Everything about Afonso De Albuquerque totally explained
Dom Afonso de Albuquerque (or Afonso d'Albuquerque - disused) (
1453,
Alhandra -
Goa,
December 16,
1515) was a
Portuguese fidalgo, or nobleman, a naval general officer whose military and administrative activities conquered and established the
Portuguese colonial empire in the Indian ocean. Generally considered as a world conquest military genius by means of his successful strategy, he was created first
Duke of Goa by king
Manuel I of Portugal shortly before his death, being the first Portuguese duke not of the royal family, and the first Portuguese title landed overseas. He attempted to close all the Indian ocean naval passages to the Atlantic, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and to the Pacific, transforming it in a Portuguese
Mare Nostrum established over the Turkish power and their Muslim and Hindu allies.
Early life
Born in Alhandra in the year of 1453, near
Lisbon,
Portugal, he was for some time known as
The Great,
The Caesar of the East,
Lion of the Seas and as
The Portuguese Mars. Through his father, Gonçalo de Albuquerque, Lord of Vila Verde dos Francos (married to Dona Leonor de Menezes), who held an important position at court, he was connected by remote illegitimate descent with the royal family of Portugal. He was educated in mathematics and classical Latin at the court of
Afonso V of Portugal, and after the death of that monarch seems to have served for some time in
Arzila,
Morocco. On his return he was appointed
estribeiro-mor (chief
equerry) to
John II.
Expeditions to the East
First Expedition, 1503-1504
In
1503 he set out on his first expedition to the East, which was to be the scene of his future triumphs. In company with his kinsman Francisco he sailed round the
Cape of Good Hope to
India, and succeeded in establishing the king of Cochin securely on his throne, obtaining in return for this service permission to build a Portuguese fort at Cochin, and thus laying the foundation of his country's empire in the East.
Operations in the Persian Gulf and Malabar, 1504-1508
Albuquerque returned home in July
1504, and was well received by King
Manuel I of Portugal, who entrusted him with the command of a squadron of five vessels in the fleet of sixteen which sailed for
India in
1506 under
Tristão da Cunha. After a series of successful attacks on the
Arab cities on the east coast of Africa, Albuquerque separated from Tristão, and sailed with his squadron against the island of
Hormuz, in the
Persian Gulf, which was then one of the chief centers of commerce in the East. He arrived on
September 25,
1507, and soon obtained possession of the island, though he was unable to maintain his position for long. He was responsible for building the
Portuguese Castle on the island of
Hormoz.
With his squadron increased by three vessels, he reached the
Malabar coast at the end of
1508, and immediately made known the commission he'd received from the king empowering him to supersede the governor Dom
Francisco de Almeida. The latter, however, refused to recognize Albuquerque's credentials and cast him into prison, from which he was only released, after three months' confinement, on the arrival of the grand-marshal of Portugal with a large fleet, in November 1509. Almeida having returned home, Albuquerque speedily showed the energy and determination of his character. On this date he became the second viceroy of the
State of India, a position he'd hold until his death.
Operations in Goa and Malacca, 1510-1511
Albuquerque intended to dominate the Muslim world and control the spices' trading network. He conquered Malacca by
August 24,
1511 after a severe struggle throughout July. Albuquerque remained in Malacca until November 1511 preparing its defences against any Malay counterattack. He also ordered the first Portuguese ships to sail east in search of the '
Spice Islands' of
Maluku. Nonetheless, Portuguese relations with China became normalized again by the 1540s and in 1557 a permanent Portuguese base at
Macau in southern China was established with consent from the Ming court.
.
Political downfall and last years
Albuquerque's career had a painful and ignominious close. He had several enemies at the Portuguese court who lost no opportunity of stirring up the jealousy of King Manuel against him, and his own injudicious and arbitrary conduct on several occasions served their end only too well. On his return from Ormuz, at the entrance of the harbour of Goa, he met a vessel from Europe bearing dispatches announcing that he was superseded by his personal enemy
Lopo Soares de Albergaria. The blow was too much for him and he died at sea on December 16, 1515.
Before his death he wrote a letter to the king in dignified and affecting terms, vindicating his conduct and claiming for his son the honours and rewards that were justly due to himself. His body was buried at Goa in the Church of our Lady. The king of Portugal was convinced too late of his fidelity, and endeavoured to atone for the ingratitude with which he'd treated him by heaping honours upon his natural son Brás de Albuquerque (1500—1580). In 1576, the latter published a selection from his father's papers under the title
Commentarios do Grande Affonso d'Alboquerque which had been gathered in 1557.
An exquisite and expensive variety of mango, that he used to bring on his journeys to India, has been named in his honour, and is today sold throughout the world as
Alphonso mangoes.
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