Mamluks Build Fleet at Suez

1500

Alarmed by Portuguese incursions into the Indian Ocean, the Mamluk sultan Qansuh al-Ghawri began building a war fleet at Suez, importing timber from Lebanon across the desert on camelback. The ships would fight the Portuguese at Diu and lose. Egyptian sea power had its final, briefly spectacular moment. Building Mediterranean-style warships on the Red Sea with overland timber illustrated the desperate lengths the Mamluks took against Portuguese naval power.