ABSTRACT
The Omanis had been a seafaring people for centuries before the arrival of the Portuguese in force in the Arabian Sea during the early sixteenth century and the capture of both Hurmuz and Maskat by 1515. The Straits fleets were expected to reinforce remaining Portuguese settlements in the Gulf and East Africa region, to pursue the naval war with the Omanis, and to carry the customs revenues generated at Bandar Kung back to Goa. The historiography on Portuguese naval warfare in the Indian Ocean from 1500 to 1700 is both long-standing and large, with the studies of F.C, Danvers, C.R. Boxer, and A. Botelho de Sousa, among others, constituting milestone works in the field. The naval encounters in that protracted war, pitting the military forces of the Estado da India and those of the Vereenigde Oost Indische Compagnie, played a crucial role in the larger geo-political and economic struggle waged from c. 1605-1663 between these powers.
