Affonso de Albuquerque
Albuquerque, Affonso de (1453-1515), a Portuguese admiral and statesman, founder of the Portuguese Empire in the East. Albuquerque was appointed viceroy of Portugal's possessions in Asia in 1506. From 1509 to 1515, he served as governor of India, at the same time extending the empire eastward. Albuquerque seized Goa in 1510 and made it the center of Portuguese power and trade in the East. By 1515 his conquests included Hormuz in Persia (now Iran), Malabar in India, and the Sunda Isles, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and Malacca in Southeast Asia.