Alfonso de Albuquerque

Afonso de Albuquerque (or Afonso d'Albuquerque - disused) (pron. IPA []) (treated with a Don by some although his birth didn't grant him that treatment) (1453, Alhandra - Goa, December 16, 1515) was a Portuguese fidalgo, or nobleman, a naval general officer whose military and administrative activities conquered and established the Portuguese colonial empire in the Indian ocean. Generally considered as a world conquest military genius by means of his successful strategy, he was created first duke of Goa by king Manuel I of Portugal shortly before his death, being the first Portuguese duke not of the royal family, and the first Portuguese title landed overseas. He attempted to close all the Indian ocean naval passages to the Atlantic, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and to the Pacific, transforming it in a Portuguese Mare Nostrum established over the Turkish power and their Muslim and Hindu allies.
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