Afonso de Albuquerque captures Goa and founds the Estado da Índia
- Date
- 1510
- Category
- Exploration & colonisation
- Region
- Goa, western India
- Era
- Early Modern
- Significance
In 1510 the Portuguese governor Afonso de Albuquerque seized Goa from the Sultanate of Bijapur, occupying the city in February, losing it in May, and finally storming it in November.
Goa became the capital of the Estado da Índia, the seaborne Portuguese empire in Asia, and the administrative and naval hub from which Portugal projected power across the western Indian Ocean. Albuquerque pursued a strategy of seizing chokepoints rather than territory, aiming to control the maritime spice routes through a network of fortified ports and a system of cartazes (trade passes) that forced Asian shipping to pay for Portuguese protection. Goa remained under Portuguese rule until 1961, making it the most durable European colonial foothold in India and a centre of Catholic missionary activity, Indo-Portuguese culture and intercontinental trade for over four centuries.
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Empires active in 1510
- Ming Dynasty1368 CE – 1644 CE
- Songhai Empire1464 CE – 1591 CE
- Inca Empire1438 CE – 1533 CE
- Aztec Empire1428 CE – 1521 CE
- Malacca Sultanate1400 CE – 1511 CE
- Ottoman Empire1299 CE – 1922 CE
Related exploration & colonisation events
- Magellan–Elcano expedition completes the first circumnavigation1519–1522
- Spanish Conquest of the Philippines and Founding of Colonial Manila24 June 1571
- Torres Navigates the Strait Between New Guinea and AustraliaOctober 1606
- Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in America14 May 1607
- Champlain founds Quebec and New France3 July 1608
- The Pilgrims, Plymouth Colony and the Mayflower CompactNovember 1620
Further reading
The wider story
India in the Persianate Age: 1000-1765
Masterful, readable synthesis of the sultanate era.
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