Sykes' History of Persia Vol 2 (pdf) - Heritage Institute

280 HISTORY OF PERSIA
was captured by the Imam of Oman in I65I, 1
and no great
while after the capture of Hormuz only deserted forts and
the word portugale, the name by which a sweet orange
is
known in Persia, were left to mark the splendid position
gained by the valour of D' Albuquerque and lost
by the
incapacity of his successors. For the English the taking
of Hormuz was the most important event which had
occurred since their appearance in the East, and their
power and prestige must have risen to great heights when
the news reached India. In Persia, too, they must have
acquired credit for ; although the commander of the
Shah's troops would doubtless minimize the part played
by our countrymen, whose losses were trifling compared
with his own, without doubt Abbas fully
realized that he
could not have seized Hormuz without English help.
When, in A.D. 1635, the British made peace with Portugal
in the East a peace which has never since been broken
the Persians were much alarmed on account of Hormuz,
a fact which sufficiently shows how important was the
part played in those Eastern waters by our fighting
ancestors.
The Dutch. Two years
after the grant of the British
East India Company's charter, rival Dutch efforts were
amalgamated into a single company, and in the course of
the next twenty years the newcomers had won their way
to a leading position, mainly at the expense of Portugal,
whose chief possessions they seized. A Dutch factory
seems to have been established at Hormuz the year after
its
capture by the 2
it
Anglo-Persian expedition was
;
subsequently moved to Bandar Abbas, where the massive
still
building remains and serves as the residence of the
Persian Governor. In 1652, and again in 1666, Dutch
missions visited Isfahan, and Chardin writes that at this
period the Dutch were masters of the Persian trade, the
English occupying the second place. Their success was
due to their forcing the Persian Government to allow them
to buy silk in any part of Persia and to export it without
paying customs dues. This right was acquired in 1645,
1
Vide The Imams of Oman, edited for Hakluyt Society by Rev. P. Badger, p. 81 ff.
2 Persia, ii.
p. 550. This section and the following are mainly based on Lord
Curzon's work. Chardin's work, too, deserves study.