Khoja Zufar or Coge Cofar
Drawing from 1899-1905
Nickname(s)Khoje Cofar or Coge Cofar
Born1500 (1500)
Otranto, Apulia, Kingdom of Naples
Died1546 (aged 45–46)
Diu, India
AllegianceOttoman Empire
Years of service1515–1546
RankGeneral
Commands heldOttoman naval forces
Battles/wars
AwardsGovernor of Diu
RelationsFriend of Garcia de Orta

Khoja Zufar or Coje Çafar (1500 – June 24, 1546), also called Coge Sofar, or Safar Aga[1] in Portuguese, Cosa Zaffar in Italian, and Khwaja Safar Salmani in Turkish or Khuádja Tzaffar (خوجا زفار) in Arabic,[2] was a soldier and local ruler in Western India during the 16th century. He was a leader in the failed Siege of Diu. Zufar was an experienced merchant with the distant markets of the Arabian Gulf around the Strait of Mecca and Lepanto at the Mediterranean.[3]

Name

For centuries, his name has been given in different forms, depending on whether the writer is English, an Ottoman Turk, or Portuguese.[4] These include Khoja Zufar,[5] Coje Çafar,[6] Coge Sofar,[7] and Khojah Zaffar. Muhammad III of Gujarat had forced him to change his Christian name to "Khwaja". He was later known as Khudawand Khan Safar Salmani.[8]

Early life

Zufar was born in Otranto,[9] into an Albanian family.[10][11][12][13] His mother was from Brindisi. He was born to Catholic Albanian parents in Otranto in the Kingdom of Naples in modern-day Italy.[14][15]

He began his career as a military adventurer, serving in the armies of Italy and Flanders, and was captured at sea at the age of fifteen by an Ottoman general Selim I, and the Ottoman sultan was impressed by the young Zufar and sent him to Constantinople where he was put in command of several vessels to attack the Portuguese.[16][17] He was then sent to Cambaya (Khambhat) where he became good friends with King Bahadur Shah of Gujarat.[18] He was also the captain of the king.[19]

Around 1527, Khoja Zufar took refugee in Diu, where he was met with great respect, and with him he had 300 000 "cruzados" and 600 Turkish soldiers.[20]

"Portuguese drawing of Khoja Zufar (Coge Cofar) from 1798"

War with the Portuguese

In February 1531, Khoja Zufar and Ottoman Admiral Mustafa entered the harbor of Diu, a Portuguese island fortress on the coast of the Gujarat Sultanate in what is now Western India.[21] In 1532, Zufar established himself in Gujarat, and obtained privileges in Surat and Diu,[22] becoming the general of the Muslim forces.[23] Here he was known as "Khoja Sofar of Surat". He initially cooperated with the Portuguese who put him in charge of Diu,[24] but when he heard of Hadım Suleiman Pasha's naval expedition, he betrayed the Portuguese and joined Suleiman.[25] Among the sailors of Suleiman were many of Venetian origin.[26] Prior to Zufars change of allies, he had been very offended by Suleiman Pashas arrogance.[27]

Zufar meeting Nuno da Cunha and Antonio da Silveira

On February 1537, When Bahadur Shah of Gujarat was killed on his ship by the Portuguese, led by Nuno da Cunha, Zufar abandoned ship and swam ashore where he was well met by the Portuguese, who massacred the rest of Bahadurs crew. Cunha was so impressed by Zufar that he recommended him to Portuguese commander Antonio da Silveira de Menezes. Khoja then fled to King Mahmud of Cambaya, where Khoja was instructed to once again fight the Portuguese, with the help of the Ottoman fleet which was on its way. Khoja then appeared in front of the city of Rums, near Diu, where he was wounded in the arm. Zufar was aided by the local kings which resulted in Silveira ordering his men to abandon the town and instead fortify the port. When the Ottoman fleet arrived, Silveira sent letter to Nunho asking for help.[28]

Suleiman Pasha's fleet

In 1537, the Portuguese sent a fleet to attack Diu, which was defended by Zufar's land forces. Suleiman witnessed the preparations:

In 1537, Sultan Bahadur and Khoja Zufar agreed to meet with the Portuguese governor Nuno da Cunha in Diu, on his ship and despite being warned, Bahadur was murdered and his body thrown into the ocean, while Zufar barely escaped onto the ship of Antonio de Soto-Maior.[31] Determined to avenge himself, Zufar wrote to his relative Nacoda Hamede, the ruler of Zebit, to send the Ottoman army to India, to which the Sultan approved.[32] According to Portuguese author Luís Vaz Camões letters published in 1776, Zufar and Nunio had been serving together in service of the Portuguese, but Zufar, with a party of locals of Cambaya, switched side and joined Hadim Suleiman Pasha.[33]

In April 1538, Zufar, having received news of the Portuguese fleet preparing for war, secretly sent his wife and children to safety. He then presented himself before the new sultan, Mahmud III, who made him governor of Surat with the title of Khudawand Khan. Zufar then made an attack on the outer fort of Diu, driving the Portuguese into the city, and initiating the Siege of Diu which was made possible thanks to Zufar's close friend Ruy Freire, a Portuguese who collected information.[34] In June 1538, Zufar was wounded[35] by the Portuguese,[36] and attacked again on June 26 with 4,000 men outside the village of Rome.[37]

Throughout his reign as a governor, Zufar had urged the Muslim leader of Gujarat to expel the Portuguese,[38] who had taken possession of Surat Port and robbed the city at the beginning of the century. The following quote is attributed to him, as part of a speech to his men about the Portuguese:

Delayed by other conflicts, Suleiman arrived with a fleet of 72 vessels, and told his men of a certain "Cosazaffer who originally came from Otranto and was a renegade for Islam".[40] In 1540, to resist the attacks of the Portuguese, Zufar constructed a strong, high, and large fort in the place of the small old fort.[41] The Portuguese protested against the decision.[42]

Zufar had a personal relationship with Garcia de Orta as he would receive gifts of curcas (cataputia minor), from Zufar.[43][44] In 1542, a ship filled with 60,000 pieces of Venetian gold was sent to Zufar, to prepare for the incoming fleet.[45] In 1545, Zufar attempted another siege of Diu[46] and failed.

In 1546, Zufar complained that his merchant vessels were harassed by the Portuguese cartaz which resulted in skirmishes with the Portuguese fleets. The Sultan, determined to retake Diu, applied for support from Indo-Islamic states.[47]

In 1546, Zufar fortified his base at Surat[48] and persuaded the sultan of Gujarat to once again attack Diu.[49][50][51] In March, 1546, Zufar appeared in front of Diu with 7,000 "guzatteres" and 1,000 Turks in order to take it from the Portuguese.[52][53] Their leader, Dom Joao Mascarenhas, defended the city as did his predecessor Antonio da Silveira. Portuguese women participated in the defence as well.[54] The sieges failed and Suleiman departed on November 5. Zufar then set fire to his encampment and abandoned the island of Diu.

According to Diogo do Cuoto, the keeper of the Portuguese Record Office in Goa, throughout the 1540s, Zufar received letters every year from his mother, a Catholic, who was much upset that Zufar had converted to Islam.[55]

International writings

C. K. Goertz wrote that "Safar Salmani was a man of genius and determination, circumspection and foresight, and it was upon these qualities that he advances to Bahadur Shah's inner circle. Later, Pope Julius III would consider him sufficiently important to mention him in his bull "pracclara charissimi" of December 30, 1551.[56]

Death

Before his death, Zufar had a wakil, a servant, named Bahar Khan Yagut Salmani, an Ottoman slave, who also accompanied him during the Siege of Diu. On June 24, 1546, while supervising the trenches, Zufar's head was taken off by a cannonball fired from the Portuguese in the fort of Diu.[57][58][59] One of Zufar's men, Bilal Khairit Khani Habashi, was killed as well.[60] His son, Ramazan Rumi Khan, inherited the title and ruled Surat in 1554.[61]

Tomb

His tomb in Surat was attended to in 1933-34 and restored.[62]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mubārak, Abū al-Faḍl Ibn (1977). The Akbar Nāmā of Abu-l-Fazl: (History of the Reign of Akbar Including an Account of His Predecessors). Ess Ess Publications. p. 25. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  2. ↑ Orta, García da (2014). Coloquios dos simples e drogas da India (in Portuguese) (Translation: seria Khuádja Tzaffar ed.). Editorial Maxtor. p. 286. ISBN 9788490014516. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  3. ↑ Mathew, K. S. (1982). "Khwaja Safar, the Merchant Governor of Surat and the Indo-Portuguese Trade in the Early Sixteenth Century". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 43: 232–242. JSTOR 44141233.
  4. ↑ Markotić, Vladimir (1987). Symposium: Emigrants from Croatia and their Achievements. Western Publischers. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-919119-12-3. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  5. ↑ Ta-ssi-yang-kuo ...: Archivos e annaes do Extremo-Oriente portuguez, colligidos ... (in Portuguese). 1902. p. 376.
  6. ↑ "Drawing of Coge Cofar".
  7. ↑ Welch, Sidney R. (1949). South Africa Under John III, 1521-1557. Juta. p. 120.
  8. ↑ Chase, Kenneth; Chase, Kenneth Warren (2003). Firearms: A Global History to 1700. Cambridge University Press. p. 136. ISBN 9780521822749.
  9. ↑ Cagle, Hugh (2018). Assembling the Tropics: Science and Medicine in Portugal's Empire, 1450–1700. Cambridge University Press. p. 159. ISBN 9781107196636.
  10. ↑ Stephens, H. Morse. The Project Gutenberg e-Book of Rulers of India: Albuquerque. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 315.
  11. ↑ "Heritage History | Albuquerque: Rulers of India by Morse Stephens". www.heritage-history.com.
  12. ↑ Yamey, Adam (2019). Travels Through Gujarat, Daman, and Diu. p. 160. ISBN 9780244407988.
  13. ↑ Yamey, Adam (2019). Travels Through Gujarat, Daman, and Diu. p. 160. ISBN 9780244407988.
  14. ↑ Rajamanickam, G. Victor; Subbarayalu, Y.; Kal̲akam, Tañcai Tamil̲p Palkalaik (1988). History of traditional navigation. Tamil University. p. 137. ISBN 978-81-7090-122-8.
  15. ↑ Chalmers, Alexander (1810). English Translations: From Ancient and Modern Poems (This officer was by birth an Albanese of catholic parents and had served in the wars in Italy and Flanders Having commenced merchant he was taken at sea by the Turks and carried to Constantinople from whence he went to Cambaya where he embraced Mohammedism and became the prime minister and favourite of king Badur ed.). Johnson. p. 565. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  16. ↑ Markotić, Vladimir (1987). Symposium: Emigrants from Croatia and their Achievements. Western Publischers. p. 35. ISBN 9780919119123.
  17. ↑ Livermore, H. V.; Goertz, R. O. W. (1985). Iberia: Literary and Historical Issues : Studies in Honour of Harold V. Livermore. Canada. p. 82. ISBN 9780919813144.
  18. ↑ Alexander Chalmers, 1810, p. 565
  19. ↑ Mookerji, Radhakumud (1912). Indian shipping: a history of the sea-borne trade and maritime activity of the Indians from the earliest times. Longmans, Green and co. p. 201. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  20. ↑ Purabhilekh-puratatva: Journal of the Directorate of Archives, Archaeology and Museum, Panaji-Goa. The Directorate. 1991. p. 4. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  21. ↑ Mughal India According to European Travel Accounts: Texts and Studies. Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University. 1997. p. 6.
  22. ↑ Subrahmanyam, Sanjay (1993). The Portuguese empire in Asia, 1500-1700: a political and economic history. Longman. p. 95. ISBN 9780582050693.
  23. ↑ Bouterwek, Friedrich (1805). Geschichte der Poesie und Beredsamkeit seit dem Ende des dreizehnten Jahrhunderts: Introduction (40 p.) Italy (in German). J.F. Röwer. p. 331. Coge-Sofar.
  24. ↑ Beirão, Caetano (1960). A Short History of Portugal. Edic̜ões Panorama. p. 61.
  25. ↑ The Cambridge History of the British Empire. CUP Archive. 1940. p. 15.
  26. ↑ Camões, Luís Vaz (1776). The Lusiad;: Or the Discovery of India. An Epic Poem (Seventy large veffels well fupplied with cannon and all military stores under the command of Solyman Bashaw of Cairo failed from the port of Suez to extirpate the Portuguese from India The feamen were of different nations many of them Venetian galleyflaves taken in war all of them trained failors and 7ooo Janifaries were deftined to aćt on fhore Some Portuguese Rene gados dos were also in the fleet and Coje Zofar who had hitherto been the friend of Nunio with a party of Cambayans joined Solyman The hoftile operations began with the feige of Dio ed.).
  27. ↑ Beveridge, Henry (1867). A Comprehensive History of India, Civil, Military, and Social, from the First Landing of the English, to the Suppression of the Sepoy Revolt: Including an Outline of the Early History of Hindoostan. Blackie and Son. p. 1991. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  28. ↑ A New General Collection of Voyages and Travels ... in Europe, Asia, Africa and America ..., Also the Manners and Customs of the Several Inhabitants ...: Consisting of the Most Esteemed Relations, which Have Been Hitherto Published in Any Language, ... Thomas Astley. 1745. p. 103. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  29. ↑ Garcia de Orta (1891). Francisco Manuel de Melo Ficalho (ed.). Coloquios dos simples e drogas da India (in Portuguese). Vol. 1. Impresna Nacional. p. 286. ISBN 9788490014516.
  30. ↑ Viaggi fatti da Vinetia, alla Tana, in Persia, in India, et in Costantinopoli: con la descrittione particolare di città, luoghi, siti, costumi, & della Porta del gran Turco: & di tutte le intrate, spese, & modo di gouerno suo, & della ultima impresa contra portoghesi (in Italian). eredi di Aldo Manuzio 1. 1545. p. 149. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  31. ↑ Pearson, Michael Naylor (1976). Merchants and Rulers in Gujarat: The Response to the Portuguese in the Sixteenth Century. University of California Press. p. 78. ISBN 9780520028098. Retrieved 6 November 2019. Khwaja Safar.
  32. ↑ Portuguese and the Sultanate of Gujarat, 1500-1573, Kuzhippalli Skaria Mathew, p. 44-46,
  33. ↑ Camões, Luís Vaz (1776). The Lusiad;: Or the Discovery of India. An Epic Poem. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  34. ↑ Mathew, Kuzhippalli Skaria (1986). Portuguese and the Sultanate of Gujarat, 1500-1573. Mittal Publications. p. 138. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  35. ↑ Jaques, Tony (2007). Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A-E. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 304. ISBN 9780313335372.
  36. ↑ Almeida, Fortunato de (1923). História de Portugal (in Portuguese). F. de Almeida. p. 316.
  37. ↑ Welch, Sidney R. (1949). South Africa Under John III, 1521-1557. Juta. p. 126.
  38. ↑ Welch, Sidney R. (1949). South Africa Under John III, 1521-1557. Juta. p. 125.
  39. ↑ Recueil de morceux en prose: extraits del meilleurs auteurs français et portugais; tels que Fénélon, Lesage, Florian, Berquin, Jean de Barros, Freire de Andrada, etc, etc.; précédé d'un choix d'anecdotes, de bons mots et de pensées diverses. En français et en portugais (What do we have to fear from this Empire of madmen, who with one arm in Asia and the other in the West want to embrace the World? (in French). chez Théophile Barrois fils, libraire, quai Voltaire, no. 11. 1818. p. 168.
  40. ↑ Ulughkhānī, ʻAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʻUmar; Ross, E. Denison (Edward Denison) (1910). An Arabic history of Gujarat; Zafar ul-wálih bi Muzaffar wa ālih; by ʻAbdallah Mu.hammad bin ʻOmar Al-Makkí, Al-Āsafí. London, John Murray. p. 37.
  41. ↑ "NRI Division | About Gujarat | History of Gujarat | Surat". nri.gujarat.gov.in.
  42. ↑ Pearson, M. N. (2006). The Portuguese in India. Cambridge University Press. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-521-02850-9. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  43. ↑ Coloquio S Dos Simple S E Arci A D Ort A Droga S D A Índi A (PDF) (It is interesting that we come to meet Coge Çofar, the great enemy of the Portuguese, the instigator and soul of Diu's sieges, sending gifts of curcas to Garcia da Orta, and teaching him their name in Cairo. ed.). Lisabon: Ediçã O Publicad A. 1891. p. 285. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  44. ↑ Azzam, Abdul Rahman (2017). The Other Exile: The Remarkable Story of Fernão Lopes, the Island of St Helena and the meaning of human solitude. Icon Books Limited. ISBN 9781785781841.
  45. ↑ Yule, Henry; Burnell, Arthur Coke (1996). Hobson-Jobson: The Anglo-Indian Dictionary. Wordsworth Editions. p. 946. ISBN 9781853263637.
  46. ↑ The Cambridge History of the British Empire. CUP Archive. 1940. p. 17.
  47. ↑ Ghosh, Shounak. Unraveling the Strands of Diplomacy in the Contest for Coastal Gujarat in the Sixteenth Century (PDF). Vanderbilt University. p. 37. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  48. ↑ Chokshi, U. M.; Trivedi, M. R. (1991). Gujarat State Gazetteer. Director, Government Print., Stationery and Publications, Gujarat State. p. 603. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  49. ↑ Stephens, H. Morse (2000). Albuquerque. Asian Educational Services. p. 186. ISBN 9788120615243.
  50. ↑ Alam, Muzaffar; Subrahmanyam, Sanjay (2012). Writing the Mughal World: Studies on Culture and Politics. Columbia University Press. p. 73. ISBN 9780231158114.
  51. ↑ Feio Doutoramento em História, Gonçalo Couceiro (2013). O ensino e a aprendizagem militares em Portugal e no Império, de D. João III a D. Sebastião: a arte portuguesa da guerra (PDF). História dos Descobrimentos e da Expansão: Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Letras. p. 116.
  52. ↑ Mughal India According to European Travel Accounts: Texts and Studies. Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University. 1997. p. 20.
  53. ↑ Saturnino Monteiro (2010): Portuguese Sea Battles - Volume I - The First World Sea Power 1139-1521 p.223
  54. ↑ Stephens, H. Morse (2000). Albuquerque. Asian Educational Services. p. 186. ISBN 9788120615243.
  55. ↑ Mathew, Kuzhippalli Skaria (1986). Portuguese and the Sultanate of Gujarat, 1500-1573. Mittal Publications. p. 49.
  56. ↑ Markotić, Vladimir (1987). Symposium: Emigrants from Croatia and their Achievements. Western Publischers. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-919119-12-3. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  57. ↑ Reflective Approach on Last Phase of Portuguese Diu Besieged By The Sultan of Gujarar, 1539–1548 (PDF) (Chapter VII ed.). p. 134.
  58. ↑ Indica. Heras Institute of Indian History and Culture, St. Xavier's College. 1986. p. 75.
  59. ↑ Alam, Muzaffar; Subrahmanyam, Sanjay (2012). Writing the Mughal World: Studies on Culture and Politics. Columbia University Press. p. 73. ISBN 9780231158114.
  60. ↑ https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/144517428.pdf, p. 159
  61. ↑ Corrêa, Gaspar (1863). Lendas da India: Que conta dos feitos de Pero Mascarenhas, e Lopo Vaz de Sampayo, e Nuno da Cunha : em que se passara︣o 17 annos. Livro terceiro (in Portuguese). Academia Real das Sciencias.
  62. ↑ Annual Report. Swati Publications. 1930. p. 25. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
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