CHAPTER VII THE PORTUGUESE COMMANDER ALBUQUERQUE'S EN- TRANCE INTO GOA AND DESCRIPTION OF MALABAR 1510 A. D. E establishment of Portuguese rule on the west coast of India dates from the taking of Goa in 1510 by Affonso de Albuquerque (or, as his name is also written, Afonso Dalboquerque), whose notable achieve- ments have been described in the sixth volume. This eminent navigator and founder of the Portuguese power in the East landed in India in 1503, on the Malabar coast. By a series of brilliant successes he advanced Portugal's prestige not only in India, but also in Cey- lon, Malacca, the Sunda Islands, and the island of Ormuz on the Persian Gulf. His career, which may be read in the volumes of the Hakluyt publications, ended in disappointment, however, without receiving true recognition from his country, whose interests he had served so well. He was supplanted in his office of Portuguese governor by a rival, appointed by his king, and, in 1515, he died outside the harbour of Goa, where his genius had won victories for Portugal only five years before. The selections in this chapter are taken from the 227
