Capture of Malacca
Happened: 1511-08-15
Description
The Capture of Malacca in 1511 occurred when the governor of Portuguese India, Afonso de Albuquerque, conquered the city of Malacca in 1511.
The port city of Malacca controlled the narrow, strategic Strait of Malacca, through which all seagoing trade between China and India was concentrated. The capture of Malacca was the result of a plan by King Manuel I of Portugal, who since 1505 had intended to beat the Castillians to the Far-East, and Albuquerque's own project of establishing firm foundations for Portuguese India, alongside Hormuz, Goa and Aden, to ultimately control trade and thwart Muslim shipping in the Indian Ocean.
Having set sail from Cochin in April 1511, the expedition would not have been able to turn around due to contrary monsoon winds. Had the enterprise failed, the Portuguese could not hope for reinforcements and would have been unable to return to their bases in India. It was the farthest territorial conquest in the history of mankind until then.
Publications
| Title | Publication Date | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capture of Malacca (1511) (webpage from Wikipedia) | A fairly long page about the capture of Malacca | Link | |
| Malacca Sultanate (webpage from Wikipedia) | A long article about the sultanate | Link | |
| Portuguese Malacca 1511-1641 (webpage) | A medium-length article with lots of citations and some pictures | Link | |
| The Fall of Melaka (webpage) | A medium-length article from a Malaysian perspective about the capture of Malacca. | Link | |
| The Portuguese Conquest of Malacca (webpage) | An account written by someone who currently lives in Malacca. The website contains lots of historical and tourist information about the city/state. | Link | |
| The Capture of Malacca, A.D. 1511 (article) | 1912 | Wilkinson, R. J. "The Capture of Malacca, A.D. 1511." Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, no. 61 (1912): 71-76. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41561669. | Link |
| Foreign documents and the descriptions of Melaka between A.D. 1505-1511 (article) | 1991 | An 11-page article on the city from 1505-1511 | Link |
| Story of Malacca (article) | 2009 | “Story of Malacca” by Elvan Tong appeared as a three-part series in AMSA’s magazine Passages during 2009 and 2010. For the convenience of readers this is now consolidated into a booklet for.... | Link |
| The fall of Malacca (webpage) | 2011 | An Asian view of the fall of Malacca written by Dr Lee Kam Heng. | Link |
| The Capture of Malacca in 1511 (webpage) | 2015 | A medium-length article about the capture of Malacca | Link |
Locations
| Eurasian Plate |
|---|
| Malacca City |
Participants
| Name | Date of Birth | Date of Death | Short Biography |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tun Mutahir | 1510 | a famous Bendahara of the Malaccan Sultanate | |
| Mahmud Shah | 1528 | the ruler of the Sultanate of Malacca from 1488 to 1511, and again as pretender to the throne from 1513 to 1528 | |
| Francisco de Almeida | 1450 | 1510 | a Portuguese nobleman, soldier and explorer |
| Afonso de Albuquerque | 1453 | 1515 | a Portuguese general, a "great conqueror", a statesman, and an empire builder. |
| Diogo Lopes de Sequeira | 1465 | 1530 | a Portuguese fidalgo, sent to analyze the trade potential in Madagascar and Malacca |
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