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ALBUQUERQUE, ALPHONSO

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 516 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ALBUQUERQUE, See also:ALPHONSO D' (in Old See also:Port. AFFOrrso D'ALBOQUERQUE) (1453-1515), surnamed THE See also:GREAT, and THE PORTUGUESE See also:MARS, was See also:born in 1453 'at See also:Alexandria, near See also:Lisbon. Through his See also:father, Gonzalvo, who held an important position at See also:court, he was connected by illegitimate descent with the royal See also:family of See also:Portugal. He was educated at the court of Alphonso V.,. and after the See also:death of that monarch seems to have served for some See also:time in See also:Africa. On his return he was appointed estribeiro-mor (See also:chief See also:equerry) to See also:John II. In 1503 he set out on his first expedition to the See also:East, which was to be the See also:scene of his future triumphs. In See also:company with his kinsman Francisco he sailed See also:round the Cape of See also:Good See also:Hope to See also:India, and succeeded in establishing the See also:king of See also:Cochin securely on his See also:throne, obtaining in return for this service permission to build a Portuguese fort at Cochin, and thus laying the See also:foundation of his See also:country's See also:empire in the East. He returned See also:home in See also:July 1504, and was well received by King See also:Emmanuel, who entrusted him with the command of a See also:squadron of five vessels in the See also:fleet of sixteen which sailed for India in 15o6 under See also:Tristan da Cunha. After a See also:series of successful attacks on the Arab cities on the east See also:coast of Africa, Albuquerque separated from Da Cunha, and sailed with his squadron against the See also:island of Ormuz, in the See also:Persian Gulf, which was then one of the chief centres of See also:commerce in the East. He arrived on the 25th of See also:September 1507, and soon obtained See also:possession of the island, though he was unable See also:long to maintain his position. With his squadron increased by three vessels, he reached the See also:Malabar coast at the See also:close of the See also:year 1508, and immediately made known the See also:commission he had received from the king empowering him to supersede the See also:governor Francisco de See also:Almeida. The latter, however, refused to recognize Albuquerque's See also:credentials and See also:cast him into See also:prison, from which he was only released, after three months' confinement, on the arrival of the See also:grand-See also:marshal of Portugal with a large fleet.

Almeida having returned home, Albuquerque speedily showed the See also:

energy and determination of his See also:character. An unsuccessful attack upon See also:Calicut in See also:January 1510, in which the commanderin-chief received a severe See also:wound, was immediately followed by the investment and See also:capture of See also:Goa. Albuquerque, finding himself unable to hold the See also:town on his first occupation, abandoned it in See also:August, to return with the reinforcements in See also:November, when he obtained undisputed possession. He next directed his forces against Malacca, which he subdued after a severe struggle. He remained in the town nearly a year in See also:order to strengthen the position of the Portuguese See also:power. In 1512 he sailed for the coast of Malabar. On the voyage a violent See also:storm arose, Albuquerque's See also:vessel, the " See also:Flor de la See also:Mar," which carried the treasure he had amassed in his conquests, was wrecked, and he himself barely escaped with his See also:life. In September of the same year he arrived at Goa, where he quickly suppressed a serious revolt headed by Idalcan, and took such See also:measures for the See also:security and See also:peace of the town that it became the most flourishing of the Portuguese settlements in India. Albuquerque had been for some time under orders from the home See also:government to undertake an expedition to the Red See also:Sea, in order to secure that channel of communication exclusively to Portugal. He accordingly laid See also:siege to See also:Aden in 1513, but was repulsed; and a voyage into the Red Sea, the first ever made by a See also:European fleet, led to no substantial results. In order to destroy the power of See also:Egypt, he is said to have entertained the See also:idea of diverting the course of the See also:Nile and so rendering the whole countrybarren. His last warlike undertaking was a second attack upon Ormuz in 1515.

The island yielded to him without resistance, and it remained in the possession of the Portuguese until 16.22. Albuquerque's great career had a painful and ignominious close. He had several enemies at the Portuguese court who lost no opportunity of stirring up the See also:

jealousy of. the king,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 See also:harbour of Goa, he met a vessel from See also:Europe bearing despatches announcing that he was superseded by his See also:personal enemy Soarez. The See also:blow was too much for him and he died at sea on the 16th of See also:December 1515. Before his death he wrote a See also: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 See also:body was buried at Goa in the See also:Church of our See also:Lady, and it is perhaps the most convincing See also:proof possible of the See also:justice of his See also:administration that, many years after, Mussulmans and See also:Hindus used to go to his See also:tomb to invoke See also:protection against the injustice of his successors. The king of Portugal was convinced too See also:late of his fidelity, and endeavoured to atone for the ingratitude with 'which he had treated him by heaping honours upon his natural son Affonso. The latter published a selection from his father's papers under the See also:title Commentaries do Grande Affonso d'Alboquerque. See the Callas de Albuquerque, published by the Lisbon See also:Academy (vol. i., 1884) ; also See also:Morse See also:Stephens' Life of Albuquerque; an See also:article in the Bolitim of the Lisbon See also:Geographical Society (January to See also:June 19o2) on " 0 See also:antigo Imperialismo portuguez, &c.,'` has especial reference to Albuquerque.

End of Article: ALBUQUERQUE, ALPHONSO

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