The prangi, paranki, piranki, pirangi, farangi, firingi, or firingiha was a type of cannon produced by the Ottoman Empire. It was subsequently copied and produced in other places such as the Mughal empire under Babur. The prangi was a breech-loading swivel gun.[1]:143
Prangi was written in Ottoman sources in various words as prankı, pirankı, parangi, parangı, pranga, pranku, prangu, and parangu. The Ottoman term goes back to the Italian/Spanish braga, short for "petriero a barga" and "pedrero de braga", a small breech-loading swivel gun.[2]:100 Braga itself means "pants" or "breech".[1]:143 Babur called this weapon firingiha and farangi.[3]:219 Tamil and Telugu speakers call it pīranki and pīrangi.[2]:100
Prangi is a small Ottoman breech-loading swivel gun, firing 150 g (5.3 oz) shots, they were built mostly by cast bronze, but iron ones were also used. The Ottomans used the prangi from the mid-15th century onwards in field battles, aboard their ships, and in their forts, where prangis often comprised the majority of the ordnance.[2]:100 At the end of the 15th century, Ottoman galley were equipped with a big cannon and 4 guns (darbzen) and 8 prangi cannons. These ships were 42–43 m (138–141 ft) long with three sails carrying about 328 people.[4]:12 Prangi was a standard piece of Ottoman secondary naval armament.[5]:222 An Ottoman naval record book of inventory and survey dated 10 April 1488 mentioned that Ottoman barça (barque) had 35 prangi, agrıpar (galleas) had 16 prangi, kadırga (galley) had 8 prangi, kalıt (galliot) and kayık (fusta) had 4 prangi.[6]:173-174
The spread of prangi cannon to the east resulted in the appearance of the western-style cetbang in the Nusantara archipelago after 1460 CE.[7]:94–95, 98 In China, these cannons are known by the name of Folangji (佛郎机),[1]:143 Folangji chong (佛郎机铳),[8]:348–349 or Fo-lang-chi p'ao (佛朗机炮 or 佛朗機砲).[9]:45 Prangi guns reached China before either Ottoman or Portuguese ships did.[1]:242 They may have also reached China via the Silk Road.[10]:131 In the History of the reign of Wan Li (萬厲野獲編), by Shen Defu, it is said that "After the reign of Hong Zhi (1445–1505), China started having Fu-Lang-Ji cannons, the country of which was called in the old times Sam Fu Qi". In volume 30 about "The Red-Haired Foreigners" he wrote "After the reign of Zhengtong (1436–1449) China got hold of Fu-Lang-Ji cannons, the most important magic instrument of foreign people". He mentioned the cannons some 60 or 70 years prior to the first reference to the Portuguese.[11] Pelliot believed that the folangji gun reached China before Portuguese did, possibly by anonymous carriers from Malaya.[12]:199–207 Needham noted that breech-loading guns were already familiar in Southern China in 1510, as a rebellion in Huang Kuan was destroyed by more than 100 folangji.[13]:372 It may even be earlier, brought to Fujian by a man named Wei Sheng and used in quelling a pirate incident in 1507.[8]:348
Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prangi.
Read more |