Q. With reference to Francisco De Almeida, the first Viceroy of Portuguese India (1505-1509), consider the following statements:
1.His primary mandate from the Portuguese crown was to consolidate the position of the Portuguese and destroy the naval power of Muslim traders by seizing key choke points like Hormuz, Aden, and Malacca.
2.He advocated for and strictly adhered to the ‘Blue Water Policy’ (Cartaze System), which prioritised naval supremacy in the Indian Ocean over the acquisition of extensive land territories in India.
3.He was defeated and killed in a naval battle off Diu by the combined fleet of the Sultan of Gujarat and the Mameluke Sultan of Egypt.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer: A
Notes:
Explanation:
- Statement 1 is correct. Almeida’s mission was strategic and explicitly aimed at undermining the existing Muslim trade network by gaining control of the entrances to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.
- Statement 2 is correct. The ‘Blue Water Policy’ was Almeida’s vision to make the Portuguese masters of the Indian Ocean by focusing on sea power rather than costly and vulnerable territorial expansion on the subcontinent.
- Statement 3 is incorrect. Almeida’s son was killed in the initial defeat off Diu in 1507. However, Almeida avenged this defeat by crushing the combined fleet in the decisive Battle of Diu in 1509, securing Portuguese naval dominance. Almeida himself died in a skirmish with indigenous people at the Cape of Good Hope while returning to Portugal in 1510.
