Albuquerque Alfonsod

Albuquerque, Alfonso d', the illustrious Portuguese admiral, born near Lisbon in 1453. He served in Africa first, but in 1503 sailed to the East and established a fort at Cochin. In 1506 he took part in another expedition under Tristan da Cunha, captured the rich island of Ormuz in the Persian Gulf, superseded Almeida as Viceroy of the Indies, annexed Goa and subdued Malacca (1508-12). His next feat was to make an unsuccessful attack on Aden, and to enter the Red Sea with the first European fleet that ever penetrated into those waters. After completing the reduction of Ormuz he returned to Goa to find that court intrigues had deprived him of his office. He died at sea broken-hearted (1515), and his body was brought back for burial to Goa.