In the minds of many, it seems that european colonists defeated the local natives with advanced weapons such as guns. But this stereotype is not necessarily correct. The Europeans' conquests were led by Spain and Portugal, the two countries of the Iberian Peninsula, and because of the Treaty of Tordesillas, Spain faced a much less difficult enemy than Portugal.
This small boat called Caravelle could not carry large artillery
Portugal faced the ancient civilization of India, the sultan of Malacca, the various intricate Muslim forces in the Arabian Peninsula, the Mamluk dynasty that controlled the Red Sea and Cairo, and the Ottoman Empire of Suleiman I. These enemies were not only more numerous than them, but also armed with muskets, armed with artillery, better armed and better armed than the Portuguese, and richer than them. At that time, there were no flintlock guns, arquebusiers did not have crossbows; Portuguese shipbuilding technology at that time could not keep up with Spain, and there were many ships built of small tonnage Caravels, which could hardly be equipped with shipboard artillery...
But Portugal defeated these enemies, and the key to their victory was the strategy they adopted. As early as the first time Vasco da Gama sailed into the Indian Ocean, they began to gather useful local intelligence. They knew that the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Peninsula, and the various forces around Malay were complex, and that the strength and weapons of various forces should not be underestimated, and they also detected the large area of the subcontinent. When Vasco da Gama returned to Portugal with the news, the Portuguese royal family discussed how to deal with future enemies. After discussion, they decided how to conquer West Asia: to control the trading center by building fortresses and fortresses near the trading ports; to build more "sea fortresses" carrack sailing ships, which could carry light artillery and provide some fire support for the Portuguese landing forces, and the towering head and tail towers made such ships as many archers and musketeers as the land castles, and more importantly, the ship load several times that of the Caravel galleon; every year the fleet was sent to these trading points to transport various raw materials and resources back to Lisbon , change the guard soldier.
Due to the small number of Portuguese expeditions per expedition, only 5,500 people traveled to and from India in the seven years from 1497 to 1504, with an average fleet of about 1,000 men except for vasco da Gama, who made its maiden voyage. The scarcity of personnel led them to decide not to go deeper inland, "to enter the interior no more than five nautical miles, and to ensure the evacuation of troops to ships or fortresses at all times." "It was the Portuguese law of warfare at that time. A fortified fortress could be held securely by only 100 to 300 men, and when the fleet withdrew, several ships would be left for the defenders, who could go to the vicinity to find supplies to smuggle to the defenders when they were under siege, even if they were surrounded for several months. Once the defenders held out until the spring of the following year, a new wave of fresh forces would arrive with the fleet.
▲ Portuguese fortress established in Hormuz
Of course, portugal's strategy of defending instead of attacking is also very difficult, the focus is that the speed of building the fortress must be fast, because of the monsoon, most of the personnel and ships of the fleet must return to Lisbon once that year to unload the loaded resources, and once the manpower is insufficient, the fortress cannot be built. In 1505, after the decision to carry out a key defensive strategy, the whole of Portugal began to continuously purchase wood and stone throughout Europe to make prefabricated parts for fortresses, including window frames, processed stone, wood for building ships, etc., to ensure that the fleet began to work as soon as it reached its destination. It also carried the fort's defensive weapon, the artillery (i.e., the Flang machine gun that later spread to the Ming Dynasty).
Depictions of Portuguese soldiers and local women, and it was common for Portuguese soldiers to marry local converted women. So a lot of people supported the Portuguese.
In addition, in order to add diplomatic insurance to the fortresses hanging tens of thousands of nautical miles overseas, the Portuguese have been looking for their allies on the other side of the world, their purpose is to deal with the Mamluk dynasty in Mecca, and the Arab merchants scattered on the Indian coast and the Malay Archipelago to control the entire Indian Ocean and Pacific trade, and do not want to do anything to the Hindus with whom they have no hatred. The Portuguese intelligence work was well done, knowing that the various forces in West Asia were in open and secret, and they were involved in it, helping one group to kill another, so as to make allies. In the face of non-Muslim Indian merchants, they only charge tolls and will not use force.
▲ Portugal's largest "sea fortress", the Flower of the Sea, compared to the small Caravelle ships, her large load and towering towers can not only facilitate the protection of soldiers, but also carry a large number of goods.
The Portuguese strategy worked well for them, who were sparsely armed, and the occupation of a large number of territories was unrealistic for them who were too small in the expedition, and the best way to control overseas territories only once a year was to stick to overseas strongholds. The enemies around these strongholds were themselves divided, the traffic in West Asia was not developed, The West Asia was desert, the sea route was blocked by the "sea fortress" that Portugal had begun to build in 1500, and the reinforcements were mostly trapped by hunger and disease even under the Portuguese fortresses.
▲ The Portuguese fortress was besieged by Ottoman troops
Under the strategy of clinging to fortresses and trading posts, portugal's main enemy, the Mamluk dynasty, shrank in economic and strategic resources, dealing a heavy blow to the Cairo sultan, who was already under civil strife, and was wiped out by the Ottoman army. Although Portugal controlled the trade of the entire Indian Ocean, it did not have the stronger national power to directly destroy any one kingdom. From 1538 to 1559, the Ottoman Empire, the successor of the Mamluk dynasty, tried to clear the Portuguese strongholds in the Indian Ocean and Malacca, when the Ottoman Empire was very powerful in the army and navy under Suliman I, but still did not return to the Portuguese fortress.
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