Afonso de Albuquerque Conquers Goa
Afonso de Albuquerque took Goa in 1510, twice, and gave Portugal the base from which it ran its eastern empire for four and a half centuries. He had concluded that trading factories protected by treaty were worthless and that the Estado da Índia needed a territorial capital of its own — not a leased warehouse in someone else's port, but a fortified city with a shipyard, a garrison and a revenue. Goa belonged to the Sultan of Bijapur and had an excellent harbour, a Hindu population with no loyalty to its Muslim ruler, and a role in importing Arabian warhorses, which gave whoever held it leverage over the whole Deccan. He took it in March 1510 with the help of the Hindu corsair Timoji and almost without a fight, and lost it in May when the sultan returned in force and he had to fight his way back to his ships in the monsoon. He returned in November with reinforcements and stormed it. Several thousand of the Muslim defenders and inhabitants were killed over four days on his explicit orders, while Hindus were spared. He then governed it as a settled possession: Hindu customary law preserved, suttee abolished, a mint struck, and Portuguese soldiers encouraged and dowered to marry local women, producing a Luso-Indian population. He went on to take Malacca in 1511 and Hormuz in 1515, closing the Strait and the spice route. He died at sea off Goa in December 1515, having just learned of his dismissal. Goa remained Portuguese until Indian forces took it in 1961, longer than any other European possession in Asia. His body was moved there from Goa to Lisbon in 1566.
- Year: 1510 CE
- Category: Military
