appendix to attention as, by coincidence (or not), the Dhow you posted looks as being towed, with the waters (and wind) so calm and a rowing boat right in front at close distance.
May i attach pictures of an example of lateen sail used over here, in this case a deep waters fishing boat specimen exclusive to my home town. Having disapeared from circulation in the fifties to give place to motorization, the locals built a fully functional replica totally faithfull to original techniques. This lateen sail version is called 'pendão' (pennant) due to the manner it pends from the mast, held by a huge spar.

.



Old times I think refers to about 1900...I have seen pictures and sketches of ships at harbour in Muscat (even today) ..The sketches and old photos show such vessels offloading cargo...rifles and provisions at Muscat. I will dig out more maritime work...
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[fernando]

Nelson's HMS Victory 104 guns, launched 1765, carried a lateen rig on her mizzen mast in the early years of her career . :)

It was also one of the easiest of 'jury' rigs available to mariners of those days .

... Up to today, when the most varied multiple sail rigs, cutters, schooners, barques, barquentines, brigs, etc. do not reject the presence of lateen sails in their rig and... just in case, an auxiliary motor ;) .

,

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

... Up to today, when the most varied multiple sail rigs, cutters, schooners, barques, barquentines, brigs, etc. do not reject the presence of lateen sails in their rig and... just in case, an auxiliary motor ;) .

,

I think the whole subject of naval warfare in the region is very interesting deserving further research and perhaps a dedicated thread although I very much like discussing it here...as floating fortresses.. :) ...in tandem with Forts and Cannon of Oman... Either way it is a great subject..

I would like to return to Sohar Fort since I have captured a few more pictures of the damage now being repaired by a specialist team and to illustrate the size of the problem caused mainly by rain...and unseen until the thick coating of whitewash was removed. The temperature was about 50 degrees, thus, solar degradation is a problem and at about 50 paces from the Ocean salinity also plays a part.The reapplication of a modern concrete crenelation along the top of the ramparts is deliberate and in an attempt to halt water seepage into the main walls ( and its devastating results ) during rain storms. Similar work has had good results in Forts in the UAE.

[Emanuel]

Hello,

Here is a very nice article on the forts of Oman: http://www.klm-mra.be/icomam/downloads/issue07.pdf

Emanuel

[Jim McDougall]

This was a remarkable thread which offered tremendous insight into an aspect of arms and armour not often covered in collecting forums as obviously artillery is a field quite logistically improbable for most collectors.

Still, what is important is the historical perspective which very much aligns with our study of various sidearms and weaponry of the periods and locations involved. As we have seen in numerous threads on Indian arms as well as Sri Lankan and clearly the Omani, the most notable presence of the Portuguese in all of these much colonized and traded spheres was key in bringing artillery and fortifications to these areas, among others too numerous to include in the scope of this discussion.

In recent threads, it was noted that Portuguese influences in artillery and fortifications were certainly included in India, as well as Oman etc. and I thought perhaps reopening these wonderfully detailed posts and expanding the topic to all aspects of fortifications and artillery associated would be worthy of continuing.

Hopefully we will be able to move onward and leave the unfortunate remains of the woefully misplaced debate on Omani swords behind us. That debate was of course not for this thread, and as it was two years ago, I think we are much better equipped to focus on the topics originally intended here,

So gentlemen.....we have range......fire for effect! Lets get back to the guns and forts and bring India, Sri Lanka et al into the scope!!!:)

[mariusgmioc]

Salaams....One of the most peculiar Ethnographic arms I have seen in Oman is...The Palm Tree. Defenders of Forts used the boiling oil from date palms to pour down specially built-in slots above main doorways on top of raiders. :shrug:

Shown below is Nakhl Fort surrounded by Date Palms.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi. :shrug:


Maybe next year! ;)

[Jim McDougall]

Maybe next year! ;)


Huh?
Marius, interesting extract, but was kind of hoping for more material on the subject matter on forts, guns and to expand into the Indian sphere.
Not sure what this message means.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

This was a remarkable thread which offered tremendous insight into an aspect of arms and armour not often covered in collecting forums as obviously artillery is a field quite logistically improbable for most collectors.

Still, what is important is the historical perspective which very much aligns with our study of various sidearms and weaponry of the periods and locations involved. As we have seen in numerous threads on Indian arms as well as Sri Lankan and clearly the Omani, the most notable presence of the Portuguese in all of these much colonized and traded spheres was key in bringing artillery and fortifications to these areas, among others too numerous to include in the scope of this discussion.

In recent threads, it was noted that Portuguese influences in artillery and fortifications were certainly included in India, as well as Oman etc. and I thought perhaps reopening these wonderfully detailed posts and expanding the topic to all aspects of fortifications and artillery associated would be worthy of continuing.

Hopefully we will be able to move onward and leave the unfortunate remains of the woefully misplaced debate on Omani swords behind us. That debate was of course not for this thread, and as it was two years ago, I think we are much better equipped to focus on the topics originally intended here,

So gentlemen.....we have range......fire for effect! Lets get back to the guns and forts and bring India, Sri Lanka et al into the scope!!!:)


Hello Jim, Naturally my opinion on this entire subject is bound to be slightly biased however, as you can see by the distance traveled covering this subject and the hard work done by Forum what a shame it would be to leave this thread squandering in the dust..Al Hazm is a key marker I have hardly touched and there are other forts of note...Oman therefor was a strategic stepping stone on the way to India. Indeed it was the Omanis who showed the Portuguese the way to Hormuz which was a Fortress of great significance and wealth...The Jewel in the Crown to Portugal and a serious stepping stone to India. It goes without saying that when Muscat was recaptured by Oman in about 1650 that this signaled the downfall of Portuguese interests in India and its environs though they did rather hang on and in some cases they are still there today...and certainly their influence is still seen. Understanding the position on Forts of Oman is key to the Portuguese situation on the African Coast and in India. Linked to that is the development of gunpowder weapons in particular Cannon...thus this subject is vital to that...and an Ethnographic piece of the jigsaw puzzle regionally.

Already posted before are what turn out to be very rare pictures I took of the whitewash stripped Sohar Fort which was the first place cannon were discharged in anger in Oman... and I recall the famous story of Fort Jelali which operated as a prison where there was a lion in a cage inside the gates...to which first offenders were chained to the outside of a great cage. Second offenders were put inside the cage... Lunch to a huge Lion.
Unbeknown to many the fort had been constructed as a result of Muscat under the Portuguese being seized by Piri Reis the Turkish General later executed on return to Turkey...in a Machiavellian plot. Please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Al_Jalali for a reasonable basic picture of Jalali Fort and its history. Below you can see the large picture with Jelali in the foreground and behind it Fort Mirani; its sister Fort.

[Jim McDougall]

Very well said Ibrahiim!!
As we sort of get this theme back on track, it is well to understand that this clearly vast network (even more so apparently as discoveries of evidence continue) of Portuguese navigation and exploration reveal this network which influenced continents' cultures and set the pace for future colonization

The Portuguese arrivals in India of 1498 were certainly key in the following colonizations and by the establishment of their rule in Goa, others and profound development was to continue.

It is fascinating to see the string of fortifications in these many outposts of Portuguese occupation, and to observe them as a tactical network which was to establish 'globalization' in these early times.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Very well said Ibrahiim!!
As we sort of get this theme back on track, it is well to understand that this clearly vast network (even more so apparently as discoveries of evidence continue) of Portuguese navigation and exploration reveal this network which influenced continents' cultures and set the pace for future colonization

The Portuguese arrivals in India of 1498 were certainly key in the following colonizations and by the establishment of their rule in Goa, others and profound development was to continue.

It is fascinating to see the string of fortifications in these many outposts of Portuguese occupation, and to observe them as a tactical network which was to establish 'globalization' in these early times.


Hello Jim, In reviewing many of the publications about Omani history I find the one below so interesting that I can omit nothing from it...thus I place it as a cornerstone in the construction of this thread and hope readers may enjoy it...as it brings to life the very essence of ethnographic content giving readers a taste of life long ago...

I Quote"


Fortified Oman

Written and photographed by Lynn Teo Simarski

Much of Oman's tumultuous history is written in the stone, stucco, and mud-brick dialects of its defensive architecture. The craggy countryside bristles so naturally with fortifications that it is difficult to imagine the landscape without them, from the chains of watchtowers perched along strategic mountain passes, to the great bastions guarding the coast and the historic capitals of the interior. As the political turbulence of the past subsided into history, however, the fortresses coveted by conquerors seemed destined to crumble into oblivion - until the 1980's, when the government of Oman began an enterprising program to restore the country's fortifications using traditional techniques and materials.

The government selects monuments for restoration based on their size and complexity, and the importance of their role in history, explains Malallah bin Ali bin Habib, advisor to the Ministry of National Heritage and Culture. Oman is fortunate, he adds, that its ruler, Sultan Qaboos bin Said, has an intense personal interest in history and preservation. Still, the sheer abundance of Oman's heritage of defensive monuments - more than 500 forts and castles, not to mention fortified houses and towers - makes conservation a daunting prospect.

The preserved forts will eventually constitute a collective record of how fortified architecture developed in Oman. Defensive elements such as towers, battlements, walled enclosures and gateways comprise "the most distinctive aspect of Omani architecture," according to archeologist Paolo Costa. Today, architectural features reminiscent of the old forts appear as artistic rather than utilitarian attributes in modern villas and commercial buildings. Even the smallest shops often feature crenelations decoratively painted across their facades.

Rulers over the ages built forts as the physical manifestation of their authority in Oman and the lands Oman once controlled in India, southwestern Iran and East Africa. Yet the forts are frequently assumed to be a foreign legacy, largely because of the prominence of the famous twin sentinels of Jalali and Mirani, built by the Portuguese to guard Muscat bay. "It is not true that many of the forts in Oman were built by the Portuguese," stresses bin Habib. "The vast majority of forts, castles, and watchtowers are the work of [Oman's] Ya'ariba and Al Bu Said dynasties."

Nonetheless, in the past, travelers sailing toward the coast first saw the Portuguese-built bulwarks of Muscat and nearby Mutrah. Muscat was an important naval base for the Portuguese during their century and a half of domination, and they built fortifications there early on. After Ottoman naval forces temporarily dislodged them from the town, they returned to fortify the natural defensive pinnacles of Muscat, completing Jalali and Mirani - the latter still houses a small Portuguese chapel - by 1588. But the Portuguese were confined to coastal Oman. Donald Hawley describes them in Oman and its Renaissance as "locked up in their great forts,.. .unsympathetic toward the local people."

After the Portuguese were expelled by the Ya'ariba dynasty, the Omanis enlarged and transformed Jalali and Mirani into "purely Omani fortresses," according to Enrico d' Errico, who supervised restoration of a number of Omani monuments. The coastal forts continued to draw the envious glances of those who wished to control the trade of the Gulf and Indian Ocean. "I have little doubt," observed Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India, in 1903, "that the time will come... when the Union Jack will be seen flying from the castles of Muscat." His prediction did not come to pass, however, and the forts of Muscat and Muttrah have now been restored as patriotic symbols of Oman's independence.

Another element in the defenses of Muscat was Bayt al-Falaj fort in nearby Ruwi, built in the 19th century by the Al Bu Said dynasty to which Sultan Qaboos belongs. Surrounded by steep mountain slopes, the whitewashed fort commanded access to valleys leading to Muscat, and was the stage in 1915 for a heroic victory by a small force of defenders over thousands of rebellious tribesmen. Headquarters for the Sultan's armed forces until 1978, Bayt al-Falaj is now a museum with superb carved doors and painted ceilings.

To the south of Muscat in the town of Sur, Snisla fort, with its fanciful wedding-cake tower, has also been restored, and restoration on two more forts, Bilas and Ras al-Hadd, is in progress. North of Muscat, along the miles of date palms and fishing villages, a string of clean-lined, dun-colored forts guards the shore. Perhaps the most impressive of these massive sand castles is the restored fort of Barka, where an inscription features the name of Ahmad bin Said, the first imam of the Al Bu Said dynasty, and winner of what became Oman's final victory over the Persians. In the palm groves some distance behind the fort nestles Bayt Naman, an elegant example of a 17th-century fortified palace now under restoration.

Farther up the coast in Sohar, Oman's northernmost important town, rise the seven towers of its restored fort, dazzling white against the deep blue of the sky and sea. Sohar protected the coastal approaches to several mountain passes, including the route to Buraymi Oasis in the interior. Although bypassed by recent history, Sohar was the legendary home of Sinbad and was called "the greatest seaport of Islam" by the 10th-century geographer al-Istakhri. "It is the most populous and wealthy town in Oman," he wrote, "and it is not possible to find on the shore of the Persian Sea nor in all the lands of Islam a city richer in fine buildings and foreign wares."

In 1507, the Portuguese conqueror Affonso de Albuquerque found at Sohar "a fortress of square shape, with six towers round it, having also over the gate two very large towers," a complex that called for defense by more than 1000 soldiers. The Portuguese transformed Sohar into one of their principal Omani bases. This was but one of many rebuildings; French archeologists recently unearthed the remains of a fort from the 13th or early 14th century within the present fort's precincts. Today, high in the tallest tower, the sea breeze blows gently through the governor's majlis or council chamber - it is still employed as such - and the sunlight casts intricate patterns through the white pargeted windows.

Inland from the coastal belt of palms, across the acacia-dotted plain, looms the purple-gray mountain spine of northern Oman. The massive, round-towered forts standing sentinel on both sides of the mountain, where foreign cultural influence was weaker than on the coast, chronicle the evolution of Oman's indigenous fortifications. From the time of Albuquerque, the introduction of gunpowder and cannon transformed the type of defensive architecture. The plan of the older, smaller, many-towered forts gave way to a new design: a square enclosure fortified, at diagonally opposite corners, with two round towers appropriate to the use of cannon. Walls were thickened to resist cannon-fire, and towers heightened to extend the cannons' reach. When enemies drew near the tower, musketeers could fire at them through narrow, downward-slanted loopholes.

It was under the strong and prosperous rule of the Ya'ariba imamate, from approximately 1624 to 1748, that the distinguishing characteristics of Omani military architecture began to crystallize. The Ya'ariba rulers, effectively uniting Oman for the first time in many centuries, rebuilt the old irrigation systems, renovated the towns, revitalized agriculture, and spurred the pace of trade. The promontories of the Sumayl Gap, the most important route to the interior, were crowned with one watchtower after another by the second Ya'ariba ruler, Sultan bin Sayf. At the coastal end of the pass, Bidbid Fort, now restored, anchored this chain of defenses.

At Nizwa, still a regional capital today, Sultan bin Sayf built the great, round, golden tower - the largest in Oman and one of the largest in the Gulf - that still stands in the oasis, next to the ruler's palace, as a monument to the genesis of the new architectural style. The tower is said to have taken 12 years to build, and its gun-ports command a 360-degree field of fire. Restoration of the tower was to be completed last year, and the town's traditional suq is also slated for renovation.

About a quarter century after Nizwa fort was constructed, Bilarab bin Sultan, son of Nizwa's builder and the third imam of the Ya'ariba, erected the splendid palace of Jabrin in the middle of an expansive inland plain. In the interpretation of Paolo Costa, the square layout of Jabrin palace, with its two towers at opposite corners, surpasses Nizwa by unifying its defensive and residential features. Bilarab, who was known for his benevolence to poets and scholars, endowed Jabrin with a madrasa, or school. The palace, now completely restored, still guards the tomb of its builder, who died in 1692.

According to another scholar, Eugenio Galdieri, Jabrin shows the artistic influence of Safavid Persia in the design of its plaster grates and its general apportionment of space. The flowing patterns of its painted ceilings, such as the one in the Hall of the Sun and the Moon, echo carpet designs, and offer the finest examples of such painting in all of interior Oman.

Another charming stronghold on the inland side of the mountain, also more palace than fort, is Birkat al-Mawz or "Pool of the Plantains." It follows the basic layout of Jabrin. Poised across the yawning mouth of a great pass into the mountains, Birkat al-Mawz was one of the fortresses of the Bani Riyam tribe which controlled the mountain heartland. Collapsing into ruin until recently, the mud-brick fortress and its painted ceilings are now well on the way to restoration.

The fifth ruler of the Ya'ariba, Sultan bin Sayf II, established his capital at al-Hazm, on the coastward side of the mountain. His fort, built in 1725, once again echoes the plan of Jabrin. The central columns of the fort's round towers feature refined plaster pargeting above the bronze Portuguese cannon brought from Fort Mirani in the 19th century. Even today, the dark, brooding bulk of al-Hazm seems to evoke the melancholy of its ruler who, contemplating political and military reverses at the close of his life, reportedly said, "This is my castle and my grave. I am become an eyesore to everyone, and the quiet of death will be preferable to any happiness which dominion has afforded me." Al-Hazm's labyrinthine depths still guard the imam's grave and his silent prayer cell, as well as claustrophobic dungeons and - if tradition is to be believed - the ruler's hidden escape routes.

The many architectural features repeated in Oman's forts help today's restorers infer how various rooms and spaces were used in the past. Impressed with Morocco's expertise in restoration, Oman invited a technical team of about 60 Moroccans to work with the Ministry of National Heritage and Culture. "The Moroccans have done extensive restoration work in their own country," explains bin Habib. "Many of Oman's forts need specialized techniques, and Morocco has specialists in each field - calligraphy, carpentry, mechanical engineering - and they have the restoration know-how."

The Moroccan team's director, Sidi Mohammed el-Alaoui, brings an architect's vision and a historian's imagination to his work. He explains that, before a monument can be restored, its milieu must be understood. "We must imagine the governor living inside the fort, and what his life was like," el-Alaoui says. "This means learning Omani history, reading religious and scientific books and poetry -everything about the period during which the monument was built." The restorers also survey and sketch the remains of the old forts, seeking clues to how rooms were used. Blackened walls, for instance, probably indicate the fort's kitchen, while the women's rooms, generally situated in the most private area of the fort, tended to be decorated more richly than others, perhaps with wooden or plaster lattice screens across the windows. Important rooms such as a majlis often had an elaborately painted ceiling.

Many of the forts, then, served not only for defense but also provided for a comfortable daily life. El-Alaoui points out that although Oman's castles borrowed some features from Persian, Indian and Portuguese design, they are entirely adapted in utility and design to the demands of local political and social routine.

Omani forts are guarded by massive, ornately-carved wooden portals, with a small cut-out door that allows entrance to only one stooping visitor at a time. The houses of Oman also feature carved and decorated doors that contrast handsomely with the spare lines of the buildings. The ceilings of forts are typically beamed with trunks of palm or sandlewood supporting simple but elegant patterns of crisscrossed palm ribs and palm-frond mats.

If invaders forced entrance to the forts, defenders could douse them, through a slot over the gateway, with asal - a sticky, boiling brew made from dates. Larger forts have a special room for processing dates, which were primarily, of course, an important food. A fort also invariably has a simple mosque, a majlis, men's and women's living quarters, soldiers' rooms, prisons, and storage chambers, among other facilities. At Jabrin, astonishing as it sounds, restorers have identified a room at the head of a long flight of stairs as a stall for the ruler's horse, which he apparently disdained to dismount outside the castle.

Important forts such as al-Hazm or Jabrin also had their own falaj, or water-supply channel, running through the lower level. If this was blocked by attackers, several wells provided an alternative in time of siege. To mitigate the scorching climate, windows of forts such as Nizwa and Rustaq invariably face north to let in cooling breezes. Sitting rooms are thick-walled and served by natural air conditioning: Cool air blows in through large lower windows, and rising hot air escapes through small upper windows.

Many of the forts have histories reaching back to ancient times. The large restored fortress of the town of Rustaq, set in an expansive oasis on the coastal side of the mountains, stands on what may have been the site of a fort since two millennia before the advent of Islam. The present fort, Qalat al-Kasra, includes a tower that tradition holds was originally built by the Persians in the year 600. Rustaq has long been important because of its strategic situation at the openings of mountain passes, as well as its benign climate and hot springs, which are believed to have medicinal benefits. It was the site in 1624 of the election of the first imam of the Ya'ariba, Nasir bin Murshid bin Sultan, and served as the imamate's capital a number of times.

Not far from Rustaq lies Nakhle oasis, whose own hot springs bubble out at the foot of barren mountains that slice into the earth like a guillotine. Here, one of Oman's most dramatically-sited castles poises upon a precipice, contoured so closely to its natural foundation as to seem sculpted from the rock. From the ramparts of Nakhle, Barka fort on the coast can be spotted on a clear day, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) away.

Colonel S. B. Miles, a British political agent in Muscat, visited Nakhle in 1876. Approaching the town, he wrote, "it seemed as if we were about to penetrate the very bowels of the mountain. No sign of human habitation, no cultivation, no gardens were visible, nothing but dark and desolate rocks met the eye ... when from above, in front of us, several matchlocks were suddenly discharged in our direction, and I perceived a watch tower perched on a steep pinnacle... from which the sentries had fired to give notice of our approach. Rounding an angle, we were now confronted with the massive ramparts of the fortress, which, warned by the watch tower, immediately began to fire a salute from a battery of 12-pounder iron guns, the sound of which reverberated sharply from the rocky walls of the glen."

Today, visitors expecting the grim, black fortress described in guidebooks will find that Nakhle has been restored to its original golden splendor. It is presently the headquarters of the Moroccan restoration team, whose general rule is to employ virtually no materials that come from more than a few kilometers around a monument's site. The restorers' dedication to authenticity is exemplified in the painstaking process by which they learned to make sarouj, a local ingredient of both mortar and plaster. Cement plaster was tried in earlier restorations with unsatisfactory results: The mud-brick beneath was unable to give off moisture and the new facades soon fractured.

Now, the restorers analyze the composition of the original building materials, and consult local elders about the proper way to produce sarouj. The raw material is soil from a date-palm grove, taken only with the owner's permission, which is mixed with water and dried in the sun. It is then baked in a traditional oven, baked again in the sun, and finally mixed with other materials into the appropriate blends for an individual fort.

Only local earth from near a fort is used in its restoration to ensure that the genuine texture and color will be achieved. El-Alaoui admits that six months might be required to hit upon the correct sarouj for a particular fort. Similar care is taken to produce mud brick, woodwork, metalwork, and paint. In keeping with local esteem for the date palm, only the trunks of dead palms are employed as ceiling supports.

Oman's cooperative restoration effort has sparked a revival of disappearing local crafts. Young apprentices from local towns learn the arts of carpentry, sarouj-making, and every other step. "We work together and we think together," says el-Alaoui. "This training is also important because the Omanis can carry on with the maintenance later."

Constructed of fairly perishable materials, Oman's forts have necessarily been altered and renovated over the centuries. Even today, in keeping with this somewhat controversial tradition, the restorers are not above correcting the visual balance of a fort by adding an arch or a wall, or constructing a new facility such as a platform for governor's audiences - as long as these features fit stylistically and logically with the architectural tradition.

One of the most majestic monuments in all Oman, however, is still in ruins: the castle of Bahla, towering even in its dilapidated state more than 50 meters (165 feet) above the surrounding palms. According to historical manuscripts, sections of Bahla fort date back to pre-Islamic Persian occupation of Oman. For centuries, Bahla was also capital of the Banu Nabhan dynasty that preceded the Ya'ariba. As noted by the International Council on Monuments and Sites, "The fort has never been restored, representing a remarkable example of authenticity, and is not protected by any conservation measures; meanwhile, great chunks of wall collapse each year after the rainy season."

The situation began to improve in 1988, when the fort, the nearby mosque with its sculpted mihrab, or prayer niche, and the 12-kilometer (7.5-mile) wall enclosing the town of Bahla and much of the palm oasis were inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List. This act places Bahla among spectacular natural and cultural sites of "exceptional universal value ... which should remain intact for future generations."

Today, the restored forts, left behind by the masons and woodworkers, and watched over by traditional turbaned guards with cartridge belts round their waists, are immaculate refuges of silent and austere beauty. Their curving stairways, arches, courtyards, and crenelations are monumental sculptures of deep shadow and dazzling light - but they are touristic curiosities devoid of life. Traditionally the seats of authority, some restored forts, it is true, continue to host the traditional majlis of the regional governor. Still, Oman may look for other local uses - compatible with preservation - that will enliven these monuments of which the local people are so fiercely, and so justifiably, proud.

Lynn Teo Simarski is a Washington writer and editor who specializes in the Middle East.

This article appeared on pages 8-17 of the January/February 1991 print edition of Saudi Aramco World.

See Also: CASTLES, MUSEUMS, OMAN, RESTORATION". Unquote.



By now much of Bahla Fort is completely restored and with its vast wall of 12 Kilometres long it offers an insight into this incredible fortified town and Fortress.


Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

:shrug:

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

As a reasonable compilation of Forts has built up and the Cannon will follow ...I thought we could look at the situation building up between the Portuguese and Ottoman, Mamluke and Indian players in the Indian Ocean starting with the important battles around Dui..Wikipedia gives a reasonable account for a basic understanding of what transpired but that series of battles was a game-changer and sets the tone for the switch of emphasis that would take Portuguese interests to a new pinnacle in India...for them.

Thus from Wikipedia; I Quote" Egyptian Mamluks soldiers had little expertise in naval warfare, and the Portuguese often attacked and stole supplies of Malabar timber from India, so the Mamluk Sultan, Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri appealed for Ottoman support. The Ottoman Sultan, Beyazid II — whose navy had helped Spanish Moors and Sephardic Jews expelled by the Spanish Inquisition in 1492 — supplied Egypt with Mediterranean-type war galleys manned by Greek sailors and Ottoman volunteers, mainly Turkish mercenaries and freebooters.[6] These vessels, which Venetian shipwrights helped disassemble in Alexandria and reassemble on the Red Sea coast, had to brave the Indian Ocean. The galley warriors could mount light guns fore and aft, but not along the gunwales because these cannon would interfere with the rowers. The native ships (dhows), with their sewn wood planks, could carry no heavy guns at all. Hence, most of the coalition's artillery was archers, whom the Portuguese could easily outshoot''.Unquote.

For more on this exciting development please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Diu_%281509%29

What may be remembered is that for ships from the Ottoman side they had to be stripped down and transported in carts from Alexandria and re floated in the Red Sea !!... These were the Mediterranean style Galleons, low in the water, with oarsmen down each side thus no guns except light weight arms forward and aft...and armed primarily with bows and arrows. Towering above them were the Portuguese who could batter them to pieces at long range with superior artillery and at closer quarters throw grenades and fire down onto the low in the water competition... :shrug:

Below a map of the later constructed Portuguese Fort at Diu.

[fernando]

A PDF document of a most interesting paper titled:

The Earliest Shipboard Gunpowder Ordnance: An Analysis of Its Technical Parameters and Tactical Capabilities

By John F. Guilmartin, Jr.*

Herewith an (one sided ;) ) extract of some passages, where the tactic of waterline artillery and water tight gun ports played a decisive role in XVI century warfare.

Few technological developments in the history of warfare have been as portentous as the appearance around the turn of the sixteenth century of effective heavy gunpowder ordnance on shipboard, which began a new era in sea warfare. Employed on Mediterranean war galleys and Portuguese caravels, the weapons marked the solution of a series of daunting technological problems discussed in this article, beginning with the appearance of gunpowder in Europe about 1300. Unlike developments on land, change was at first gradual, but shortly after 1400 the pace of development sharply accelerated to culminate in what may legitimately be termed a revolution in firepower at sea.
ROUND the turn of the sixteenth century, gunpowder ordnance of unprecedented effectiveness began to appear aboard European warships. Employed on Portuguese caravels and Mediterranean war galleys, these weapons swiftly and dramatically reshaped the face of warfare at sea.
Strategically, heavy naval guns mounted aboard purpose-built warships gave the Portuguese effective control over as much of the Indian Ocean as they chose to dominate and provided the operational means for the Habsburg-Ottoman struggle for control of the Mediterranean that culminated at Lepanto in 1571.2 Tactically, they challenged the high-sided carrack, until then the premier European sailing warship, and within a few decades would render it obsolescent save as an armed transport in distant and lightly contested waters. They also paved the way for the development of the galleon, the first genuinely transoceanic warship able to bring heavy guns offensively to bear, and—although the process took over a century and a half—the galleon evolved into the ship-of-the-line, the definitive instrument of European world hegemony. These developments are matters of no small historical importance, yet their beginnings have received surprisingly little scholarly attention.
The developments in gun design did not take place in a vacuum. The new ordnance was mounted aboard purpose-built warships that were employed in squadrons using novel tactics, a combination that introduced a new era in warfare at sea. The dawn of that era was demonstrated most spectacularly off the Malabar Coast in early 1503 in Vasco da Gama’s defeat of an Indian-Arab fleet that vastly outnumbered his force in vessels and men. Da Gama formed his fleet into two squadrons, one of caravels and one of carracks. The caravels, though substantially smaller than the carracks, carried the heavier guns, taking advantage of the caravels’ low freeboard to mount them near the waterline in order to inflict maximum damage on enemy hulls. Da Gama’s caravel squadron led the way in what would later be called line ahead, using superior sailing characteristics to work to windward of the Muslims. There, the caravels’ broadside firepower kept the smaller and more numerous Muslim vessels at bay, destroying or disabling them by gunfire before they could close and board, leaving the carracks with their more numerous, lighter guns to mop up. The result was the beginning of more than a century of Portuguese hegemony in the Indian Ocean and the emergence of tiny Portugal as a world power.
Guns protruding through circular ports in the hull begin to appear on depictions of sailing warships in the last two decades of the fifteenth century, suggesting larger guns. That having been said, however, carracks did not commonly mount ordnance capable of doing serious damage to ships’ hulls until a decade or so after the turn of the sixteenth century when, or so we surmise, the invention of the watertight gunport made it possible to mount them low in the hull on what would become the gun deck. In the meantime, the tendency was toward larger numbers of small guns firing above the bulwarks and rails. It was against this background that the Portuguese began arming caravels with heavy ordnance.
On balance, it does not appear that early Portuguese success with heavy naval ordnance was attributable to any one technological breakthrough, for which there are four candidates: the watertight gunport, corned powder, improved gun carriages, and guns of new and superior design. Acting in combination, these would eventually increase the effectiveness of sailing warships dramatically, but the effects are barely visible prior to the Invincible Armada of 1588, and it would be a mistake to read the developments of the late sixteenth century backward in time. The earliest evidence of watertight gunports is in the depiction of a three-masted Flemish vessel on the seal of Maximilian, Prefect of Burgundy, dated 1493, but the first gunports about which we know anything were mounted on ships’ sterns, and it is clear that the heaviest Portuguese ordnance in 1503 fired laterally. While the Portuguese were quick to embrace the watertight gunport and may even have invented it, the concentration of heavy ordnance aboard caravels rather than on the larger carracks argues against its widespread adoption prior to the 1520s.
The Portuguese surely had corned powder by 1500, though whether or not they used it in their largest ordnance is unclear. In any case, there is no need to invoke corned powder, for serpentine continued to be used at sea for many decades and would have served. There is no evidence one way or the other that the Portuguese used novel gun carriages aboard their sailing warships and, as with serpentine powder, sledge carriages, perhaps with a pair of wheels forward to facilitate aiming, would have sufficed.
Finally, it is possible—indeed, probable in my view—that at the turn of the sixteenth century, Portuguese ordnance was the equal of any in the world, though that does not necessarily imply radically new design. It is clear that the design of heavy Portuguese ordnance was distinctive. The term camelo, applied to the standard Portuguese battery piece for shipboard use, has no equivalent in other European languages, and the design of the camelo and smaller camelete is unlike that of other European naval guns with which I am familiar. Camelos were relatively long muzzle-loading stone throwers with powder chambers of reduced diameter; they could be of bronze or wrought iron. Their proportions suggest that they were exceptionally efficient in terms of destructive power as a function of barrel weight, but while the camelo’s performance was no doubt superior, the distinction was one of degree rather than kind. The Portuguese breakthrough in gunnery afloat must have begun with the dual appreciation that a large gun firing a stone ball could do significant damage to the hull of a ship and that heavy shipboard ordnance had to be mounted near the waterline to avoid compromising stability. In practical terms, that meant firing through or over the bulwarks of a low-lying caravel. Since caravels were small, that meant a limited number of large guns, perhaps only one or two. The caravel’s speed and maneuverability maximized its effectiveness as a gun platform and, at the same time, reduced the danger of boarding. The caravel’s small size and efficiency also meant a small crew, an important demographic and economic advantage for Portugal. Numbers of swivel guns were provided to deal with boarders and to wreak havoc on the open decks of low-lying enemy ships, but the Portuguese seem to have understood at an early stage that it was the heavy ordnance, firing low, that counted. As a conceptual breakthrough, this appreciation ranks with the perception that using guns to knock down walls was more decisive than lobbing projectiles over them. As with the earlier breakthrough, the new tactics cannot be separated from the improved matériel that made them feasible. There is a clear parallel between the Bureau Brothers’ celebrated achievements in the Hundred Years’ War and those of the anonymous Portuguese officials who oversaw the design of the camelo, the manufacture of its powder, and its mounting aboard caravels.


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[fernando]

A 'CAMELO' Manuelino (XVI century) in the Military Museum of Lisbon.
The Galleon, a war ship by excelence, was a long ship with a lower draft, therefore more speedy than the nau (carrack) disposing of a fearsome fire power. Galleon São Dinis, for one, a 300 ton built in India during the time of Governor Diogo Lopes de Sequeira (1518-1521) carried 21 camelos under the deck, 12 per board, 2 at the stern, 4 at the poop deck, 2 over the perpau (?), 4 on the deck, plus 9 falcons and 20 berços.


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[Rick]

It's amazing the artwork lavished on these guns!
Here's an interesting cascabel from a probably 17-18th century great gun.

[fernando]

Amazing indeed. These are all in the Military Museum in Lisbon. I like the one with the boyfriends.


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[fernando]

more ...


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[fernando]

Last ...


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[Jim McDougall]

Thank you so much Fernando and Rick!
Indeed outstanding artwork and profoundly representing the huge value and importance of guns to all powers and cultures. We deeply admire these everlasting remains of history which remain in situ in so many places as sentinels of that very history and the events that unfolded there.

While the fortresses and various installations often remain in various degree archeologically, the cannon seem to survive as well in the same manner but despite their considerable weight, often moved to new locations.

The artwork on these guns can often tell us about the nations or cultures who forged them, and markings typically deeply marked in them give us much detail on their history. There are various keys to coded entries which recorded weights, foundries and dates .

The fortresses often reflect key information structurally which tell us about strategy, tactics and warfare as employed using these massive structures.

It seems that the Portuguese fortresses and guns of course have often remained in such a network of locations that the importance of their foundation in global exploration stands as legion in history. While this topic began with the forts in Oman, this was one strong foothold in that vast network, and it is great to be able to review others to connect these together .

Looking at the cannon themselves, what is fascinating is their very venerability. These were in use for remarkable periods, and often ended up in other contexts far from their origins.

The outstanding material which Ibrahiim and Fernando have entered here, though heavy in text, is essential to our better understanding of this field, and great to have here as part of our corpus of data as reference.
Thank you guys for taking the time to add it.

I recall a few years ago in St. Augustine Florida when we were visiting the old Spanish fortifications there overlooking the inlet. They had a display of firing the huge guns there.........incredibly impressive!!!!

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Magnificent pictures ! I recall sitting on a mound in the middle of a not yet restored Fort a few decades back...and after brushing off some dust discovered what it was that I had been sitting upon... A huge Portuguese Bronze Cannon with the name plate of Albuquerque the famous Portuguese General !
~ Getting back to the Diu battle I was amazed to discover the peculiar origins of the protagonists and the strategy employed by each. It is apparent that the Portuguese tactics and equipment were far superior to the opponents but equally difficult to see how later they would be on the losing side in Bahrain, Muscat, Zanzibar, the Zanj (Fort Jesus)...and why? Their defeat on the coast of Arabia and Africa had nothing to do with tactics as it was the effects of fever; Cholera and Malaria which signaled their collapse.

Due to its strategic importance, there was a Battle of Diu in 1509 between Portugal and a combined force of Turkey, Egypt, Venice, the Republic of Ragusa (now known as Dubrovnik) and the Sultan of Gujarat, Mahmud Begada. In 1513, the Portuguese tried to establish an outpost there, but negotiations were unsuccessful. There were failed attempts by Diogo Lopes de Sequeira in 1521, Nuno da Cunha in 1523. In 1531 the conquest attempted by D. Nuno da Cunha was also not successful.

For the remaining saga please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Diu_%281509%29

On the subject of Albuquerque upon whose cannon I had sat ! ~ Quote''He had brilliantly understood a number of factors: Albuquerque saw that there were three key emporia in the Indian Ocean: Malacca, Aden and Hormuz, each on a narrow strait controlling access to a major trade route. Malacca was the gateway to the Bay of Bengal, the Spice Islands (the Moluccas) and China. Aden was the gateway to Egypt, North Africa and the Mediterranean. Hormuz controlled access to the Gulf and the overland trade to Iran, Central Asia and the Middle Eastern heartlands."Unquote.

Please see http://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/200504/the.coming.of.the.portuguese.htm

[Rick]

Love this trunnion terminal, Fernando. :)

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=156226&stc=1

Portobelo was an incredible place to visit in Panama.
Pretty much still a fever ridden backwater as it was back when Morgan sacked the place.
Good feelings walking around the fortifications.

[Kubur]

They are toys, let me show you a real canon...

[Rick]

That's all well and good Kubur; but I would think that a fort would get knocked down around one's ears by 'toy cannon' during the time it would take to load and fire that behemoth two times. :)

[fernando]

The subject was cannon artwork, Kubur. If you are looking for the cannon competition, is HERE (http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13208) ;) .



.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Vital stuff ~ I liked in particular the old sketch of 16th C Cannon so here it is again...I include sketches and relevent artwork here for ethnographic purposes so as to get a flavour of life at the time. Bear in mind that for the Portuguese to visit every region in say their Southern Asian sphere of operations it would be more than a circumnavigation of the world in terms of distance...

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

The Cannon below was at Fort Jalali but has been relocated to Hazm.. probably for the ongoing exhibition along with Cannon from 27 different countries. The green imprint on another Portuguese Cannon is below. :shrug:

As a bi product of searching for Portuguese battledress of the approximate period inspired by the green imprint of the below impression please see the astonishing series of tapestries at http://www.warfare.altervista.org/15/Pastrana-Conquest_of_Tangier-far-left.htm

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

To get a broad idea of what a Portuguese battle group consisted here is a portrait picture... The Famous Portuguese Carrack...and other craft .

From https://hist21bsection3.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/page/7/

I Quote"This painting of a 16th century Portuguese shipping vessel, called a Carrack, was painted by an unidentified artist in 1540. The Carrack was the second of the preferred shipping vessels used in the 16th century by the Portuguese to make long sea voyages. These vessels were an adaptation and evolvement of the caravel and were much larger. They had a combination of square and lanteen sails, could mount heavy cannons for defense (against pirates or rival naval powers), had multiple decks for different types of cargo, and even had a deck for crew quarters. At each end of the ship were platforms called high “castles” which gave soldiers armed with firearms or crossbows and cannoniers a commanding position from which to defend their vessel and repel seaborne attacks.

The Carrack became the workhorse of transoceanic trade in the 16th century".Unquote.

Regarding advancement in the art of Artillery ...From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_India_Armadas

I Quote"Naval artillery was the single greatest advantage the Portuguese held over their rivals in the Indian Ocean – indeed over most other navies – and the Portuguese crown spared no expense in procuring and producing the best naval guns European technology permitted.

King John II of Portugal is often credited for pioneering, while still a prince in 1474, the introduction of a reinforced deck on the old Henry-era caravel to allow the mounting of heavy guns.[19] In 1489, he introduced the first standardized teams of trained naval gunners (bombardeiros) on every ship, and development of naval tactics that maximized broadside cannonades rather than the rush-and-grapple of Medieval galleys.

The Portuguese crown appropriated the best cannon technology available in Europe, particularly the new, more durable and far more accurate bronze cannon developed in Central Europe, replacing the older, less accurate wrought-iron cannon. By 1500, Portugal was importing vast volumes of copper and cannon from northern Europe, and had established itself as the leading producer of advanced naval artillery in its own right. Being a crown industry, cost considerations did not curb the pursuit of the best quality, best innovations and best training.[20] The crown paid wage premiums and bonuses to lure the best European artisans and gunners (mostly German) to advance the industry in Portugal. Every cutting-edge innovation introduced elsewhere was immediately appropriated into Portuguese naval artillery – that includes bronze cannon (Flemish/German), breech-loading swivel-guns (prob. German origin), truck carriages (possibly English), and the idea (originally French, c. 1501[21]) of cutting square gunports (portinhola) in the hull to allow heavy cannon to be mounted below deck.[22]

In this respect, the Portuguese spearheaded the evolution of modern naval warfare, moving away from the Medieval warship, a carrier of armed men, aiming for the grapple, towards the modern idea of a floating artillery piece dedicated to resolving battles by gunnery alone.

According to Gaspar Correia, the typical fighting caravel of Gama's 4th Armada (1502) carried 30 men, four heavy guns below, six falconets (falconete) above (two fixed astern) and ten swivel-guns (canhão de berço) on the quarter-deck and bow.

An armed carrack, by contrast, had six heavy guns below, eight falconets above and several swivel-guns, and two fixed forward-firing guns before the mast.[23] Although an armed carrack carried more firepower than a caravel, it was much less swift and less manoeuvrable, especially when loaded with cargo. A carrack's guns were primarily defensive, or for shore bombardments, whenever their heavier firepower was necessary. But by and large, fighting at sea was usually left to the armed caravels.

The development of the heavy galleon removed even the necessity of bringing carrack firepower to bear in most circumstances. One of them became famous in the conquest of Tunis and could carry 366 bronze cannons, for this reason, it became known as Botafogo, meaning literally fire maker, torcher or spitfire in popular Portuguese'' Unquote.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

In terms of opposition there were two types of craft employed by Ottoman naval forces ...The first was a Mediterranean style of rowed and sail driven ship and another...a Galleon style..below; From https://hist21bsection3.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/page/7/

I Quote''This picture demonstrates the Ottoman Empire’s Navy during the 1517’s. We can tell from the illustration that the Ottoman Navy was currently in battle and on board they would carry artillery in imitations of their adversary, such as cannons and gunpowder. The army occupied Egypt’s territory and sent down it’s fleet to the Red Sea to confront the Portuguese and restore lost Asian Trade. The Ottoman forces pushed the Portuguese from Aden at the entrance of the Red Sea, but the warfare between them remained indecisive. When other European powers entered the Indian Ocean,the Ottoman Empire withdrew their aggressive strategy.''Unquote.

It has to be said that although there was some Ottoman artillery they weren't much match for the Portuguese and the main armament was bows and arrows.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Some lightweight controversy exists over the question of the Caravel...a much lighter vessel with a Lanteen sail (which actually needed more sailors to operate it) This was a good vessel for exploration because of its shallower draft..ideal for sailing up rivers etc... I will place it here as it was also a workhorse and a for runner to the Carrack but please consider http://nautarch.tamu.edu/shiplab/01George/caravela/htmls/Caravel%20History.htm for a much fuller explanation.

[fernando]

Meddling into the navigation of the middle ages, there were ships Egyptian, Fenitian, Greek, Roman, etc. As types we had Isócoros, triacôntoros, pentacôntoros, tessaracôntoros, trieres, liburnas, dromos, quelandios, panfílios, galleys, cáravos, galeaças, galeotas, bergantins, fustas, hólcares, urcas, esnécares, drácares, azurrachas, pecarezas, caravelas, etc. (Sorry, too hard to translate ).
It is written that, at same time of the galley, Romans and Byzantines used a type of Latin embarcation designated as Carabus, a term apparently derived from the Moorish cáravo, of which the Portuguese took knowledge in the whereabouts of the Gibraltar straight, and from which they built up, in smaller proportions, the caravela type. This was an open mouth low draft ship, equipped with both with sailing rig and rowing oars. In the year 1255, a charter granted by King Dom Afonso III mentioned the name of caravela, by then a ship also used for fishing purposes, hence its other name pescareza. From here to its adaptation for discoveries in the African coast and later battling in the Indic, took no time, as already mentioned. It is true that its design provided for gross artillery mounted on its low board decks, as is also true that its inconvenience was the need for a large crew; the thing is, its sail yards was rather long (longer than its masts) and it required a large and experienced crew for the delicate manoeuvre of tacking and board flipping the lateen sails, which constituted a handicap for ships of such dimension. On the other hand, large crews were no problem for large naus (fairly translated as carracks) where artillery power was diminute but their cargo capacity was speechless. Pyrard de Laval gives us a exuberant description of the characteristics and life aboard these giant ships (1600-1610) that one finds hard to believe; yet he was not Portuguese, but a Frenchman, with no need to exuberate in other's favor. He says that their dislocation could go from 1500 to 2000 tons and they could not navigate in waters with less than 10 braces (22 meters). They had four decks the height of a man. The bow and stern castles were so big they resembled actual castles. They could carry an artillery force of 35 to 40 pieces of bronze (no iron), plus some small pieces, like ‘esperas’ and ‘pedreiros’, mounted in the crow’s nests, as these were large enough to lodge ten men.
Their masts were so high that, both main and mizzen had to be made with two parts, as there was no trees with such length. Their sail yards could have 24 braces length (over 50 meters) requiring 200 men to put them up, with the help of two capstans …

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

AS A FORM OF VISUAL INTERPRETATION OF THE ETHNOGRAPHIC SCENERY OF THE DAY AND IMAGINING BEING ABOARD SOME OF THESE SHIPS ETC I POST THE PICTURES BELOW..

The map is important as it illustrates the fabled land of Prester John (Dutch made by the Family Ortelius)) for the Portuguese who searched for three things in the Indian Ocean... in no particular order; Slaves, Gold and Silver, and Spices. The fourth thing they sought were mercenaries whom they thought existed in the Kingdom of Prester John which though it had existed several centuries earlier in Ethiopia it had disappeared by the time the Portuguese arrived by ship. Somewhat ironically a land based expedition arrived from Portugal at more or less the same time in Ethiopia and it is interesting to consider what would have transpired had the ships been unable to get there. One of the first choke points applied was to restrict Mamluke activity in the mouth of the Red Sea...This had a dramatic effect causing huge pressure on the Mamluke treasury starved of its Chinese trade and without funding virtually bankrupt thus vulnerable to the Ottoman Empire.

The longboat/ship with oars down each side is Venetian and since they were fighting against Portuguese you can see the immediate problem being so close to the waterline and armed primarily with bows and arrows...thus vulnerable to long range ships artillery as well as the danger of closing with the enemy ...making them very susceptible at all ranges to the 5 deck Portuguese ... apparently grenades caused them a lot of problems...

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Having set the scenery..I hope... It is now time to look at some of the Omani Forts in detail and I first chose Nizwa Fort.This is an interesting fortification being at the centre of the capital of the interior and on top of its own water supply...with as its main defence a gigantic round tower also acting as a dungeon. This enormous roundel gives it automatic all round defence and superb fields of fire and observation. It is reinforced not only to enable cannon to fire from its walls but also so that it can absorb fire . :shrug: I have no evidence that cannon fired at or from the Fort however the weapon at one side of the gate below is apparently Portuguese ...Whereas some cannon were deployed from positions just outside the fort proper e.g. Barka they were on a secondary wall usually tri angular and massively built and able to retreat into the fort in the advent of a too powerful assault and fire from their secondary positions.

Nizwa Fort is examined at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nizwa_Fort

Below is the pictorial...Please note that two cannon are displayed outside the door... The one on your left is Portuguese whilst on your right is an 18th C Swedish Iron "Finbanker" on a repro British carriage; Interesting that Finspang in Sweden made these mainly for export and purchased by the Dutch and Portuguese may have been captured by the British in Indian Ocean waters and sold to Oman....It was an 18 pounder. :shrug:

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

There is a vast selection of Cannon to view at http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/bronze-cannon.html :shrug:

[estcrh]

Ibrahiim, thanks for putting this info together all in one place, this is a good history lesson.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Ibrahiim, thanks for putting this info together all in one place, this is a good history lesson.

I agree and hope the action in the Indian Ocean by the Portuguese, Dutch and English ...and the Indian, Omani and Persian etc etc may be viewed as vital history for all to refer to.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

I was thinking to broaden the scope slightly to net in the Jewel in the Crown which insofar as the Portuguese were concerned in these waters was Hormuz. A veritable treasure trove but difficult to find and a very strong fortified Island and a Naval Base capable of fielding considerable firepower and troops to the various Hormuz garrisons. In fact the Portuguese destroyed Sohar and in questioning their captives discovered one old man who under threat of death told them where Hormuz was and how to find it... Rumours of vast gold wealth slaves and spices as well as a strategic position were too much for the Portuguese who then set about taking it ...and from there it can be seenhow important a step in their quest for India this could be...as well as stations further up the Gulf like Bahrain...

So it came to pass...The Portuguese conqueror, Afonso de Albuquerque, captured the island in 1507 and it became a part of the Portuguese Empire. The Portuguese constructed a fortress on the island, the Fort of Our Lady of the Conception. In 1622 the island was captured from the Portuguese by a combined Anglo-Persian force.

That is too fast a paragraph since in slower time it looked more like this...From Wikepedia I Quote"The Capture of Ormuz in 1507 occurred when the Portuguese Afonso de Albuquerque attacked Hormuz Island to establish the Castle of Ormuz. This conquest gave the Portuguese full control of the trade between India and Europe passing through the Persian Gulf.

The capture of Ormuz was a result of a plan by the King of Portugal, Manuel I, who in 1505 had resolved to thwart Muslim trade in the Indian Ocean by capturing Aden, to block trade through Alexandria; Ormuz, to block trade through Beirut; and Malacca to control trade with China. A fleet under Tristão da Cunha was sent to capture the Muslim fort on Socotra in order to control the entrance to the Red Sea; this was accomplished in 1507. The main part of the fleet then left for India, with a few ships remaining under Albuquerque.

Albuquerque disobeyed orders and left to capture the island of Ormuz.[6] He obtained the submission of the local king to the king of Portugal, as well as the authorisation to build a fort using local labour.[7] He started to build a fort on 27 October 1507, and initially planned to man it with a garrison, but could not hold it because of local resistance and the defection to India of several of his Portuguese captains.

With the support of the sovereign of Ormuz, the rebellious captains fought the forces of Albuquerque in early January 1508. After a few days of battle, Albuquerque was forced to withdraw from the city, abandoned the fort under construction. He sailed away in April 1508 with the two remaining ships. He returned to Socotra where he found the Portuguese garrison starving. He remained in the Gulf of Aden to raid Muslim ships, and attacked and burnt the city of Kālhāt (Calayate). He again returned to Ormuz, and then set sail to India on board a merchant ship he had captured.

In March 1515, Albuquerque returned to Ormuz, leading a fleet of 27 vessels, with a strength of 1,500 soldiers and 700 malabaris, determined to regain it. He held the position of the ancient fortress on April 1, referring to the building, now under a new name: Fort of Our Lady of the Conception.

In 1622, a combined Anglo-Persian force combined to take over the Portuguese garrison at Hormuz Island in the Capture of Ormuz (1622), thus opening up Persian trade with England. "The capture of Ormuz by an Anglo-Persian force in 1622 entirely changed the balance of power and trade".Unquote.

For some excellent images of Hormuz please see http://www.dataxinfo.com/hormuz/Images_of_Hormuz/Images_of_Hormuz_7.htm

[fernando]

The arrival in Ormuz and the challenge:

Albuquerque arrived in Ormuz with several casualties in the crew, due to diseases; only 470 were men left, from which one half were sick or debilitated; with only six ships in very bad conditions and great dissension between him and his captains. But he was a consummate actor and a master in the art of psychologic war. He ended up creating in his adversaries a complex of inferiority and fear. He started by sending a message to the captain of the largest ship in the harbor, a huge carrack belonging to the King of Cambaia, a ship of 800 tons and a crew of 1000, close from where he had set anchor, for him to come immediately aboard his ship, or he would sink his carrack. The captain was freightened and decided to present himself. A great staging was set up, Albuquerque dressed with luxury and surrounded by Gentlemen and armed rank, covered by shining armour and holding lances and swords, in the middle of flags, drapes and and silk cushions, mixed with gross ammunition, crossbows and boarding axes. All this surrounded with a scenery of 400 sails, among which were 60 ships much larger than his own, and well provided with war men.


The construction of the fortress

The resistence of the wall structure of Ormuz was largely weakened by the non building of a moat, in order to separate it from firm land, which made it easy for the Persians, helped by the English, to conquer it in 1622 (Rafael Moreira). Chronicler Gaspar Correia, who wrote Lendas da India circa 1550, must have witnessed the start of the Fortress works, judging by the detailed and live manner in which he describes what happened and also for the great fidelity of his drawing to the existing archaeologic evidence.
Albuquerque organized the construction site, defining tasks, detaching 5 embarcations to go and fetch stone, to then offload it in the beach and another two for the carrying of plaster into Ormuz, to make lime in the ovens he had meanwhile instructed to build. The governor split the stone masters who started surveying the foundations, soon to be built. It was the military who were in charge of this task, which was not easy, as some of the walls were to be built into water. These had to be made with compressed clay, sifted and cooked which, introduced into sea water would not dissolve but instead becoming hard as rock, which represented a great advantage ( Chroniclar João de Barros in his Décadas da Asia (1553) speaks of a mix of smashed plaster with another mix of manure, composed in a manner of bitumen, which they use in that land, mainly in the works that are founded in water ). In this case a large number of local man power was used, given their experience with such technique. In only three months the fortress initial form was almost ready; this being made in way that, the reduced number of men that Albuquerque disposed was a fact hidden from the locals, who presumed his had some 2000 men aboard his ships. Every morning they came ashore they varied their appearance, now with some kind of waepons, the next day with other.

The desertion

The inclusion of the military in the fortress works increased the dissension with the captains, as already complainant of his options, and three of them, Manuel Teles, Afonso Lopes da Costa and Antonio do Campo decided to desert. Soon another captain, João da Nova, having had allowance to go and hibernate in Socotorá, due to his nau Frol de la Mar being in very bad condtions, soon rushed to India, before the date planned. I have turned my chronic and historic books upside down and find no narration in which the dissent captains helped the locals to fight Albuquerque; they have only gone to the extent of neglecting some of his instructions in hot ocasions.

The fortress evolution

The expansion works in the fortress complex continued for several years. Some Malabares are recorded, headed by by Master Antonio Canarim. Besides Hindustanis, also are recorded Moors of all crafts, namely stone masons, the leading figure being Master Amet. It is known that, in January 1526, worked in the fortress 1180 labourers; 96 stone masons, 380 native auxiliary and 700 carriers.


Attached are a sketch of the battle, a drawing of the fortress by Gaspar Correia in 1539 and a sketch illustrating the various phases of the fotress complex evolution, by João de Campos.


.

[fernando]

It is only natural that Albuquerque realized what he would find in Ormuz. Besides Marco Polo having twice been there, Fray Lourenço de Portugal reached Ormuz before the Venetian.
The idea that it was na old man from Sohar that enlightened Albuquerque on how to get to Ormuz, risks imprecision. According to period chronicles and his own narration, he followed the coast from Sohar to Orfaçam (Khor Fakkan) where an old man was brought to him whom, for his deep surprise, showed a rare knowledge, having read the history of Alexander, who had once conquered that village. This old man was one of the three local governors. He drew from his chest a book, written in parsi, binded with crimson velvet and gave it (?) to Albuquerque, who deeply appreciated the gift and found it a good prognosis for his determination to conquer Ormuz. In exchange, Albuquerque ordered to give this old man a scarlet dress and other things from Portugal, which made him pleased. This same old man, after being questioned, gave him large information about the things of Ormuz, as also told him several old things about that Kingdom, as he was very old and knowledged. But he was no pilot and taught him no route to navigate to Ormuz.
Sailing from there they went beyond the cape of Macinde, (Ra's Musandam), and one afternoon they sighted two desertic islands, when a Moor pilot that Albuquerque brought from Orfação to guide them to Ormuz, adviced him to reduce the sails, as that same night they would arrive in Ormuz. But Albuquerque decided not to follow his advice as he preferred the suggestion from the pilots he had brought from Melinde to keep full sail. Only at midnight he shot four times the signal cannon, which meant for the fleet to slow down. It was dawn when they sighted land, and Albuquerque asked the pilots is this was the island of Ormuz; but they were not certain of that as, because of the dusk, they were not sure whether it was Ormuz, Lara (Larak), or Queixome (Qeshm), as all three were in a triangular position.
As the waters became more and more shallow, the pilots told him this was sign they were arriving in the right place, and then Albuquerque told the captains to be prepared with their artillery as, when going around the island, they might face a surprise. It was when they rounded the island and the city was at sight that, the captains were dazzled by its greatness, several people in horse arriving at the beach, and a large number of ships in the harbor, well equipped with crews and artillery; and so impressed they were that they went past Albuquerque’s ship and told him to take care on what he was attempting, because that city was not like the others they had destroyed, as there were large crowds ashore and the ships were several and well equipped, and that probably there was more than what they were seeing, as for many days the city knew they would arrive and might have other not visible resources. But Albuquerque didn´t listen to their arguments and ordered them to start with exercises for battle readiness.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Once upon a time....Fanciful stories abound and tradition dictates the marvelous and fanciful tales from the sea...great monsters lunge across the sea charts swallowing ships and seamen alike... Hardened sailors with tales of mermaids perhaps enhanced by over indulgence in grog ...The average daily intake of beer alone in the English Navy was 7 pints per man per day..:) When Sohar was sacked and burned the defenders either ran away or died there and then ..."It is said that" ...an old man was spared as he knew the way to Hormuz".. The alternative is just as fanciful though it may well be true...and has been "embellished like a sea shanty" to make it believable..
What appears today as a crumpled ruined old shell was in those days a thriving fortified factory or store feeding Persia and Iraq and linked through trade across the entire region...or at least it was before the arrival of the foreign battle fleets...Under siege over the years decline started as the defenders moved equipment out leaving only essential personnel and provisions .... Whereas rumour suggested that Hormuz was the Jewel in the Crown which it may have been strategically it was far from dripping with gold, diamonds, slaves, spices, and silver moreover it was fast descending into a cannon ball riddled hell hole..In the end it was perhaps a tactic on behalf of the Portuguese to advertise the benefits of Hormuz since the imagined wealth of the Fortified Island would be good for morale and personal gain in booty ~ for the winner takes all.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Regarding Sohar it is perhaps worth a note ~ From Eduardo Kol de Carvalho; I Quote"When Afonso de Albuquerque captured Sohar on 16th September 1507 it was, in the words of Brás de Albuquerque, “very large and beautiful with fine houses”. It had a square fortress with six towers and two other large towers by the fortress’s gate. The wall was quite high and reasonably thick. This fort was situated by a wide cove, although the port was “had many reefs, with ships anchored at six fathoms; from there to land was half a league”. That observer was so impressed by the fort’s size that he thought at least 1,000 men were needed to defend it. He also noted the houses of the local ruler, which stood out for their beauty, and others exclusively meant for the garrison. Indeed, Sohar was the only fortified city on the Omani coast at the time of Afonso de Albuquerque’s campaign, as it was then the chief city on the entire coast. This place had long played an important role in settlement of that coast, as the region had numerous palm groves that ensured a sufficient food supply for local residents; the sands enabled easy access to the sea, where fish abounded. In the 10th century Sohar was already considered one of the Indian Ocean’s main ports; it was then occupied by the Seljuk Turks, who seized it from the Azd, a Yemeni tribe who introduced Islam in Oman, expelling the former Persian colonisers. António Bocarro mentions the discovery of Roman coins from the time of Emperor Tiberius, attesting to the city’s regional importance. But the Portuguese occupation resulted in Muscat becoming the main strategic port on this coast, thus sealing forever the decline of Sohar’s primacy".Unquote.

Another description by the same author goes on to talk about the Fort; Quote. Fortress
Sohar [Soar, Suhar], Persian Gulf | Red Sea, Oman
Military Architecture.

As it was built on a plain close to extensive sands, Sohar was not suitable for use as the main port for the large-draught Portuguese ships – the largest operating at that time. The sands gave no shelter from the winds, nor did they favour the easy movement of men and goods. But the city was still important. This is proven by the Portuguese crown’s concern about its preservation and fortification, as indicated in the Livro das Plantas de Todas as Fortalezas, Cidades e Povoações do Estado da Índia Oriental by Pedro de Barreto de Resende/António Bocarro, who inform us that “the Fortress of Sohar is situated on the forecoast of Arabia, at 24.5 degrees north”. The fortress had the shape of a perfect square with four corner bastions equipped with “traverses” and bombards. To defend each other, each wall quarter shall measure 70 paces, not counting the size of the bastions, which are also square, each the size of a house spanning 10 paces; the wall is made of fired adobe and clay, making it very strong”. Inside the fort were several fresh-water wells and the garrison quarters; one of the bastions was used as a warehouse located “along one of the walls. It is entered through the door on the right which is used to collect food for the soldiers. The walls also have a defence system which the Parsees call bugios, which are adobe shields placed on wooden stakes outside facing the base of the wall”. The fortress had six artillery pieces installed in the bastions and a square outwork whose dimensions corresponded to the fortress and bastions.

(Some clarity as to timings and who had control of the fort at the time because inside a church was built. The latter could hold between 50 and 60 people and was overseen by an Augustinian friar.)

Proof of this fort’s importance is that it was recaptured from the Persians during a 1623 campaign waged by the captain-general of the Red Sea, Rui Freire de Andrade, as mentioned in the Comentários by Rui Freire, though according to António Bocarro, this occurred in 1616, using a fleet comprising one galley and five fustas led by Francisco Rolim, who arrived from Muscat with help from the Strait fleet’s captain, Vasco da Gama, and five ships under his command. Whether by Francisco Rolim in 1616 or Rui Freire de Andrade in 1623, the recapture of the fortress followed the Persian takeover in 1602 after the fall of the fort at Bahrain, captured by Shah Abbas I of the Safavid dynasty, which seriously affected custom house revenues in Hormuz and Muscat. Satellite imagery now shows the following situation: the fortress has disappeared; the outwork built by the Portuguese and depicted by Barreto de Resende/Bocarro is a rectangle whose smaller side is parallel to the beach, not the contrary; the cuirass extending to the shore has also disappeared. Another tower on the east side has been added to the five original round towers, while at the angle of a slight wall inflexion near the central tower on the wall’s west side a quadrangular donjon-style tower stands. The satellite imagery also enables identification of vestiges of the back part of the inner fortress. Images from the Ministry of National Heritage and Culture of the sultanate of Oman show that the wall near the donjon was outfitted with buttresses during consolidation work after 1982. Like the Qurayat Fort, the one at Sohar is totally whitewashed. The surrounding area has also changed in the two last decades; the nearby quarter of “huts”, certainly resembling what was there at the time of Albuquerque or Gomes de Andrade, has disappeared. But the intensely green area of palm groves depicted by Barreto de Resende/Bocarro is still there. The fort’s main gate, set back in the wall facing the sea, has maintained the same structure, i.e. adjoining a building. The fortress measures approximately 75 x 135 x 80 x 132 metres, clockwise from the wall fronting the sea. In 1643 Sohar definitively fell into enemy hands when it was conquered by Imam Nasir ibn Murshid; on that occasion its Augustinian church was naturally lost as well. This fort located on the Batinah coast was restored in 1985.
Eduardo Kol de Carvalho''. Unquote.

Please note the interesting remarks about the Fort having been totally whitewashed and that was just recently removed see earlier posts...It is also interesting that this Fort was the first place from which cannon were fired in Oman though it is unclear who by or who at !!

For an Ethnographic flavour of the Ships including Fustas and Caravel etc and even a look at clothes worn by Portuguese at the time...see below..

[fernando]

The description of Sohar in Orientalist Eduardo Kol de Carvalho's work is an extract of the XXVI chapter that preceds the one narrating Albuquerque's departure from Sohar along the coast to Orfação, which comes resumed in post #94. The actual author of the written work, Bras de Albuquerque (1501-1581), 'natural' son of Afonso de Albuquerque, has compiled the letters his father sent the King and himself and wrote his 'Comentarios'.
His description of Sohar is rather detailed; that the people in the place would be more than six thousand, plus some fifty on horse, most of those covered with steel, from which fell a sort of iron scales, in a manner of roofs covered by tiles, which are so strong that a crossbow bolt couldn't trespass them, an the horses foreheads were protected in the same manner. The saddles were Turkic, of high cantle, and the stirrups were also of Turkic fashion. The major part are archers, some carry lances and Turkic maces. ... the land is of large porpotions, with tillages of wheat, corn, barley and there is great cattle stocks and horse breeding ... etc. etc.
En passant, Bras de Albuquerque made part of the escort that conveyed Infanta Beatriz (King Dom Manuel's daughter) to Italy for her wedding with Carlos III de Saboia, in which fleet sailed the nau Santa Catarina de Monte Sinai, precisely the one shown in post #83.

Hereunder ...

First: Muscat inhabitants bathing.

Second; Persian people from the Kingdom of Ormuz.

... watercolours in a Portuguese Codice kept in the Casanatense Library, composed of a set of 75 illustrations produced in the XVI century, probably the earliest known; work of a Portuguese unidentified author who has travelled to the Orient,
(As demonstrated by Georg Otto Schurhammer)

... and a portrait of Afonso de Albuquerque included in Bras de Albuquerque's first edition of his Comentarios do Grande Afonso de Albuquerque (1576).


.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

The description of Sohar in Orientalist Eduardo Kol de Carvalho's work is an extract of the XXVI chapter that preceds the one narrating Albuquerque's departure from Sohar along the coast to Orfação, which comes resumed in post #94. The actual author of the written work, Bras de Albuquerque (1501-1581), 'natural' son of Afonso de Albuquerque, has compiled the letters his father sent the King and himself and wrote his 'Comentarios'.
His description of Sohar is rather detailed; that the people in the place would be more than six thousand, plus some fifty on horse, most of those covered with steel, from which fell a sort of iron scales, in a manner of roofs covered by tiles, which are so strong that a crossbow bolt couldn't trespass them, an the horses foreheads were protected in the same manner. The saddles were Turkic, of high cantle, and the stirrups were also of Turkic fashion. The major part are archers, some carry lances and Turkic maces. ... the land is of large porpotions, with tillages of wheat, corn, barley and there is great cattle stocks and horse breeding ... etc. etc.
En passant, Bras de Albuquerque made part of the escort that conveyed Infanta Beatriz (King Dom Manuel's daughter) to Italy for her wedding with Carlos III de Saboia, in which fleet sailed the nau Santa Catarina de Monte Sinai, precisely the one shown in post #83.

Hereunder ...

First: Muscat inhabitants bathing.

Second; Persian people from the Kingdom of Ormuz.

... watercolours in a Portuguese Codice kept in the Casanatense Library, composed of a set of 75 illustrations produced in the XVI century, probably the earliest known; work of a Portuguese unidentified author who has travelled to the Orient,
(As demonstrated by Georg Otto Schurhammer)

... and a portrait of Afonso de Albuquerque included in Bras de Albuquerque's first edition of his Comentarios do Grande Afonso de Albuquerque (1576).


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Sohar was indeed a major port at the time and indeed it was a thriving enterprise for horses... This commodity was very much sought after and the Portuguese commanded much of the trade after taking Sohar...and also tied up that business on the Malibar coast and particularly at Goa...

The pictures of the bathers at Muscat and the Hormuz artwork are remarkable giving a vivid idea of the people and their dress / animals and weapons. Pictures of the time are a real bonus as to the Ethnographic flavour in those early days.

I recall studying the magnificent ship; nau Santa Catarina de Monte Sinai and how they appeared almost black in appearance which was because of the treatment they were given to preserve the timbers..so they were actually that colour.

Interestingly I note on Fort construction from www.palgraveconnect.com/pc/doifinder/view/10.1057/9780230618459

Quote "More substantial buildings on the coast were constructed of coral rock (Arabic farush or hasa; Persian sang-i marjan). The mining of this coral from shallow water on the Arab side was a dangerous occupation that took place mainly in the summer months. The reason that much of the great fortress that the Portuguese built on Hormuz in the sixteenth century survives is that it was built of locally mined coral, whereas most other historic forts in Iran were built of mud and are crumbling today". Unquote.

PLEASE SEE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_India_Armadas ....This is a most fascinating account of how Portuguese ships were manned for Indian Ocean operations and how booty was shared depending on rank.

[fernando]

It is interesting that Pedro Teixeira mentions the use of coral in the building of the Ormuz fortress (for one). Apparently João de Barros and Gaspar Correia don't mention such method, although tey were keen to describe the solution used for the raising of the fortress walls. I would like to read the words Teixeira used in his work, but this is a 647 page work and i don't know where about is such paragraph ... up to now *.
Interesting also is the allusion of 'black' as a colour of Portuguese naus. In fact the wood treatment was based on pitch and when they arrived in Japan, sailing from Goa with merchandise for trade, the locals called them Black Ships, which soon were depicted in screens of the period, having served as furnishings in whealthy households. Produced by artists of Kanö school of Kyoto, these images reveal the fascination with which Japanese artists regarded the foreigners (Southern Barbarians), whose hats and pantaloons, as well as their prominent European noses,where the focus of intense scrunity. Images of this Namban art were also used to decorate domestic objects.

*
Found it. What Pedro Teixeira actually says is:
... much stone is quarried from under sea, which the inhabitants use in building, because it is very light. Thery call it Sangh May, which means fish stone. But the wonder about it that it grows again as fast as quarried. The same is found in the Sea of Malaca, where the Portuguese use it, less as building stone than make lime, which they report to be very good.
Resuming, it's all about the same as the chronicles previously quoted.

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[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

The superb pictures of the Far East environment again add great depth to this thread and I note the term Sang(stone) May(?) In the case of Hormuz it was called Sang i Marjan...or stone coral... I wonder if that was a corrupted phrase... It was certainly a longer lasting tougher fort material since in Oman and other regions the mudbrick had to be renewed as it washed out in the rain. Another material used in Portuguese emplacements was the even stronger mountain stone as in Muscats Forts.

In an attempt to save the mudbrick washing out later conservationists used slate or stone plaques along the top of the walls to deflect water...but originally no such protection was considered.

One strange addition to the Forts was a sort of shield placed in front of the Forts to give added protection; The walls also have a defence system which the Parsees call bugios, which are adobe shields placed on wooden stakes outside facing the base of the wall”.

The Portuguese style also seems to have employed a secondary wall often tri angular around the entire fort but in most cases today these walls have been removed and the material reused over the centuries on local houses! I traced the old vanished wall at Barkah and it was about one kilometer long on each of its 3 sides. This was also an Omani consideration and the much older Bahla fort includes a massive 12 Kilometre wall originally built by the Persians.

[fernando]

Yes, the term Sangh May might well be a corruption of Sang i Marjan, although we should take into account that, Pedro Teixeira, from whose book i took the term, has lived in Ormuz for a few years and was rather familiar with Persian history, as well as with the local language.
Amazing that he, being a Portuguese (of Jewish origins) wrote his work in Spanish and published it in Ambers (Antwerpen) in 1610.
BTW ... could May (or Mai) mean fish in Parsi ? :o.

Here attached an example of such type of construction in Portugal:
The Paderne castle, situated in the Portuguese southernmost province of Algarve (Al Gharb) is a 'Hisn' of the Almohad Berber period, 2nd. half XII century, built with military taipa (mud brick) which consisted of: kneading of local earth added with inerts and stabilized with aereal lime, having been compacted in form-work by fulling. Once exposed to prolongued carbonation, blocks (bricks) obtained with this method acquire the resistence of stone, in which they reached our days. The albarrã tower (al-barran) with a quadrangular plant, still keeps its over 9 meters height.
Despite the actual emptiness of the interior space, it once had inhabiting structures, being clear that, sheltered by te castle walls, the space was totaly urbanized with narrow roads but of ortogonal trace, provided with a sewage complex that conducted the waters to the exterior of the fortified site.
After the reconquist the local Christian population occupied the castle, adapting or altering, with distinct concepts, the initial model. Two cisterns are a witness of the principal moments of the castle occupation. the Islamic and the Christian. A church was also built inside, near the access door, in the XIII century, being the local parish until the XVI century.

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[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Mohi is indeed the Farsi word for fish...
I note the use of stone facings at Sohar and the use of bricks..see #43.

Icoman have a great website at http://www.klm-mra.be/icomam/downloads/issue07.pdf where a number of Forts are illustrated and details of cannon such as this one below with the Portuguese emblem and crown above. I note also at # 13 earlier ... The provenance is on the Icoman site.

The almost eaten away barrel is on the beach in front of the Fort at Hormuz.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

A rather remarkable rendition of the Portuguese exploits around Hormuz and explaining a group of desertions by Officers who seemed to prefer piracy to defending the Fortress is set out at https://books.google.com.om/books?id=DqM2AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA329&lpg=PA329&dq=PORTUGUESE+SPEARS&source=bl&ots=vz1a_YmdxI&sig=ptRuTLne8GEWY6-zy-v1GDlyrII&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=PORTUGUESE%20SPEARS&f=false which is well worth reading.

[fernando]

In 1635 Antonio Bocarro finished his atlas "Livro das Plantas de todas as fortalezas, cidades e povoaçoens do Estado da Índia Oriental" (Book of plants of all fortresses, cities and settlements of Oriental India, a survey ordered by Filipe IV of Spain (then Flipe III of Portugal).
Bocarro refers the dificulties he went through to achieve such work, to which he attributes determined imperfections. Among them the difficulty that, due to his position, prevented him from examining in deep detail each of the fortresses or serttlements he described. For such reason he was forced to require information that was coming in, which he filtered with all thoroughness, so that the King could give them full credit. However he could not guarantee the perfection that concerned the plants (drawings) that accompanied the texts, due to lack of proportion of the houses and fortressess, proliferation of vegetation symbols and specialy lack of scale and cardinal orientation, due to absence in India of personal familiar with such arts.
Although he had not named the author of the drawings, historians conclude that it was Pedro Barreto de Resende, as the very one assumed in a codice now in the Fench National Library.
As the Bocarro's work is the original manuscript i accessed in the Library of Evora, the texts are so unclear that read them would be a challenge for experts ... which is a pity, particularly the description of Sohar, in the context. But interestingly we can read in loose parts that he mentions the bugios, six pieces gross artillery, twent to thirty barrels of gun powder, the exterior square albarran tower, the four ramparts with bombards, and (i guess) the curtains and redouts for defense against sea progress.

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[fernando]

As we read chronicles, we find that piracy or corso was a well spread activity in those days, to the extent that it was considered by Kings as legitimate; it would be natural that some Portuguese did not resist such sport.
Piracy or robbery abounded in the Persian Gulf by the time. Actually one of the Portuguese daily occupations was escorting lower defence boats or guard the coast against Noutaques. According to Gaspar Correia these Noutaques go in very light terradas of sail and rowing and the rowers themselves are archers, who carry bow and arrows in their backs; and rowing, when reaching their target, they drop the oars and stand up with the bows, with which they shoot two or three arrows at a time, one between each finger, with three sided heads which, once reaching the spot, the shafts drop off, and they are rather dextrous and accurate in their aiming.
Head Captain Martinho Afonso de Sousa also mentioned that their boats were equiped with falconets and arquebuses. Father Manuel de Almeida confirmed that their boats are very fast and narrates an episode in which the Noutaques captured a Portuguese boat near Muscate, having demanded for a ransom. The Portuguese Captain delivered the ransom and the captives were rescued; but when the Captain and others chased them, their boats were so fast that managed to escape.
Attached an illustration of Noutaques in the Codice Casanatence.

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[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

One famous Portuguese Ship Esmerelda was sunk off Oman ...Quote"Oman's Ministry of Heritage & Culture (MHC) in cooperation with Blue Water Recoveries Ltd (BWR) of West Sussex, UK announce the discovery and archaeological excavation of a Portuguese East Indiaman that was part of Vasco da Gama's 1502-1503 Armada to India. The ship, which sank in a storm in May 1503 off the coast of Al Hallaniyah island in Oman's Dhofar region, is the earliest ship from Europe's Age of Discovery ever to be found and scientfically investigated by a team of archaeologists and other experts". Unquote. The ship sank in a storm off the Kuria Muria islands.. Please see http://esmeraldashipwreck.com/history/

[fernando]

Besides other qualities, Vicente Sodré was stubborn (contumaceus, per Gaspar Correia) and stupid. So many times the Curia Muria Baduijs (Beduins) warned him that a violent storm was about to come, that he wouldn't give a dam about it ... that is, he assumed that the locals wanted him to go away, as this island was often frequented by ships of Ormuz, that they didn't want that those thought they were making friends with the Portuguese. To aggravate the situation, he declined suggestion from his staff that they should send all crews to stay at the caravels, which were in sheltered spots, with the reasons that, if the naus were wrecked, they could always sail to India in the Caravels. Too late they realized that the locals were speaking the truth, when they saw them dismantling their houses that were by the shore and went to put them up further inland, behind natural shelter.
The first ship to wreck was Vicente's brother Bras which, after the sea waves broke its four moorings, was tossed to the beach, almost in dry land, and there it stood, the crew being able to escape by climbing its masts and shrouds. Vicente was not so lucky; after the Esmeralda was tossed in the same manner, was back into the stormy waters pushed by the back sweep, and the ship and whole crew were swallen by the sea.
The nau of Pero D'Ataíde was also lucky, as having been tossed to a place with a ditch, it got stuck in there, preventing it to be thrown by back sweep into the storm.
After the weather calmed down, the ships equipment was salvaged, the anchors transfered to the remaining nau ship and the artillery to the caravels, and what left ashore of the ships was set fire, all these works with the help of the locals, whom showed regret for having not being credited. ... and they sailed to India, Pero D'Ataide elected the new Captain General.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

A massive resource is at http://www.colonialvoyage.com/portuguese-ceylon-portuguese-sri-lanka-before-war-dutch/# :shrug:

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Jabrin Fort. I have driven past the turnoff for Jabrin Fort hundreds of times..There must be something preventing me from stopping off to investigate...It requires, I believe, a letter giving permission to visit, however, as I have never been closer than about 1 kilometer I simply don't know...but I will soon!!

The tour books say something like:
Quote"The small town of JABRIN (also spelled Jabreen, Jibreen, Gabrin, Gibrin and so on) is best known for its superb fort – if you only visit one fort while you’re in Oman, this is probably the one to choose. The fort dates mainly from around 1670, one of several built during the Ya’aruba building boom of the later seventeenth century, constructed at the behest of the future imam Bil’arab bin Sultan (reigned 1680–92), who lies buried here in a crypt beneath the fort. Further alterations were made to the castle during the eighteenth century by imam Muhammad bin Nasr al Ghafiri (reigned 1725–27), and the whole thing was restored between 1979 and 1983.

The fort is located around 5km south of Jabrin town, a picture-perfect structure nestled amid palm trees. The fort’s main building is surrounded by high walls and a gravel courtyard, home to a small mosque; you can also see the deep falaj, which formerly provided the castle with water (and which flows right through the building), to the rear. The interior is absorbingly labyrinthine, with dozens of little rooms packed in around a pair of courtyards. Essentially, the building divides into two halves, which, for the sake of clarity, are described below as the northern and southern wings, although you won’t find this terminology used in the fort itself ".Unquote.
Read more: http://www.roughguides.com/destinations/middle-east/oman/western-hajar/jabrin/#ixzz4KLpOhbRZ

What no one will tell you is about Cannons.. Were they ever situated here ..and if they were did they engage? Jibreen is a fabulous restoration completed by an Italian Doctor completing it in 1983. to the highest standards. In particular the ceilings have received his fabulous artistic restoration treatment...Jabreen was once the Capital of the interior taking over temporarily from Nizwa. Oman was at war with itself therefor think of the interior being in a long fight with the coastal region. There are a couple of cannons at the main doorway but I suspect they have been placed there as a cosmetic detail. To be fair Cannon do get moved around and it could be that redistribution may have occurred after it was renovated. In addition many cannon were centralized for an ongoing exhibition. There appears to be no external wall on these interior Forts which may point to them not having cannon ...The Forts on the coast are different where external walls are common.
Below can be imagined the irregular warriors who manned these great bastions although these are actually photographs..one of the oldest form of photo invented; the daguerreotype. Circa 1837.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

https://www.scribd.com/document/113346069/Oman-in-english

This reference had vanished and is now fully available as per the detail of the old ICOMAN format showing many forts and equipments of Oman... :shrug:

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

https://www.scribd.com/document/113346069/Oman-in-english

This reference above had vanished but is now fully available as per the detail of the old ICOMAN format showing many forts and equipments of Oman... :shrug:

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

https://www.scribd.com/document/113346069/Oman-in-english

This reference above had vanished but is now fully available as per the detail of the old ICOMAN format showing many forts and weapons of Oman... :shrug:

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

An excellent reference is available from 1991 on the following link https://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/199101/fortified.oman.htm

:shrug:

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Reference;
A. https://archive.aramcoworld.com/iss...tified.oman.htm


I have selected the entire article from the reference as a superb rendition of the state of Omans fortresses at this time. I hope readers can enjoy the article.

Fortified Oman

Written and photographed by Lynn Teo Simarski

Much of Oman's tumultuous history is written in the stone, stucco, and mud-brick dialects of its defensive architecture. The craggy countryside bristles so naturally with fortifications that it is difficult to imagine the landscape without them, from the chains of watchtowers perched along strategic mountain passes, to the great bastions guarding the coast and the historic capitals of the interior. As the political turbulence of the past subsided into history, however, the fortresses coveted by conquerors seemed destined to crumble into oblivion - until the 1980's, when the government of Oman began an enterprising program to restore the country's fortifications using traditional techniques and materials.


The government selects monuments for restoration based on their size and complexity, and the importance of their role in history, explains Malallah bin Ali bin Habib, advisor to the Ministry of National Heritage and Culture. Oman is fortunate, he adds, that its ruler, Sultan Qaboos bin Said, has an intense personal interest in history and preservation. Still, the sheer abundance of Oman's heritage of defensive monuments - more than 500 forts and castles, not to mention fortified houses and towers - makes conservation a daunting prospect.


The preserved forts will eventually constitute a collective record of how fortified architecture developed in Oman. Defensive elements such as towers, battlements, walled enclosures and gateways comprise "the most distinctive aspect of Omani architecture," according to archeologist Paolo Costa. Today, architectural features reminiscent of the old forts appear as artistic rather than utilitarian attributes in modern villas and commercial buildings. Even the smallest shops often feature crenelations decoratively painted across their facades.


Rulers over the ages built forts as the physical manifestation of their authority in Oman and the lands Oman once controlled in India, southwestern Iran and East Africa. Yet the forts are frequently assumed to be a foreign legacy, largely because of the prominence of the famous twin sentinels of Jalali and Mirani, built by the Portuguese to guard Muscat bay. "It is not true that many of the forts in Oman were built by the Portuguese," stresses bin Habib. "The vast majority of forts, castles, and watchtowers are the work of [Oman's] Ya'ariba and Al Bu Said dynasties."


Nonetheless, in the past, travelers sailing toward the coast first saw the Portuguese-built bulwarks of Muscat and nearby Mutrah. Muscat was an important naval base for the Portuguese during their century and a half of domination, and they built fortifications there early on. After Ottoman naval forces temporarily dislodged them from the town, they returned to fortify the natural defensive pinnacles of Muscat, completing Jalali and Mirani - the latter still houses a small Portuguese chapel - by 1588. But the Portuguese were confined to coastal Oman. Donald Hawley describes them in Oman and its Renaissance as "locked up in their great forts,.. .unsympathetic toward the local people."


After the Portuguese were expelled by the Ya'ariba dynasty, the Omanis enlarged and transformed Jalali and Mirani into "purely Omani fortresses," according to Enrico d' Errico, who supervised restoration of a number of Omani monuments. The coastal forts continued to draw the envious glances of those who wished to control the trade of the Gulf and Indian Ocean. "I have little doubt," observed Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India, in 1903, "that the time will come... when the Union Jack will be seen flying from the castles of Muscat." His prediction did not come to pass, however, and the forts of Muscat and Muttrah have now been restored as patriotic symbols of Oman's independence.


Another element in the defenses of Muscat was Bayt al-Falaj fort in nearby Ruwi, built in the 19th century by the Al Bu Said dynasty to which Sultan Qaboos belongs. Surrounded by steep mountain slopes, the whitewashed fort commanded access to valleys leading to Muscat, and was the stage in 1915 for a heroic victory by a small force of defenders over thousands of rebellious tribesmen. Headquarters for the Sultan's armed forces until 1978, Bayt al-Falaj is now a museum with superb carved doors and painted ceilings.


To the south of Muscat in the town of Sur, Snisla fort, with its fanciful wedding-cake tower, has also been restored, and restoration on two more forts, Bilas and Ras al-Hadd, is in progress. North of Muscat, along the miles of date palms and fishing villages, a string of clean-lined, dun-colored forts guards the shore. Perhaps the most impressive of these massive sand castles is the restored fort of Barka, where an inscription features the name of Ahmad bin Said, the first imam of the Al Bu Said dynasty, and winner of what became Oman's final victory over the Persians. In the palm groves some distance behind the fort nestles Bayt Naman, an elegant example of a 17th-century fortified palace now under restoration.


Farther up the coast in Sohar, Oman's northernmost important town, rise the seven towers of its restored fort, dazzling white against the deep blue of the sky and sea. Sohar protected the coastal approaches to several mountain passes, including the route to Buraymi Oasis in the interior. Although bypassed by recent history, Sohar was the legendary home of Sinbad and was called "the greatest seaport of Islam" by the 10th-century geographer al-Istakhri. "It is the most populous and wealthy town in Oman," he wrote, "and it is not possible to find on the shore of the Persian Sea nor in all the lands of Islam a city richer in fine buildings and foreign wares."


In 1507, the Portuguese conqueror Affonso de Albuquerque found at Sohar "a fortress of square shape, with six towers round it, having also over the gate two very large towers," a complex that called for defense by more than 1000 soldiers. The Portuguese transformed Sohar into one of their principal Omani bases. This was but one of many rebuildings; French archeologists recently unearthed the remains of a fort from the 13th or early 14th century within the present fort's precincts. Today, high in the tallest tower, the sea breeze blows gently through the governor's majlis or council chamber - it is still employed as such - and the sunlight casts intricate patterns through the white pargeted windows.


Inland from the coastal belt of palms, across the acacia-dotted plain, looms the purple-gray mountain spine of northern Oman. The massive, round-towered forts standing sentinel on both sides of the mountain, where foreign cultural influence was weaker than on the coast, chronicle the evolution of Oman's indigenous fortifications. From the time of Albuquerque, the introduction of gunpowder and cannon transformed the type of defensive architecture. The plan of the older, smaller, many-towered forts gave way to a new design: a square enclosure fortified, at diagonally opposite corners, with two round towers appropriate to the use of cannon. Walls were thickened to resist cannon-fire, and towers heightened to extend the cannons' reach. When enemies drew near the tower, musketeers could fire at them through narrow, downward-slanted loopholes.


It was under the strong and prosperous rule of the Ya'ariba imamate, from approximately 1624 to 1748, that the distinguishing characteristics of Omani military architecture began to crystallize. The Ya'ariba rulers, effectively uniting Oman for the first time in many centuries, rebuilt the old irrigation systems, renovated the towns, revitalized agriculture, and spurred the pace of trade. The promontories of the Sumayl Gap, the most important route to the interior, were crowned with one watchtower after another by the second Ya'ariba ruler, Sultan bin Sayf. At the coastal end of the pass, Bidbid Fort, now restored, anchored this chain of defenses.


At Nizwa, still a regional capital today, Sultan bin Sayf built the great, round, golden tower - the largest in Oman and one of the largest in the Gulf - that still stands in the oasis, next to the ruler's palace, as a monument to the genesis of the new architectural style. The tower is said to have taken 12 years to build, and its gun-ports command a 360-degree field of fire. Restoration of the tower was to be completed last year, and the town's traditional suq is also slated for renovation.


About a quarter century after Nizwa fort was constructed, Bilarab bin Sultan, son of Nizwa's builder and the third imam of the Ya'ariba, erected the splendid palace of Jabrin in the middle of an expansive inland plain. In the interpretation of Paolo Costa, the square layout of Jabrin palace, with its two towers at opposite corners, surpasses Nizwa by unifying its defensive and residential features. Bilarab, who was known for his benevolence to poets and scholars, endowed Jabrin with a madrasa, or school. The palace, now completely restored, still guards the tomb of its builder, who died in 1692.


According to another scholar, Eugenio Galdieri, Jabrin shows the artistic influence of Safavid Persia in the design of its plaster grates and its general apportionment of space. The flowing patterns of its painted ceilings, such as the one in the Hall of the Sun and the Moon, echo carpet designs, and offer the finest examples of such painting in all of interior Oman.


Another charming stronghold on the inland side of the mountain, also more palace than fort, is Birkat al-Mawz or "Pool of the Plantains." It follows the basic layout of Jabrin. Poised across the yawning mouth of a great pass into the mountains, Birkat al-Mawz was one of the fortresses of the Bani Riyam tribe which controlled the mountain heartland. Collapsing into ruin until recently, the mud-brick fortress and its painted ceilings are now well on the way to restoration.


The fifth ruler of the Ya'ariba, Sultan bin Sayf II, established his capital at al-Hazm, on the coastward side of the mountain. His fort, built in 1725, once again echoes the plan of Jabrin. The central columns of the fort's round towers feature refined plaster pargeting above the bronze Portuguese cannon brought from Fort Mirani in the 19th century. Even today, the dark, brooding bulk of al-Hazm seems to evoke the melancholy of its ruler who, contemplating political and military reverses at the close of his life, reportedly said, "This is my castle and my grave. I am become an eyesore to everyone, and the quiet of death will be preferable to any happiness which dominion has afforded me." Al-Hazm's labyrinthine depths still guard the imam's grave and his silent prayer cell, as well as claustrophobic dungeons and - if tradition is to be believed - the ruler's hidden escape routes.


The many architectural features repeated in Oman's forts help today's restorers infer how various rooms and spaces were used in the past. Impressed with Morocco's expertise in restoration, Oman invited a technical team of about 60 Moroccans to work with the Ministry of National Heritage and Culture. "The Moroccans have done extensive restoration work in their own country," explains bin Habib. "Many of Oman's forts need specialized techniques, and Morocco has specialists in each field - calligraphy, carpentry, mechanical engineering - and they have the restoration know-how."


The Moroccan team's director, Sidi Mohammed el-Alaoui, brings an architect's vision and a historian's imagination to his work. He explains that, before a monument can be restored, its milieu must be understood. "We must imagine the governor living inside the fort, and what his life was like," el-Alaoui says. "This means learning Omani history, reading religious and scientific books and poetry -everything about the period during which the monument was built." The restorers also survey and sketch the remains of the old forts, seeking clues to how rooms were used. Blackened walls, for instance, probably indicate the fort's kitchen, while the women's rooms, generally situated in the most private area of the fort, tended to be decorated more richly than others, perhaps with wooden or plaster lattice screens across the windows. Important rooms such as a majlis often had an elaborately painted ceiling.


Many of the forts, then, served not only for defense but also provided for a comfortable daily life. El-Alaoui points out that although Oman's castles borrowed some features from Persian, Indian and Portuguese design, they are entirely adapted in utility and design to the demands of local political and social routine.


Omani forts are guarded by massive, ornately-carved wooden portals, with a small cut-out door that allows entrance to only one stooping visitor at a time. The houses of Oman also feature carved and decorated doors that contrast handsomely with the spare lines of the buildings. The ceilings of forts are typically beamed with trunks of palm or candlewood supporting simple but elegant patterns of crisscrossed palm ribs and palm-frond mats.


If invaders forced entrance to the forts, defenders could douse them, through a slot over the gateway, with asal - a sticky, boiling brew made from dates. Larger forts have a special room for processing dates, which were primarily, of course, an important food. A fort also invariably has a simple mosque, a majlis, men's and women's living quarters, soldiers' rooms, prisons, and storage chambers, among other facilities. At Jabrin, astonishing as it sounds, restorers have identified a room at the head of a long flight of stairs as a stall for the ruler's horse, which he apparently disdained to dismount outside the castle.


Important forts such as al-Hazm or Jabrin also had their own falaj, or water-supply channel, running through the lower level. If this was blocked by attackers, several wells provided an alternative in time of siege. To mitigate the scorching climate, windows of forts such as Nizwa and Rustaq invariably face north to let in cooling breezes. Sitting rooms are thick-walled and served by natural air conditioning: Cool air blows in through large lower windows, and rising hot air escapes through small upper windows.


Many of the forts have histories reaching back to ancient times. The large restored fortress of the town of Rustaq, set in an expansive oasis on the coastal side of the mountains, stands on what may have been the site of a fort since two millennia before the advent of Islam. The present fort, Qalat al-Kasra, includes a tower that tradition holds was originally built by the Persians in the year 600. Rustaq has long been important because of its strategic situation at the openings of mountain passes, as well as its benign climate and hot springs, which are believed to have medicinal benefits. It was the site in 1624 of the election of the first imam of the Ya'ariba, Nasir bin Murshid bin Sultan, and served as the imamate's capital a number of times.


Not far from Rustaq lies Nakhle oasis, whose own hot springs bubble out at the foot of barren mountains that slice into the earth like a guillotine. Here, one of Oman's most dramatically-sited castles poises upon a precipice, contoured so closely to its natural foundation as to seem sculpted from the rock. From the ramparts of Nakhle, Barka fort on the coast can be spotted on a clear day, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) away.


Colonel S. B. Miles, a British political agent in Muscat, visited Nakhle in 1876. Approaching the town, he wrote, "it seemed as if we were about to penetrate the very bowels of the mountain. No sign of human habitation, no cultivation, no gardens were visible, nothing but dark and desolate rocks met the eye ... when from above, in front of us, several matchlocks were suddenly discharged in our direction, and I perceived a watch tower perched on a steep pinnacle... from which the sentries had fired to give notice of our approach. Rounding an angle, we were now confronted with the massive ramparts of the fortress, which, warned by the watch tower, immediately began to fire a salute from a battery of 12-pounder iron guns, the sound of which reverberated sharply from the rocky walls of the glen."


Today, visitors expecting the grim, black fortress described in guidebooks will find that Nakhle has been restored to its original golden splendor. It is presently the headquarters of the Moroccan restoration team, whose general rule is to employ virtually no materials that come from more than a few kilometers around a monument's site. The restorers' dedication to authenticity is exemplified in the painstaking process by which they learned to make sarouj, a local ingredient of both mortar and plaster. Cement plaster was tried in earlier restorations with unsatisfactory results: The mud-brick beneath was unable to give off moisture and the new facades soon fractured.


Now, the restorers analyze the composition of the original building materials, and consult local elders about the proper way to produce sarouj. The raw material is soil from a date-palm grove, taken only with the owner's permission, which is mixed with water and dried in the sun. It is then baked in a traditional oven, baked again in the sun, and finally mixed with other materials into the appropriate blends for an individual fort.


Only local earth from near a fort is used in its restoration to ensure that the genuine texture and color will be achieved. El-Alaoui admits that six months might be required to hit upon the correct sarouj for a particular fort. Similar care is taken to produce mud brick, woodwork, metalwork, and paint. In keeping with local esteem for the date palm, only the trunks of dead palms are employed as ceiling supports.


Oman's cooperative restoration effort has sparked a revival of disappearing local crafts. Young apprentices from local towns learn the arts of carpentry, sarouj-making, and every other step. "We work together and we think together," says el-Alaoui. "This training is also important because the Omanis can carry on with the maintenance later."


Constructed of fairly perishable materials, Oman's forts have necessarily been altered and renovated over the centuries. Even today, in keeping with this somewhat controversial tradition, the restorers are not above correcting the visual balance of a fort by adding an arch or a wall, or constructing a new facility such as a platform for governor's audiences - as long as these features fit stylistically and logically with the architectural tradition.


One of the most majestic monuments in all Oman, however, is still in ruins: the castle of Bahla, towering even in its dilapidated state more than 50 meters (165 feet) above the surrounding palms. According to historical manuscripts, sections of Bahla fort date back to pre-Islamic Persian occupation of Oman. For centuries, Bahla was also capital of the Banu Nabhan dynasty that preceded the Ya'ariba. As noted by the International Council on Monuments and Sites, "The fort has never been restored, representing a remarkable example of authenticity, and is not protected by any conservation measures; meanwhile, great chunks of wall collapse each year after the rainy season."


The situation began to improve in 1988, when the fort, the nearby mosque with its sculpted mihrab, or prayer niche, and the 12-kilometer (7.5-mile) wall enclosing the town of Bahla and much of the palm oasis were inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List. This act places Bahla among spectacular natural and cultural sites of "exceptional universal value ... which should remain intact for future generations."


Today, the restored forts, left behind by the masons and woodworkers, and watched over by traditional turbaned guards with cartridge belts round their waists, are immaculate refuges of silent and austere beauty. Their curving stairways, arches, courtyards, and crenellations are monumental sculptures of deep shadow and dazzling light - but they are touristic curiosities devoid of life. Traditionally the seats of authority, some restored forts, it is true, continue to host the traditional majlis of the regional governor. Still, Oman may look for other local uses - compatible with preservation - that will enliven these monuments of which the local people are so fiercely, and so justifiably, proud.

Lynn Teo Simarski is a Washington writer and editor who specializes in the Middle East.






This article appeared on pages 8-17 of the January/February 1991 print edition of Saudi Aramco World.

See Also: CASTLES, MUSEUMS, OMAN, RESTORATION

Check the Public Affairs Digital Image Archive for January/February 1991 images.