Francisco de Almeida

Timeline

1. c. 1470–1479Toro · ToroAlmeida grew up at the court of Afonso V and made his name through military merit. He took part in the king's campaigns in Morocco, operating along the line of North African strongholds such as Arzila and Tangier. On March 1, 1476, he accompanied Afonso V in intervening in the Castilian succession war and took part in the Battle of Toro. This Moroccan–Iberian experience laid the land-and-sea combat experience and courtly trust he would later need as governor in the East.
2. 1481–1500Granada · GranadaDuring the reign of John II, Almeida entered the inner circle of advisers, taking part in the purge of the nobility and decisions on Atlantic expansion. In 1492 he sided with Isabella and Ferdinand and joined the final conquest of the Emirate of Granada; Portuguese chronicles emphasize his knightly renown in this Iberian reconquista. By around 1500 he was a veteran commander with experience on the battlefields of North Africa and Castile, well prepared for his later appointment as governor of India.
3. 1505–1510Cochin · CochinHe departed Lisbon on March 25, 1505 with about twenty-two ships, captured Kilwa in East Africa in July and built a fortress, then burned Mombasa, arriving in Cochin in October to take up his post. He built forts at Anjediva, Cannanore, and Cochin, pursuing a policy of controlling the spice routes by sea while avoiding large-scale land conquest. In 1508 his son Lourenço was killed at Chaul; he refused to hand power immediately to Albuquerque and on February 3, 1509 defeated the combined fleet of the Egyptian Mamluks with Gujarat and Calicut at the Battle of Diu. He handed over power in November and sailed home, dying on March 1, 1510, in a clash with the local Khoikhoi while taking on water at Table Bay.