Siege of Johor (1587)

The Siege of Johor of 1587 was a military operation in which Portuguese forces successfully sieged, sacked and razed Johor (Jor, in Portuguese), capital of its eponymous Sultanate. The city would later be rebuilt in a different location.

Because of a dearth of personnel then available in Malacca, in 1586 naval forces of Johore had begun diverting shipping to the Strait of Singapore. Malacca itself was threatened by a large Johor fleet, but it was driven back by the presence of heavily armed Portuguese galleons in its harbour. For these reasons, the captain of Malacca João da Silva requested from the Viceroy in Goa, Dom Duarte de Meneses, urgent reinforcements to deal with the threat. These numbered 500 men and 3 galleons, under the command of Dom Paulo de Lima.

The forces of Johor were incapable of preventing the heavy Portuguese infantry from landing and storming the city after a naval bombardment, and it's Sultan was forced to retreat into the jungle in a rout. The Portuguese captured ample spoils, which included over 1000 cannon, the great majority of them of small caliber, 1500 firearms, and burned upwards to 2000 craft of many sizes. Following the attack, Dom Pedro de Lima (brother of Dom Paulo de Lima) also sacked Bintan, then a vassal of Johor.