lmeida. He had assisted the Emir Husain in the naval battles of
Chaul and Diu, and had formed a high idea of the power of the
Portuguese. He now submitted to Muzaffar Shah II, who had just
succeeded as King of Gujarat, and implored him not to grant
permission for the Christians to build a fortress at Diu. He
consented however to the foundation of a factory, and Albuquerque
accordingly left one ship behind him, when he sailed south, with
Fernao Martins Evangelho as Factor. On their way to Goa the
Portuguese seized all the Muhammadan ships which had that year left
Calicut, and had not yet been able to get across the Indian Ocean
because of the monsoon, which is said to have completed the ruin of
the Mopla merchants of Calicut. Albuquerque also left a squadron
under Lopo Vaz de Sam Paio to blockade the port of Dabhol, and he
then returned safely to Goa.

The year 1514 is the most peaceful of Albuquerque's administration.
In it he was occupied mainly with matters of internal policy and the
strengthening of his relations with the native princes. The most
important event of the year was the building of the {130} fortress of
Calicut, and though the policy by which he attained this end cannot
be commended, the result was a remarkable conclusion to his
transactions on the Malabar coast. The long and consistent opposition
of the Muhammadans of Calicut to the establishment of the Portuguese
power is one of the leading threads of the history of the period.
From the time of Vasco da Gama's first voyage and the murder of the
Portuguese factor in 1500, Calicut had been the headquarters of the
enemies of Portugal. King Emmanuel never ceased reiterating his
orders that Calicut should be conquered at any cost; he declared his
honour to be involved in the destruction of the Zamorin's power; and
the defeat and death of Dom Fernao de Coutinho exasperated him
exceedingly.

By the fleet which was commanded by Dom Garcia de Noronha the most
precise orders had been sent for the building of a fortress at
Calicut, and Francisco Nogueira had brought out a royal commission to
be Captain of it. The Zamorin, who had been much impressed by the
conquest of Goa, now declared his willingness to grant a site for a
fortress at Calicut, but he would not grant the only site which
Albuquerque was inclined to accept, because it completely commanded
the harbour. On his return from the Red Sea, Albuquerque was informed
by Nogueira of the temporising policy of