Alfonso de Albuquerque (or Afonso d'Albuquerque - disused) (pronounced
[ɐˈfõsu dɨ aɫbuˈkɛɾk(ɨ)]) (treated with a
Don by some although his birth didn't entitle him to that treatment) (1453, Alhandra - Goa, December 16, 1515) was a
Portuguese fidalgo, or nobleman, a naval general officer who, by his military and administrative activities, conquered and established the Portuguese colonial empire in the
Indian Ocean. After gaining military experience in
North Africa, 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 Dom Francisco da Alameda, he sailed round the
Cape of Good Hope to
India and succeeded in establishing the king of Cochin securely on his throne. In return for his services, he obtained permission to build a Portuguese fort at Cochin, thus laying the foundation of his country's empire in the East. In November 1509, he became the second viceroy of the
State of India, a position he held until his death. In 1510, he took possession of Goa and set up an administration there, intending to use it as a base to dominate the
Muslim world, assume active control of the
spice trading network, and establish permanent fortresses with settlements. 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 1622.
Alfonso de Albuquerque was for some time known as
The Great, The Caesar of the East and as
The Portuguese Mars. He was created first
Duke of Goa by king Manuel I of Portugal shortly before his death, becoming 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 into a Portuguese Mare Nostrum established over the
Turkish power and their Muslim and
Hindu allies.
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