PORTUGUESE AND SPANIARDS 67 



and so fraught with lasting result." 1 The Arab towns on 

 the East African coast were stormed, and Portuguese forts 

 were founded. The weak Hindoo princes of the Western 

 coast of India were forced to accept Portuguese factors and 

 Portuguese garrisons. The great Mahomedan Armada, 

 in which the strength of India and Arabia was reinforced 

 by the strength of Egypt, was utterly overthrown. Goa, 

 the headquarters of the Mahomedan League, was captured, 

 and became the splendid capital of the Portuguese Empire 



ountries and towns at any time held I 

 y the Portuguese, are sAarferf//yvw 

 r the names underlined Malacca | 



PORTUGUESE DOMINIONS IN THE EAST, 1502-1558. 

 (Based on Map in Guillemard's Magellan.) 



in the East. One by one, the gates of the Indian Ocean, 

 Socotra, Ormuz, Malacca, were conquered, or terrified into 

 submission. Aden alone remained unsubdued. And thus 

 in a few years the Portuguese won the overlordship of the 

 whole Indian Ocean. Their sphere of influence extended 

 over an ocean area six thousand miles by four thousand. 

 Their frontier was "a jagged semi-circle of over fifteen 

 thousand miles." And, over this huge ocean domain, the 

 tiny nation of Portugal held sway for a century ! 2 



Most significant, from our present point of view, was Conquest of 

 Albuquerque's conquest of Malacca (1511), the great ocean Malacca, 

 junction of all the trade routes, from China, Japan, and the 



1 Hunter, vol. i. p. 113. 

 * Hunter, vol. i. p. 134. 



See map on this page. 



