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Flor do Mar or Flor de la Mar (Flower of the Sea), spelled Frol de la Mar in all Portuguese chronicles of the 16th century, was a Portuguese nau (carrack) of 400 tons, which over nine years participated in decisive events in the Indian Ocean until her sinking in November 1511.<br/><br/> Nobleman Afonso de Albuquerque was returning from the conquest of Malacca, bringing with him a large treasure trove for the Portuguese king, when the ship was lost off the coast of Sumatra. A replica of the Flor do Mar is housed in the Maritime Museum in Malacca (Melaka), Malaysia.
Afonso de Albuquerque (1453—1515) was a Portuguese admiral whose military and administrative accomplishments as second governor of Portuguese India established the Portuguese colonial empire in the Indian Ocean. He is generally considered a military genius.<br/><br/> Albuquerque attempted to close all Indian Ocean naval routes to the Atlantic, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and to the Pacific, and was responsible for building numerous fortresses to defend key strategic positions and establishing a net of diplomatic relations.<br/><br/> Shortly before his death he was awarded viceroy and 'Duke of Goa' by king Manuel I of Portugal, becoming the first Portuguese duke not from the royal family, and the first Portuguese title landed overseas. He was known as ‘The Terrible’, ‘The Great’, ‘The Caesar of the East’, ‘Lion of the Seas’ and ‘The Portuguese Mars’.<br/><br/> There is no doubting Albuquerque’s ruthless ambition. He suggested diverting the course of the Nile River to render Egypt barren. And he even planned to steal the body of the Prophet Muhammad, and hold it for ransom until all Muslims had left the Holy Land.
In April 1511, Portuguese conquistador Afonso de Albuquerque set sail from Goa to Malacca with a force of some 1,200 men on a fleet of 17 or 18 ships. They conquered the city on August 24, 1511, and Sultan Mahmud Shah, the last Sultan of Malacca, had to take refuge in the hinterland. Malacca became a strategic base for Portuguese expansion in the East Indies where they could exploit the spice trade.<br/><br/> In 1641, the Dutch defeated the Portuguese with the help of the Sultan of Johore. The Dutch ruled Malacca from 1641 to 1798, but they were not interested in developing it as a trading centre, placing greater importance in Batavia (Jakarta) on Java as their administrative centre. Malacca was ceded to the British in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 in exchange for Bencoolen on Sumatra. From 1826 to 1946, Malacca was governed by Britain, first by the British East India Company and then as a Crown Colony.
Under King Manuel I, the Portuguese set up a government in India in 1505, six years after the discovery of a sea route to Calicut in southwest India by Vasco da Gama. The Portuguese originally based their administration in Kochi, or Cochin, in Kerala, but in 1510 moved to Goa. Until 1752, the ‘State of India’ included all Portuguese possessions in the Indian Ocean, from southern Africa to Southeast Asia, governed by either a Viceroy or a Governor. In 1752 Mozambique got its own government, and in 1844 the Portuguese Government of India stopped administering the territories of Macau, Solor and Timor, restricting themselves to the Malabar coast.<br/><br/> At the time of British India's independence in 1947, Portuguese India included a number of enclaves on India's western coast, including Goa proper, as well as the coastal enclaves of Daman and Diu. Portugal lost the last two enclaves in 1954, and the remainder in 1961, when they were occupied by India (although Portugal only recognized the annexation in 1975, after the Carnation Revolution and the fall of the Estado Novo regime).
Afonso de Albuquerque (1453—1515) was a Portuguese admiral whose military and administrative accomplishments as second governor of Portuguese India established the Portuguese colonial empire in the Indian Ocean. He is generally considered a military genius.<br/><br/> Albuquerque attempted to close all Indian Ocean naval routes to the Atlantic, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and to the Pacific, and was responsible for building numerous fortresses to defend key strategic positions and establishing a net of diplomatic relations. Shortly before his death he was awarded viceroy and 'Duke of Goa' by king Manuel I of Portugal, becoming the first Portuguese duke not from the royal family, and the first Portuguese title landed overseas. He was known as ‘The Terrible’, ‘The Great’, ‘The Caesar of the East’, ‘Lion of the Seas’ and ‘The Portuguese Mars’. However, Albuquerque was not so lucky in Aden. In February 1513, he sailed to the Red Sea with a force of about 1,000 Portuguese and 400 Malabaris. Knowing that the mamluks were preparing a second fleet at Suez, he wanted to advance before reinforcements arrived to Aden. He laid siege to the fortified city, but after a half day of fierce battle was forced to retreat. In August 1513, he tried again, but failed, and returned to India.<br/><br/> There is no doubting Albuquerque’s ruthless ambition. He suggested diverting the course of the Nile River to render Egypt barren. And he even planned to steal the body of the Prophet Muhammad, and hold it for ransom until all Muslims had left the Holy Land.
Diego Lopes de Sequeira was a Portuguese ‘conquistador’ sent to analyze the trade potential in Madagascar and Malacca. He arrived in Malacca in Malaysia in September, 1509, but left the next year when he discovered that Sultan Mahmud Shah, the local leader, was devising his assassination. This gave Afonso de Albuquerque the opportunity to embark upon his expeditions of conquests. Sequeira was subsequently made governor of Portuguese India (1518–22), and in 1520 led a military campaign into the Red Sea which hastened the first legitimate Portuguese embassy to Ethiopia.