The Ottoman Empire, over its 600-year history, held sway over seven different climates and geographies, from Europe to Asia, and from Asia to Africa, conducting countless expeditions. With the territories gained in the Balkans, the Ottoman army, along with the Turks, extended their influence to the gates of Vienna in Europe and controlled the Arabian Peninsula from the Persian Gulf to the coast of East Africa.
During the empire's peak, the Silk and Spice Routes were under Ottoman control. Europe, cornered, saw the high cost of goods from the East enriching the Turks. It was the Portuguese who took the first step in finding new trade routes over the ocean. In 1497, Vasco De Gama's discovery of the Cape of Good Hope opened a new sea route to India. Thanks to this significant discovery, Portuguese ships began conducting expeditions to India, carrying the riches of the East to Europe. Over time, trade through the Mediterranean and overland routes lost its importance.
The highly profitable Ocean route, especially for the Portuguese, led to the need for colonies and ports along the African coast. Therefore, Portuguese sailors captured important port cities along the Indian route. The African populations, already unable to form states and living in tribal societies, couldn't resist, and the oppression of the white man began on the coast of East Africa.
In this era, particularly one of the most important port cities on the East African coast, Mombasa (now in Kenya), was occupied by Portuguese sailors in 1505, and the occupiers treated the local population poorly. In 1585, during the reign of Sultan III. Murat, the 91st Islamic Caliph and 12th Ottoman Sultan, the people of the region appealed to the Ottoman Empire for help. Governor Hasan Pasha of Yemen was instructed, and he sent Turkish sailor Emir Ali Bey with a group of capable soldiers and warships to the region. Under the leadership of Emir Ali Bey, the sailors connected Mombasa, as well as other cities like MakdiÅŸu and Pemba, to the Ottoman Empire, leaving a group of soldiers to ensure the safety of the local population.
The Portuguese, who considered Mombasa as one of the most important port cities on their trade routes, were not willing to accept the allegiance of the local sultans to the Ottomans. They bided their time.
In 1589, the Portuguese organized the savage Zimba tribe from cannibalistic Africans on land. The Regent of Portugal, Thomas da Sousa Couhinto, sent 18 ships under his command to Mombasa to recapture the port. Upon another request for help, Governor Hasan Pasha of Yemen sent Emir Ali Pasha with 5 ships and approximately 1000 skilled sailor soldiers.
Upon arrival at Mombasa port, Ottoman soldiers defended the castle at sea. Emir Ali Bey was inside the Mombasa castle on land. Despite the Zimba tribe approaching with spears, they did not initiate an attack. To defend against the enemy coming from land, Ottoman soldiers brought the ships ashore to utilize their cannon power. In the following days, Portuguese ships appeared on the open sea, and the Ottoman ships, inadequate for intervention due to their positions, were sunk. As a result of the defeat, Emir Ali Bey fell into Portuguese captivity. Ottoman soldiers, unable to intervene from the sea, went ashore. This is where the Turkish soldiers, captured by the savage Bantu tribe on the mainland, are thought to have been cruelly martyred by being roasted and eaten (historian Yılmaz Öztuna).
Emir Ali Bey was taken to Lisbon, and thereafter, no news was received about him. The Ottoman soldiers captured by the Portuguese were also enslaved. After this failed expedition, the Ottoman Empire gradually lost its dominance in the region. The fate of the local rights, who didn't help the Turkish soldiers and thus contributed to their defeat by the Portuguese, was entirely left to the initiative of the white man. First the Portuguese, then the other imperialist states and kings of Europe, by first changing their religion and then their language, dried up their resources, selling African peoples as slaves for many years and perpetrating centuries-long oppression.
If the intentions of the Turkish soldiers in that period had been supported, Africa might not have experienced this oppression. For instance, British historian Mansel L. Dames stated that if the Ottoman Empire had sent a larger fleet to Mombasa at that time, East Africa, like North Africa, would have been under Turkish rule for many years.
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