Tracing Ottoman footprints at one end of Indonesia

Did you know that in the 16th century, the Ottomans launched an expedition to the island of Sumatra, which is part of present-day Indonesia, and that the Sultanate of Aceh on Sumatra came under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire?

With the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in the 16th century, their interest in the Indian Ocean increased, and the Ottoman Empire made various interventions in the region. The main reason for the Ottoman Empire’s intervention in the area was the increasing activities of the Portuguese.

In this article, we will examine closely these military actions by which the Ottoman Empire left its mark on the Malay Archipelago in the Far East.

Ottoman-Aceh relations until Sultan Selim II

With the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in the 16th century, their interest in the Indian Ocean grew, and the Ottoman Empire engaged in various interventions in the region. The primary cause of the Ottoman Empire’s involvement was the escalating influence of the Portuguese in the area.

The Portuguese navy, extending its sphere of influence as far as the Red Sea, had become powerful enough to threaten and potentially occupy the holy lands in the Hejaz.

Having colonized Southern Africa and Southeast Asia, Portugal had suppressed the Muslim states in the region, gained control over the trade in the Indian sphere, and altered the flow of goods from India to Europe in a way that was detrimental to the Ottoman Empire.

Particularly, the European discovery of the Cape of Good Hope and the Portuguese blockade of the Red Sea had upset the existing commercial balances in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean regions, striking a blow to the Ottomans’ access to the Spice Route.

Although the campaigns launched to break Portugal’s commercial dominance in this direction did not yield the desired results, the pressure exerted by the Portuguese on the Red Sea trade was alleviated.

In the subsequent period, the Ottoman Empire continued its struggle with Portugal through a proxy war, using the forces it had delegated in the region. In other words, an army was not directly sent to the area unless necessary; instead, efforts were made to keep the Portuguese under pressure by providing support to local powers. It can be said that the Ottoman Empire applied this military strategy in various forms across different geographies.

Looking at examples such as the military technical support given to Babur Shah, the structuring of the Moroccan army on the Ottoman model, and the provision of firearms to the Ming dynasty, the Ottomans provided support to various regions using similar methods. We see an example of this in Abyssinia as well.

A proxy war took place on the East African coasts between the Christian locals supported by Portugal and the Muslim locals supported by the Ottomans.

The Aceh expedition was a proxy war that developed on a similar scale. One of the states that deeply felt the increasing Portuguese threat in Southeast India was the Muslim Sultanate of Aceh, located in the north of the island of Sumatra. The island of Sumatra held strategic importance because of its location on the southern side of the Strait of Malacca.

This characteristic of the island was the main reason why Portugal, seeking to monopolize trade routes, became a menace to the region.

The Sultanate of Aceh, which remained relatively primitive compared to European states, appealed to the Ottoman Empire, the most powerful Muslim state of the time, to break the Portuguese dominance over it.

Although the most comprehensive Ottoman expeditions to Aceh began in the 1560s, the exact time when relations between the Sultanate of Aceh and the Ottoman Empire started is unknown. Based on the information provided by the Portuguese explorer Fernao Mendes Pinto, we can say that the Ottomans were in the region as early as the 1530s. In his memoirs, Pinto mentioned that many Turks were trading in the region in 1539.

It is mentioned that during Pinto’s time in Sumatra, an Abyssinian named Mahmut Han, who was an Ottoman bureaucrat, was in Aceh. It is stated that this bureaucrat was there on behalf of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent for a commercial alliance agreement and was given a trading house in the port of Pasai by the Sultan of Aceh.

Mahmut Han was accompanied by a delegation of one hundred people, including 40 Janissaries. This Turkish delegation, beyond establishing a commercial organization in the region, also built various fortifications in the area where they were located.

This shows that the Ottomans had an interest in the region even in the first half of the 16th century. Beyond its strategic location, Aceh also possessed various commodities. In particular, pepper production was Aceh’s main source of income.

Aceh pepper, reaching European markets via the Middle East, met almost half of Europe’s pepper needs. This pepper trade attracted the attention of Ottoman merchants. Sources indicate that while the Portuguese fleet, in which Pinto was present, was fighting the Acehnese in the region, the Acehnese sent a ship loaded with pepper to the Turks, and on its return, the ship was full of various military supplies.

Thus, we learn that the Ottomans provided logistical support to the region in 1539. Furthermore, Pinto and the Portuguese fleet he was with also mention the presence of Turkish military advisors among the Acehnese they fought. From the information Pinto provides, it can be concluded that the Ottomans were active in the region, both militarily and commercially.

However, we must note that Aceh-Ottoman relations had not yet reached the level of rulers and were carried out through relatively lower-ranking Ottoman administrators. Considering that the relations up to this point occurred in parallel with the Indian naval expeditions, it can be assumed that these relations were conducted through the beylerbey of Egypt and the captains of the Ottoman and Indian fleets. The actual Ottoman-Aceh relations at the level of rulers began in the 1560s.

Historian Anthony Reid states that Aceh envoys were in Istanbul from 1561 onwards. The basis of this claim is a report by a Venetian ambassador. In the Ottoman archives, the first Acehnese envoys to Istanbul are mentioned in 1567.

Ottoman-Aceh relations during the reign of Sultan Selim II

Faced with repeated Portuguese attacks, Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah of Aceh requested aid from Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. However, while the delegation was in Istanbul, Sultan Suleiman was at the Siege of Szigetvár.

For this reason, the delegation was forced to wait in Istanbul for a while. However, the sultan passed away during the campaign. The change in a reign that occurred further complicated the envoys’ situation.

Amid this tumultuous period, the envoys’ first meeting with the new Sultan Selim II took place during a Friday procession. During the Friday procession, the different attire of the Aceh envoys caught the sultan’s attention, and he took an interest in them.

Furthermore, the commander of the military personnel sent was an officer named Seyyid Kemal, and when this military delegation reached Sumatra, he would be declared a uleebalang (commander) in the Aceh army by the Sultan of Aceh.

However, because of the inability to control the ongoing Yemen rebellion around the same time, the fleet had to remain in the Red Sea, and the Aceh expedition was postponed for a year. The postponed Aceh expedition took place in 1569.

The fleet delivered the military delegation and supplies it carried to the island. Many cannons and arquebuses were handed over to the Sultan of Aceh, and high-ranking Ottoman soldiers trained the Aceh army.

In addition, the technical team that came with the fleet established armories and ammunition manufacturing workshops. Thus, the Ottomans taught the Acehnese how to make and use firearms.

The architects who were sent repaired or built new military fortifications for the Sultanate of Aceh. Selim II also sent a firman (imperial edict) and the text of a khutba (sermon) to be read on Fridays to the Sultan of Aceh.

This khutba text was read in every Friday sermon until the beginning of the 20th century. This shows how effectively the Ottoman patronage was felt.

The soldiers and technical personnel who went to the island settled there and married locals. Although a Turkish influence was formed on the island, over time, the genes of their descendants mixed with the local population, and they forgot the Turkish language. Looking at the impact of the military aid on the region, the Aceh-Portugal struggle evolved into a different dimension.

The Sultanate of Aceh, which had previously been content with defending its territory, was now in a position to attack Portuguese bases, going beyond just resisting Portuguese invasions.

The city of Malacca, which was the central location of Portugal in the region, was attacked numerous times.

Although Malacca could not be captured by the Sultanate of Aceh, it shows us how much the Sultanate had strengthened. Although Portugal was not completely defeated, we can say that its influence in the region gradually waned, also related to developments in Europe.

Furthermore, the rise of Aceh reached its peak during the reign of Sultan Iskandar Muda, who ascended the throne in 1607, and the Sultanate of Aceh became the most powerful state in the region.

Sultan Iskandar Muda became the sole power in the region with his campaigns.