Previous Issues

          This paper surveys the Ottoman and the Portuguese designs against Yemen in the early sixteenth century.  The Portuguese failed three times to capture Aden and many other cities like Al Shihr.  They faced violent and determined struggle by the Yemeni people to protect their homeland.  The Portuguese aimed to cut off the trade routes from the east of the Red Sea after they had discovered the Cape of Good Hope.

           In 1538 the Ottomans secceeded in their attempt to invade Yemen.  They hanged two of the rulers of Aden on board their military ships at the beginning of their invasion.  The Yemeni people struggled very hard against the Ottomans also.

           The end of the Portuguese influence in the east was due not only the Ottoman’s great power, but also to the appearance of new powers like Holland, France and England, but we can say that it was the Ottomans who ended the Portuguese influence in the Red Sea.