The Dawson Ledger
Event

Capture of Malacca (1511 CE)

Portuguese amphibious assault on the entrepot of Malacca, giving the Portuguese a base commanding the Strait (Boxer 1969; Andaya & Andaya 1982).

Event Details

  • Date: 15 August 1511 (21 Jumada I 917 AH)
  • Type: siege
  • Civilizations: southeast-asian-maritime, western-atlantic

Description

Portuguese amphibious assault on the entrepot of Malacca, giving the Portuguese a base commanding the Strait (Boxer 1969; Andaya & Andaya 1982).

Quantitative facts and their sourcing

  • Date 15 August 1511; outcome: Portuguese capture of Malacca (Wikipedia).
  • Wikipedia (stub): Portuguese ~1,500 soldiers plus ~800 Chinese and Indian auxiliaries, up to 400 guns, 11 carracks, 3 caravels, 2 galleys; Malaccan ~20,000 men; Malaccan artillery counts of 2,000-8,000 pieces are post-conquest claims and the number actually employed is uncertain; Portuguese dead 28; Malaccan casualties unknown. Portuguese-source-based; one-sided.
  • Context: Tome Pires' Suma Oriental (Cortesao ed.) and Boxer 1969 exist (existence verified by author/title/year; not read).
  • PRIMARY-SOURCE claims: Commentaries of Afonso Dalboquerque vol. 3, ch. 28 (Birch transl., read 2026-10-12): in the second assault "many of our men were wounded, and some of those who were wounded with poison died"; of the Moors, women and children "there died by the sword an infinite number, for no quarter was given"; 3,000 pieces of artillery taken (about 2,000 bronze), while informants claimed 8,000 guns in Malacca. Written by Albuquerque's son; partisan.

Confidence

medium (date/outcome); numbers low (Portuguese-source-based). Numbers marked "Wikipedia-compiled (stub)" come from a secondary aggregator and must be upgraded to page-level scholarly citations before any Official use.

Citations

  • albuquerque-commentaries-v3-ia [PRIMARY-READ] Bras de Albuquerque, Walter de Gray Birch (transl.) (1880). Bras de Albuquerque, The Commentaries of the Great Afonso Dalboquerque, vol. 3, transl. W. de Gray Birch (Hakluyt Society), ch. 28 (taking of Malacca); archive.org scan, read. Hakluyt Society (scan: Internet Archive). https://archive.org/details/commentariesgre02unkngoog. Read 2026-10-12.
  • cortesao1944-suma-oriental [formal] Tome Pires (1944). The Suma Oriental of Tome Pires (transl. and ed. Armando Cortesao), Hakluyt Society. Hakluyt Society. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL23955416W. Verified 2026-10-11 (Open Library record found; edition exists, page-level not checked).
  • boxer1969-portuguese-seaborne-empire [formal] C. R. Boxer (1969). The Portuguese Seaborne Empire, 1415-1825. Hutchinson. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3739923W. Verified 2026-10-11 (Open Library record found; edition exists, page-level not checked).
  • andaya1982-history-malaysia [formal] Barbara Watson Andaya, Leonard Y. Andaya (1982). A History of Malaysia. Macmillan. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3901035W. Verified 2026-10-11 (Open Library record found; edition exists, page-level not checked).
  • wp-capture-of-malacca-1511 [STUB (secondary aggregator)] Wikipedia contributors (2026). Capture of Malacca (1511) (Wikipedia; secondary aggregator, stub-grade). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Malacca_(1511). Verified 2026-10-11 (resolves).

Review status

SOFT draft. Not Official. Needs editor review of CAD tags (estimated) and page-level citation upgrade.

About this entry

A draft entry preserved from civilization.study. Evidence grade: low. 4 of 5 listed sources are fully documented; the rest are names only. Method and sources

Conflict card

This card is generated from Civitas's war record and carries the same evidence badge as every other conflict card.

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siege · 15 August 1511 (21 Jumada I 917 AH)

Capture of Malacca (1511 CE)

Portuguese amphibious assault on the entrepot of Malacca, giving the Portuguese a base commanding the Strait (Boxer 1969; Andaya & Andaya 1982).

Evidence: Primary text read Draft estimate

What the record says

  • Unverified (Wikipedia-compiled) Date 15 August 1511; outcome: Portuguese capture of Malacca (Wikipedia).
  • Unverified (Wikipedia-compiled) Wikipedia (stub): Portuguese ~1,500 soldiers plus ~800 Chinese and Indian auxiliaries, up to 400 guns, 11 carracks, 3 caravels, 2 galleys; Malaccan ~20,000 men; Malaccan artillery counts of 2,000-8,000 pieces are post-conquest claims and the number actually employed is uncertain; Portuguese dead 28; Malaccan casualties unknown. Portuguese-source-based; one-sided.
  • Note Context: Tome Pires' Suma Oriental (Cortesao ed.) and Boxer 1969 exist (existence verified by author/title/year; not read).
  • Primary text PRIMARY-SOURCE claims: Commentaries of Afonso Dalboquerque vol. 3, ch. 28 (Birch transl., read 2026-10-12): in the second assault "many of our men were wounded, and some of those who were wounded with poison died"; of the Moors, women and children "there died by the sword an infinite number, for no quarter was given"; 3,000 pieces of artillery taken (about 2,000 bronze), while informants claimed 8,000 guns in Malacca. Written by Albuquerque's son; partisan.

Confidence. medium (date/outcome); numbers low (Portuguese-source-based).

Where it sits

Sources and evidence

No page-level citation is claimed for any source. Figures marked unverified come from a Wikipedia aggregator and are not for Official use.

Link to this conflict

Art: Patterns of Civilization chronicle art, made with AI: illustrations, not historical evidence. Entries are drafts preserved from civilization.study. Method and sources.