Francisco de Almeida
Francisco de Almeida ( * 1450 in Lisbon, † March 1, 1510 at the Cape of Good Hope ), was a Portuguese navigator and military. 1503 he was appointed the first governor since Índia and viceroy of the Portuguese Estado.
Origin
Francisco de Almeida comes from the Old Portuguese noble family of the lords of Abrantes. His father, Lopo de Almeida was the first Count ( Conde ) of Abrantes and as a member of the Royal Council of the Minister of Finance ( vedor da fazenda ) Alfonso V of Portugal. Many of his siblings exerted important offices, as was one of his brothers, Diogo Fernandes de Almeida, Prior of Crato, another, Pedro de Almeida, Commander of the Knights of Avis, a third bishop of Coimbra. Francisco de Almeida was married Brites Pereira. This marriage produced two children, besides, he had a number of other illegitimate offspring.
Life
As usual in his circles, Francisco de Almeida was treading at a young age a military career. 1476 he participated in the Battle of Toro, he fought in different locations in Morocco and participated in 1492 in the Christian conquest of Granada on the side of the Castilians.
Appointed by King Manuel I of Portugal to the viceroy of India in 1505, he ran in March of the same year with a fleet of 22 vessels ( including 14 Naus and 6 caravels ), 1,000 crew and 1,500 troops to India. Among the participants of the expedition also Fernão Magalhães, who later ( August 1519 ) was in the service of Spain, the first circumnavigation of the globe to begin. Three ships in the fleet were equipped Augsburger trading houses such as the Welsern for the spice trade. Under their representatives, there was the Tyrolean Balthasar Sprenger, who wrote down his impressions and experiences in his later famous travelogue " sea voyage ".
De Almeida's flagship was the Nau São Rafael under Captain Fernão Suarez. The most important task of Francisco de Almeida was to bring the spice trade under Portuguese control. For this purpose, he should secure the East African and Indian coasts by forts and develop through alliances with native rulers and the establishment of trading posts to the Portuguese trade.
About Sofala and the Island of Mozambique, Francisco de Almeida reached East African coastal waters. In July 1505 he won with eight ships, the 4,000 inhabitants large East African port city of Kilwa. The good port of the city, here were Ships to 500 t drop anchor, led the Portuguese to build a fort and leave a garrison of 80 soldiers in the city under Pêro Ferreira. In August 1505 the Portuguese reached about 10,000 inhabitants, Mombasa, which they plundered after heavy fighting with the forces of the indigenous Arab sheiks and burned. In these battles, they were supported by the feuding with the Sultan of Mombasa Melinde (Malindi ).
In August 1505, a caravel of the fleet of Francisco de Almeida took under Captain John ( João ) Homers the island of Zanzibar for Portugal in possession. In India, he reinforced the Portuguese fort in Cochin and on the island In Diva.
On March 17, 1506 his son Lourenço de Almeida succeeded in a naval battle outside the harbor of Cannanore an important victory over the fleet of the Prince of Calicut. Previously explored Lourenço de Almeida the coastal waters to Colombo in Sri Lanka today. In his duties, the viceroy was supported by two other squadron under Tristão da Cunha and Afonso de Albuquerque.
In March 1508 defeated at Chaul or Dabul one with the support of Venice, which feared for its trade links, built the Egyptian- Arab- Indian fleet, a Portuguese squadron under Lorenço de Almeida, who lost his life in this battle.
1508 was the suspicious Viceroy Afonso de Albuquerque, who should replace him as governor of India, put under arrest. It was only in 1509 confirmed the commander of another Portuguese fleet, the replacement of Francisco de Almeida by Afonso de Albuquerque as governor.
On February 3, 1509 succeeded Francisco de Almeida with 23 Portuguese ships, which united the Egyptian- Arab- Indian fleet to beat crushing in the naval Battle of Diu and avenge his son. This victory was the beginning of the Portuguese naval supremacy in the Indian Ocean, which was only terminated by the occurrence of the Dutch and English in the 17th century.
After transfer of governmental power as governor Afonso de Albuquerque Francisco de Almeida left on 19 December 1509 the port of Cochin. On March 1, 1510 he fell in violent clashes with the Khoi Khoi on the shore of Table Bay at the Cape of Good Hope. The fighting broke out after the Portuguese had robbed the African inhabitants of the region of the table mountain cattle for fresh meat supply their crews. After these events Portuguese ships have largely avoided to go at the Cape of Good Hope on land.