Cite
MLA
“Battle of Swally.” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-swally-1612/. Accessed .
APA
Hindu History. (2026). Battle of Swally. Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-swally-1612/
Two English ships beat off a larger Portuguese squadron; the Mughals granted the English the right to trade at Surat.
01The English at Surat
Surat was the great port of the Mughal empire, the gate to Mecca for pilgrims and to the Red Sea for trade. The Portuguese, who controlled the sea lanes, worked to keep the English out, and the Mughal officials at Surat were wary of offending them. In 1612 Captain Thomas Best arrived with the Red Dragon and the Hosiander. A Portuguese squadron of four galleons and a swarm of small rowing vessels came up from Goa to drive him off.
02The fight in the roads
On 29 and 30 November, and again in skirmishes over the following weeks, the English ships, better handled and with better guns, beat off the Portuguese. Several galleons ran aground in the shallows. The fight was watched from the shore. In early 1613 the Mughal governor granted the English the right to trade and settle at Surat, confirmed by a farman of Jahangir. Sir Thomas Roe’s embassy to Jahangir followed in 1615.
Swally broke the Portuguese monopoly at Surat and gave the East India Company its first lasting foothold in India.
