Portuguese statesman and explorer. Born 1453, died 1515.
Participating in the Portuguese maritime expansion East of the Cape of Good Hope at the beginning of the 16th century, Affonso d'Albuquerque arrived at India in 1503. In 1509, he was made Portugal's governor in India (effectively, head of the Estado do India, the Portuguese interests in the entire Asian region).
In 1510, he conquered Goa, thereafter a significant Portuguese possession in India, and in 1511 he took Malacca. In 1513, d'Albuquerque became the first European to enter the Red Sea from the South, plundering Arabian coastal towns.
Suspecting that he would make use of his immense political and economic influence to declare independence from Portugal, the Portuguese king dismissed him from office in 1515. He died shortly thereafter, and lies buried in Goa.