- Yakut Khan
Yakut Khan was a
Siddi general who laid siege to the British-held Bombay in 1689. The Siddis were a community of African ancestry that had their base inJanjira , that lay to the south of Bombay. They lay allegiance to the Mughals, and were know to be excellent sea farer.In October 1672, Khan entered the
seven islands of Bombay and ravaged the local inhabitants. Khan returned the following year, on 10 October 1673, after destroying the towns of Pen andNagothane .cite book|last= Yimene|first=Ababu Minda|title=An African Indian Community in Hyderabad: Siddi Identity, Its Maintenance and Change|publisher=Cuvillier Verlag|pages=204|isbn=9783865372062|url=http://books.google.co.in/books?id=DigPvwHTqJ4C]Yakut Khan, along with Khariat Khan had earlier saved the Portuguese from the
Marathas lef bySambhaji atChaul . In return, they enjoyed a cordial relationship in the otherwise political scene that was fraught with friction.In 1889, the Mughal,
Aurangzeb persuaded Khan to attack Bombay for the third time after Indian vessels sailing toSurat were captured in 1686. In April 1689, the Siddis laid siege to the British fortification to the south. The British governor Sir John Child appealed to Aurangzeb to reign in Sakat for a price. In February 1890, the Mughal emperor agreed, on the conditions that rupees 1.5 lakhs (150,000) (Over a billion USD at 2008 conversion rates) be paid, and Child be sacked. Child's untimely death in 1690 however, resulted in him escaping the ignominy of being sacked.cite book|last=Prakash|first=Om|title=European Commercial Enterprise in Pre-colonial India|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=1987|isbn=9780521257589|url=http://books.google.co.in/books?id=hciTRYbE27gC]Enraged at barter, Sakat withdrew his forces on 8 June 1690, not after razing the Mazagaon Fort.cite news|url=http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=47106|title=Mazgaon fort was blown to pieces – 313 years ago|last= Nandgaonkar|first=Satish|date=2003-03-22|work=
Indian Express |publisher=Express Group |accessdate=2008-09-20]References
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