[1] At the end of the 16th century, Muslims in the east African coast appealed to the governor of Ottoman Yemen, Hasan Pasha, for help.

Then, in 1586, forces consisting of a galley and some small boats under the command of Mir Ali Beg arrived in the region.

[2] However, the Portuguese captain of the east-African coast Mateus Mendes de Vasconcelos, was at Malindi with a small force, and was already well aware of the approach of Mir Ali Beg: a network of spies and informants within the Red Sea itself kept the Portuguese up to date on Turkish movements.

[3] Approaching Malindi by night, the flotilla of Mir Ali Beg was bombarded by a Portuguese artillery battery, and so it sailed away to Mombasa.

[4] When the Portuguese Viceroy in Goa learned that Mir Ali Beg was off the coast of East Africa, he handed over a fleet of eighteen ships to the command of his brother, Tomé de Sousa Coutinho to destroy the Ottomans.