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Portugal Empire in Asia
Having discovered the sea route to India, Manuel
organized
successive fleets to that region in order to establish
Portuguese
commercial hegemony. In 1505 Francisco de Almeida left
Lisbon
with a fleet of 22 ships and 2,500 men, 1,500 of whom were
soldiers. Invested with the title of viceroy of India,
Almeida
was instructed to conclude alliances with Indian rulers,
set up
factories, and build forts on the east coast of Africa,
which he
did at Mombasa and at Kilwa in present-day Tanzania before
arriving in India. After his arrival, he fortified the
island of
Angediva and Cochin. He imposed a system of licenses on
trading
vessels that threatened to ruin the Muslim traders, who
reacted
by seeking spices in Malacca in present-day Malaysia and
the
Sunda Islands in the Malay Archipelago and sailing
directly to
the Persian Gulf, bypassing India.
Almeida sought to suppress this trade and secure
Portuguese
commercial hegemony. He was joined in this effort by two
more
fleets sent from Lisbon, one under the command of Tristão
da
Cunha and the other under Afonso de Albuquerque, who had
been
appointed Almeida's successor as viceroy. Cunha explored
Madagascar and the coast of east Africa, occupied the
island of
Socotra (now part of Yemen), and built a fort at the mouth
of the
Red Sea, before sailing to India. Albuquerque ravaged the
Oman
coast and attacked Ormuz, the great entrepôt at the mouth
of the
Persian Gulf, where he began constructing a fort.
The activities of the Portuguese motivated the Muslims
to
take military action. The sultan of Egypt, allied with the
Venetians and Turks, organized a large armada that crossed
the
Indian Ocean to Diu, where it was engaged by a Portuguese
fleet.
On February 2, 1509, a great sea battle was fought and the
sultan's armada destroyed. This victory assured Portuguese
commercial and military hegemony over India and allowed
Portugal
to extend its empire to the Far East.
Albuquerque established his capital at Goa, which he
attacked
and occupied in 1510. In 1511 he departed for the conquest
of
Malacca, the emporium for the spice trade and trade with
China,
which he accomplished in August of that year. After
returning to
Goa, Albuquerque made plans to occupy strategic positions
in the
Persian Gulf and Red Sea. On his first expedition, he
failed to
take Aden and returned to Goa. His second expedition,
which was
to be his last, attempted to reduce Ormuz and Aden, as
well as
conquer Mecca. During this expedition, Albuquerque fell
ill and
returned to Goa, where he died in 1515.
When Manuel I died in 1521, his son and heir, João III,
sent
expeditions to the islands of Celebes, Borneo, Java, and
Timor,
all part of the Malay Archipelago. Relations were
established
with Japan after the visits of Francisco Xavier and Fernão
Mendes
Pinto in 1549. Portuguese captains founded factories in
China and
took possession of Macau in 1557.
Data as of January 1993
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