OUR LADY OF CONCEPTION FORT IN HORMUZ ISLAND 

A massive defense site built by the Portuguese on the island of Hormuz in 1514 in provocative defiance of the ruling arabic powers of the region. It served as a major mainstay of the Portuguese presence in the area and secured their routes towards India and the East.

 

IMAGE COLLECTION          

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/34229788 (Panoramio)

Rádio Televisão Portuguesa, 2009 (YouTube)

Fariborz, 2007 (Wikipedia)

Carolyn McIntyre, 2007 (Girl solo in Arabia)

Biblioteca Nacional do Brasil, XVIIth century (World Digital Library)

 

 

 

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

(…)By the early 16th century, the Portuguese were becoming a power in the Gulf and Indian ocean, building forts in strategic ports in what is now Oman, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Their fort on Hormuz island was huge with massive cisterns, a large cross-vaulted underground church, bastions, keeps, barracks, stables, and cannon. More…

(…)Coje Atar, considering the damage received, and what might ensue, called a council, where it was agreed to submit to what was demanded by Albuqerque. The articles were drawn, and sworn to by both parties; their substance was, that the king of Ormuz did submit himself to King Emmanuel, with the tribute of fifteen thousand xeraphins yearly .... and should assign the Portuguese a place to build a fort. More...

The Portuguese, shortly afterwards theirs arrival in the Eastern Seas, decided to prevent the Arab's trade, with the Ormuz conquest. For his strategical position dominating the entrance to the Persic Gulf, Ormuz was one of the two strategical stronghold on the trade routes between the Arab world and Asia (the other being Aden near the strait of Bab el Mandab). More…

O Forte de Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Ormuz localiza-se na ilha de Gerun, no estreito de Ormuz, atual República Islâmica do Irão. Ormuz (ou Hormuz) foi uma importante cidade marítima e um pequeno reino próximo à entrada do golfo Pérsico. O primitivo sítio da cidade era na margem norte do Golfo, a cerca de 30 milhas a leste da atual Bandar Abbas. Por volta de 1300, aparentemente em função de ataques Tártaros, foi transferida para a pequena ilha de Gerun, que pode ser identificada como a Organa de Nearcho, aproximadamente 12 milhas a oeste e a 5 milhas da costa. More...

HÁ QUASE EXATOS 500 anos, em 24 de outubro de 1507, Afonso de Albuquerque ordenou a construção de uma fortaleza na ilha de Ormuz. O pequeno esquadrão naval que Albuquerque comandava havia sido destacado da frota portuguesa enviada à Índia em 1506, recebendo a missão de patrulhar o mar da Arábia e de conquistar a ilha de Ormuz, que controlava o estreito canal que dá acesso ao golfo Pérsico. More...