In 1444, the Portuguese had obtained from the Pope an ordinance bestowing on them the sovereignty over all the lands which had till then been discovered by them, and all that should be discovered as far as the Indies. And immediately after the discovery of America by Columbus, the Pope, by an edict of 4th May 1493, while confirming the king of Spain in the sovereignty of America, and strictly prohibiting all others from touching at any port 100 (afterwards 250) leagues westward of the Azores, declared that the Portuguese were to possess all eastwards of that line. Accordingly, on the 8th of July 1497, an expedition, commanded by Vasco da Game, sailed from the Tagus for India. The expedition was not in favour with the people, but King Emanuel, who in 1495 had succeeded John D., was determined to prosecute the project of Prince Ilenry. Prince Henry had been the Grand Master of the Order of Christ, and his hopes had been as much for the conversion of the heathen as for the extension of the commerce and dominion of his nation. It was in this spirit that the future acts of the l'ortuguese were, and continue to be, regulated ; while the British, who at the present day hold sway over many places once dominated by the Portuguese, have followed the system of non-interference in religious and social matters. For when Cabral, in March 1500, left the Tagus in command of the second expedition, the sum of his instructions was to begin with preaching, and if that failed to proceed to the sharp determination of the sword. In the 16th century, they carried on a piratical crusade against every Muhammadan ship they could find, but their final ruin was brought about by Philip ii. of Spain forbidding the Portuguese to continue commercial intercourse with the Dutch. Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and saw the east coast of Africa, on the 22d November 1497, and reached Calicut on the 20th May 1498. • A second expedition, consisting of thirteen ships and twelve hundred soldiers, under the command of Cabral, was despatched in 1500. On his outward voyage; Cabral was driven by stress of weather to the coast of Brazil. Ultimately he reached Calicut.
In 1502, Vasco da Gama sailed a second time to the east, with a fleet numbering twenty vessels. lie formed an alliance with the rajas of Cochin and Cannanore against the Zamorin of Calicut, and bombarded the latter in his palace.
In A.D. 1504, nine ships sailed from Lisbon in three equal squadrons, under the respective commands of Alfonso de Albuquerque, of Fran cisco Albuquerque, and of Antonio Saldanho; the last was to cruise in the mouth of the Red Sea, the others were to proceed directly to India. Francisco Albuquerque arrived first, and made a considerable addition to his squadron in conse quence of having fallen in with some of the ships belonging to Vincent Sodre. For some reason not explained, the two Albuquerques set sail for Europe, leaving only Duarte Pacheco, with 110 men, for the defence of Cochin. Pacheco was superseded in command by the arrival of Lopez Soarez, with a fleet of 13 ships of larger dimen sions than had ever before been built in Portugal, and Soarez,after destroying Calicut and Cranganore and the Zamorin's fleet of 17 large vessels, pro vided with cannon, and carrying 4000 men, leaving four ships at the fort of Cochin, set sail for Europe with the remainder.
The next Indian armament sent from Portugal consisted of 22 ships, carrying in addition to the crew 1500 fighting men, under the command of Don Francisco Almeyda, who bore for the first time the proud title of the Viceroy of India. His arrival in India took place in 1507.
His son fell in a battle fought A.D. 1507 against the combined fleets of Cambay,' (Gujerat), the Egyptian fleet (of 12 ships), and those of the Zamorin, off or at Choul, 23 miles south of Bom bay,—the Portuguese loss being, according to their own account, 81 men, while according to Ferishta no fewer than 3000 or 4000 Portuguese infidel,' were sent to the infernal regions.
Successive armaments on a great scale quitted Lisbon for the east. One of then*, under Tristan da Cunha, consisted of 13 yowls and 1300 fighting men, cir. A.D. 1508. Another of 12 versela, under Alfonso Albuquerque, after performing several exploits on the African coast, and effectually enppling the trade between India and the Red Sea, continued along the coast of Arabia, and, after capturing Muscat and several other places of minor importance, entered the Persian Gulf. lie proceeded to attack Ormuz, but after a partial success was obliged to depart and pro ceed to Socotra. Returning thence, lie was about to resume the siege of Ormuz, when he received intelligence that he had been appointed viceroy, and thereon proceeded to India. But, on arriving there, Almeyda refused to resign to him the insignia of office, and Albuquerque had to proceed under his command in the fleet that after destroying Dabul defeated the Turkish and Gujerat fleets. Return ing thereafter to Cochin, ho persisted in retaining the viceroyship, and sent Albuquerque as a prisoner to the fort of Cannanore, but eventually, A.D. 1510, resigned. Albuquerque, now (3d January 1510) fully installed, proceeded to attack Calicut, the greater part of which was laid in ruins. Proceeding to Goa, the city was at first voluntarily surrendered, but on an army sent by Eusuf Adil Shah appearing before it some four months subsequently, Albuquerque had to evacu ate the place. He returned in the course of the year, and took Goa by storm, and shortly after declared his intention to make it the capital of Portuguese India.
On the 2d May 1511, ho set sail from Cochin for Malacca, of which he took triumphant pos session.
On the 18th February 1513, ho appeared with a fleet of 20 sail before Aden. Failing to capture it, he proceeded into the Red Sea, and after remaining for some time at the island of Kameran, again passed through the Straits of Bab-ul-Maudab, and returned to India.
In March 1514, he made a third attempt on Ormuz, and succeeded in completely establishing the Portuguese supremacy there. In the two following years the Portuguese power was more firmly seated than before or since.