Images of the Orient-Weapons included-XVI century

[rand]

Fernando,

It seems the influence of Europe, in this case Portugal is not illustrated enough currently to makes its effect fully understood. Am sure there are records of visits to Islamic countries and what was sold or given to the rulers there of also.

Just saw one reference of Portugal envoys,

"The Safavid period: Shah Esma@¿^l I (q.v.) showed an interest in the purchase of firearms as early as 907/1502, soon after his enthronement (Scarcia Amoretti, pp. 9-10). Yet the Safavid army's failure to use artillery in the battle of Ùa@ldera@n (q.v.) in 920/1514 was largely responsible for its defeat. Shah Esma@¿^l reacted swiftly to remedy this and immediately following the battle appointed his wak^l, Solta@n-H®osayn, as tofang±^-ba@æ^, commander of the musketeers, putting him in charge of forming of a corps of tofang±^s (Bacque‚-Grammont, p. 165; Aubin, p. 118). The results were soon noticeable. The Portuguese envoys visiting Ka@æa@n in 1515-16 observed "forty musketeers bearing muskets of metal" among the welcoming party (Smith, p. 44). By 1517, Esma@¿^l's army is said to have included 8,000 musketeers, and Venetian reports from 1521 and 1522 speak of 12,000 and 15,000 to 20,000 arquebusiers (Scarcia Amoretti, pp. 377, 405-6, 533, 545). No figures are available for Shah T®ahma@sb I's reign, yet it is clear that the musketeer corps continued to be active, frequently taking part in campaigns and in the defense of fortresses (¿AÚlama@ra@-ye ˆa@h T®ahma@sb, pp. 64, 78, 123, 157, 181, 193, 204-5, 272, 280, 297, 314, 329, 332, 335, 341, 357, 369, 376-77). By the mid-17th century, observers put the number of musketeers in the Safavid army at 8,000 to 10,000 (Tavernier, I, p. 659) to 12,000 men (Chardin, V, p. 305; Tavernier noted that in times of need, their number could rise to 50,000)."

(an article by Rudi Matthee about the history of firearms in Iran)

rand