Ottoman intelligence took a fantastic 1588 report of an Akbar-Portuguese plot seriously

Evidence

Possibly because of their alliance with the kings of Gujerat, the Ottomans seem at first to have regarded the rise of the Mughals with some suspicion. This was reinforced in 1588, when reports were received from Ottoman spies in India that Akbar was conspiring with the Portuguese, and was planning a naval ex­ pedition to strike at the ports of Yemen. This fantastic story was taken seriously by the Ottomans, who ordered reinforcements and supplies not only to Yemen but also to Basra and Suez. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 600

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader theme of intelligence failure and paranoid over-response — parallels the reader’s notes on Mendoza’s covert alliance and the Armada intelligence world.