Francisco de Almeida
Francisco de Almeida was the first Portuguese viceroy of India and established naval supremacy in the Indian Ocean. Born in Lisbon around 1450 into a noble family, he fought at Granada in 1492 in the campaign that ended Muslim rule in Spain, and was appointed in 1505 to command the Portuguese possessions in the east with a fleet of twenty-two ships. His strategic doctrine differed from his successor's and was arguably the sounder one. Albuquerque wanted fortified bases controlling chokepoints; Almeida argued that Portugal's strength lay in ships, that garrisons would consume men and money, and that whoever was strong at sea would control the trade regardless of what they held ashore. He built forts on the East African coast and in India, and blockaded and taxed shipping. The Mamluk sultan of Egypt, Venice and the ruler of Gujarat combined against him, since the Portuguese route round the Cape was destroying the Red Sea spice trade that all three depended on. His son Lourenço was killed at Chaul in 1508 when a combined Egyptian and Gujarati fleet caught his squadron. Almeida assembled everything he had and met them at Diu on 3 February 1509. Portuguese gunnery, ships built for the Atlantic, and a refusal to close for boarding destroyed the allied fleet. The battle settled the question for a century: no Asian or Middle Eastern power seriously contested the ocean again until the Dutch arrived. He refused to hand over to Albuquerque, imprisoned him for months, and was ordered home. He was killed in a skirmish over water at Table Bay in 1510. He had refused a viceroyalty renewal and was on his way home.
- Lived: 1450 CE – 1510 CE
- Nationality: Portuguese
- Roles: military_leader, viceroy, navigator
