DOM FRANCISCO DE

ALMEIDA (c. 1450-1510)  , the first viceroy of Portuguese India, was born at Lisbon about the middle of the 15th century . He was the seventh son of the second count of Abrantes, and thus belonged to one of the most distinguished families in Portugal . In his youth he took part under Ferdinand of Aragon in the wars against the Moors (1485-1492) . In March 1505, having received from Emmanuel I. the appointment of viceroy of the newly conquered territory in India, he set sail from Lisbon in command of a large and powerful fleet, and arrived in July at Quiloa (Kilwa), which yielded to him almost without a struggle . A much more vigorous resistance was offered by the Moors of Mombasa, but the town was taken and destroyed, and its large treasures went to strengthen the resources of Almeida . At other places on his way, such as the island of Angediva, near Goa, and Cannanore, he built forts, and adopted measures to secure the Portuguese supremacy . On his arrival in India he took up his residence at Cochin, where a Portuguese fort had been built by Alphonso d'Albuquerque in 1503 . The most important events of Almeida's brief but vigorous administration were the conclusion of a commercial treaty with Malacca, and the discoveries made by his son Lorenzo, who acted as his lieutenant . Lorenzo was probably the first Portuguese who visited Ceylon, where he established a settlement, and Fernando Soares, a captain commanding a squadron of his fleet, appears to have been the first European to sight Madagascar . In 1508 he was killed at Dabul in a naval engagement with the Egyptians, who at this time endeavoured to dispute Portuguese supremacy in the Indian Ocean . His father was preparing to avenge his death when Albuquerque (q.v.) arrived in Cochin, and presented a commission empowering him to supersede Almeida in the government . It was probably Almeida's unwillingness to be thwarted in his scheme of vengeance that chiefly induced him to refuse to recognize Albuquerque's commission, and to cast him into prison .

The

punishment he inflicted on the Arabs and their Egyptian allies was speedy and terrible . Sailing along the coast he pillaged and burned various ports, including Goa and Dabul, and finally, encountering the enemy's combined fleet off Diu in February 1509, he completely destroyed it . Returning immediately to Cochin, he held out for a few months against the claims of Albuquerque, but in November 1509 he was compelled to yield . On the 1st of December he set sail for Europe with an escort of three vessels . On the voyage the fleet called at Table Bay, then known as Saldanha Bay, to procure water, and here Almeida was killed (on the 1st of March 151-0) in an attack upon the Hottentot natives, during which he showed great personal courage . In this fight, which took place on the site of Cape Town, 65 Portuguese perished, including 12 captains . Almeida's body was recovered on the following day and buried on the spot where he fell .