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{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict   = Battle of Dabul
| partof     = Portuguese battles in the East
| image      = 
| caption    = 
| date       = 29 December 1508
| place      = Dabul (now [[Dabhol]], [[India]])
| result     = [[Portugal|Portuguese]] victory
| combatant1 = {{flagicon image|Flag Portugal (1495).svg}} [[Portuguese Empire]]
| combatant2 = [[Sultanate of Bijapur]]
| commander1 = [[Francisco de Almeida]]
| commander2 = Unknown
| strength1  =  19 ships <br> 1,900 men
| strength2  = 4 merchant ships from Gujarat <br> 6,000 men <ref>{{cite book |title= Batalhas e Combates da Marinha Portuguesa |last1=Monteiro |first1=Saturnino |year=2010 |publisher=Livraria Sá da Costa Editora |location=Lisbon |isbn=978-972-562378-7 }}</ref>
| casualties1 = Negligible
| casualties2 = All ships destroyed <br> Unknown number of men killed, captured and wounded
| campaignbox = {{Portuguese battles in the Indian Ocean}}
}}
{{Portuguese colonial campaigns}}
The '''Battle of Dabul''' was a retaliatory attack by the forces of the Viceroy of [[Portuguese India]], [[Francisco de Almeida]], upon the port city of Dabul (now [[Dabhol]]) in the Kingdom of Bijapur December 29, 1508, for attacking the Portuguese armada en route to the [[Battle of Diu]]. Despite the presence of a double wooden wall and a ditch, the Portuguese using both an artillery bombardment and a pincer movement of armed soldiers, "slammed into the town. What followed was a black day in the history of European conquest that would leave the Portuguese cursed on Indian soil."<ref>Roger Crowley, ''Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire''. New York: Random House, 2015, p. 198</ref> The conquerors were merciless--all living creatures (male, female, old, young, human or animal) were slaughtered then the city set on fire to burn alive those who had managed to hide in secret. The Portuguese departed on January 5, 1509. "This massacre stood beside [Vasco de] Gama's destruction of the [Hajj pilgrim ship] the ''Miri'' as an unforgiven act that lingered long in the memory.<ref>Crowley, p. 199</ref>

The battle was fought when the Portuguese were on their way to [[Battle of Diu (1509)|Diu]], where they would defeat an alliance between the [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluk Sultanate]], the [[Ottoman Empire]], the [[Gujarat Sultanate]] and others.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{coord missing|Maharashtra}}

[[Category:Naval battles involving Portugal|Dabul]]
[[Category:Battles involving Portugal|Dabul]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1508|Dabul]]
[[Category:1508 in India]]