Editing Afonso de Albuquerque (section)

===Conquest of Malacca, 1511===
[[File:Iberian mare clausum claims.svg|thumb|Map of the ''[[mare clausum]]'' claims made by [[Spanish Empire]] and [[Portuguese Empire]], with Afonso's "Strait Controlling" strategy marked in blue circles.]]

{{Main|Portuguese Empire in the East}}
{{main|Capture of Malacca (1511)}}

Afonso explained to his armies why the Portuguese wanted to capture Malacca:
:"''The King of Portugal has often commanded me to go to the Straits, because...this was the best place to intercept the trade which the Moslems...carry on in these parts. So it was to do Our Lord's service that we were brought here; by taking Malacca, we would close the Straits so that never again would the Moslems be able to bring their spices by this route.... I am very sure that, if this Malacca trade is taken out of their hands, Cairo and Mecca will be completely lost.''" (The Commentaries of the Great Afonso de Albuquerque)

In February 1511, through a friendly Hindu merchant, Nina Chatu, Afonso received a letter from Rui de Araújo, one of the nineteen Portuguese held at Malacca since 1509. It urged moving forward with the largest possible fleet to demand their release, and gave details of the fortifications. Afonso showed it to Diogo Mendes de Vasconcelos, as an argument to advance as a joint fleet. In April 1511, after fortifying Goa, he gathered a force of about 900 Portuguese, 200 Hindu mercenaries and about eighteen ships.<ref name="RICKLEFSp23">{{harvnb|Ricklefs|1991|p=23}}</ref> He then sailed to [[Malacca Sultanate|Malacca]] against orders and despite the protest of Diogo Mendes, who claimed command of the expedition. Afonso eventually centralized the Portuguese government in the Indian Ocean. After the Malaccan conquest, he wrote a letter to the king to explain his disagreement with Diogo Mendes, suggesting that further divisions could be harmful to the Portuguese in India.<ref name="Foundations" /> Under his command was [[Ferdinand Magellan]], who had participated in the failed embassy of Diogo Lopes de Sequeira in 1509.

[[File:Conquista de Malaca, estudo - Ernesto Condeixa.png|thumb|"Conquest of Malacca", study painting by Ernesto Condeixa]]

After a false start towards the Red Sea, they sailed to the Strait of Malacca. It was the richest city that the Portuguese tried to take, and a focal point in the trade network where Malay traders met Gujarati, Chinese, Japanese, Javanese, Bengali, Persian and Arabic, among others, described by [[Tomé Pires]] as of invaluable richness. Despite its wealth, it was mostly a wooden-built city, with few masonry buildings but was defended by a mercenary force estimated at 20,000 men and more than 2000 pieces of artillery. Its greatest weakness was the unpopularity of the government of [[Sultan Mahmud Shah]], who favoured Muslims, arousing dissatisfaction amongst other merchants.

Afonso made a bold approach to the city, his ships decorated with banners, firing cannon volleys. He declared himself lord of all the navigation, demanded the Sultan release the prisoners and pay for damages, and demanded consent to build a fortified trading post. The Sultan eventually freed the prisoners, but was unimpressed by the small Portuguese contingent. Afonso then burned some ships at the port and four coastal buildings as a demonstration. The city being divided by the Malacca River, the connecting bridge was a strategic point, so at dawn on 25 July, the Portuguese landed and fought a tough battle, facing poisoned arrows, taking the bridge in the evening. After fruitlessly waiting for the Sultan's reaction, they returned to the ships and prepared a [[Junk (ship)|junk]] (offered by Chinese merchants), filling it with men, artillery and sandbags. Commanded by [[António de Abreu]], it sailed upriver at high tide to the bridge. The day after, all had landed. After a fierce fight during which the Sultan appeared with an army of [[war elephant]]s, the defenders were dispersed and the Sultan fled.<ref name="Foundations" /> Afonso waited for the reaction of the Sultan. Merchants approached, asking for Portuguese protection. They were given banners to mark their premises, a sign that they would not be looted. On 15 August, the Portuguese attacked again, but the Sultan had fled the city. Under strict orders, they looted the city, but respected the banners.<ref name="Bosworth2007">{{harvnb|Bosworth|2007|page=317}}</ref>

[[File:Manuel Godinho de Erédia - Description of Malacca, Meridional India and Cathay - A Famosa.png|thumb|left|An illustration of the keep of the fortress of Malacca, which included a stone relief of Afonso de Albuquerque, by [[Manuel Godinho de Erédia]] (1613)]]
[[File:Malacca in 1550-1563.png|thumb|Malacca, with [[A Famosa]], depicted by Albuquerque's scrivener, [[Gaspar Correia]]. ]]

Afonso prepared Malacca's defenses against a Malay counterattack,<ref name="RICKLEFSp23" /> building a fortress, assigning his men to shifts and using stones from the mosque and the cemetery. Despite the delays caused by heat and malaria, it was completed in November 1511, its surviving door now known as "[[A Famosa]]" ('the famous'). It was possibly then that Afonso had a large stone engraved with the names of the participants in the conquest. To quell disagreements over the order of the names, he had it set facing the wall, with the single inscription ''Lapidem quem reprobaverunt aedificantes'' (Latin for "The stone the builders rejected", from [[David]]'s prophecy, Psalm 118:22–23) on the front.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Afonso|last1=de Albuquerque|title=Commentarios do grande Afonso Dalboquerque: capitão geral que foi das Indias Orientaes em tempo do muito poderoso rey D. Manuel, o primeiro deste nome|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_4UILAAAAYAAJ|year=1774|publisher=Na Regia Officina Typografica}}</ref>

He settled the Portuguese administration, reappointing Rui de Araújo as [[factor (agent)|factor]], a post assigned before his 1509 arrest, and appointing rich merchant Nina Chatu to replace the previous [[Bendahara]]. Besides assisting in the governance of the city and the first Portuguese coinage, he provided the junks for several diplomatic missions.<ref>{{harvnb|De Souza|1985|p=60}}</ref> Meanwhile, Afonso arrested and had executed the powerful Javanese merchant Utimuti Raja who, after being appointed to a position in the Portuguese administration as representative of the Javanese population, had maintained contacts with the exiled royal family.

====Shipwreck on the ''Flor de la mar'', 1511====
[[File:Portuguese ship museum Melaka.jpg|thumb|Replica of a Portuguese carrack at the Maritime Museum of Malacca, made in reference to the Flor do Mar]]
On 20 November 1511 Afonso sailed from Malacca to the coast of Malabar on the old ''[[Flor de la Mar]]'' [[carrack]] that had served to support the conquest of Malacca. Despite its unsound condition, he used it to transport the treasure amassed in the conquest, given its large capacity.<ref name="Foundations" /> He wanted to give the court of King Manuel a show of Malaccan treasures. There were also offerings from the [[Ayutthaya Kingdom]] (Thailand) to the king of Portugal, and all his own fortune. On the voyage, the ''[[Flor de la Mar]]'' was wrecked in a storm, and Afonso barely escaped drowning.<ref name="RICKLEFSp23" />