Page:History of India Vol 6.djvu/144

 98 FIRST STRUGGLE FOR THE INDIAN SEAS thing will at once be against us." This conviction grew upon him, " now we have wars with the Venetians and Turks of the Sultan." " With the force we have at sea we will discover what these new enemies may be, for I trust in the mercy of God that He will remember us, since all the rest is of little importance. Let it be known for certain that as long as you may be powerful at sea, you will hold India as yours, and if you do not possess this power a fortress on shore will avail you little; and as to expelling the Moors (Mussulmans) from the country, I have found the right way to do it, but it is a long story, and it will be done when the Lord pleases and will thus be served." But a sea-policy, with forts at a few dominating positions on the coast, no longer satisfied Almeida's master. King Emmanuel determined to combine the command of the Indian waters with conquest on shore. The first five years of annual expeditions from 1500 to 1505 had given the Portuguese the upper hand in the armed commerce of the Malabar coast. The following four years under Almeida, 1505-1509, left them mas- ters of the Indian Ocean. The next six years, 1509- 1515, were to see them grow under Affonso de Albu- querque into a territorial power on the Indian continent. Emmanuel the Fortunate, during his long reign from 1495 to 1521, planned and directed the whole, from the fitting forth of Vasco da Gama on his voyage of dis- covery to the adornment of the Portuguese capital in India with public buildings, churches, and monasteries. Affonso de Albuquerque, on his return from his