Hormuz

In the early 15th century Zheng He's treasure fleet made Hormuz the final destination of its fourth voyage, a measure of how famous the island had become. Its riches soon drew the Portuguese. Afonso de Albuquerque attacked in 1507 and forced the king to declare himself a vassal of Portugal, and when he returned in 1515 he rebuilt the fortress and made Portuguese overlordship permanent. The kings kept their throne, but every ship trading in the Gulf now had to pass Portuguese customs houses and buy a Portuguese pass. The arrangement ended in 1622, when a Persian force sent by Shah Abbas and six English ships besieged the fortress and drove the Portuguese out, and the Gulf trade moved to the mainland port of Gamrūn.