"The king of Portugal has often commanded me to go to the Straits, because... this was the best place to intercept the trade which the Moslems... carry on in these parts. So it was to do Our Lord’s service that we were brought here; by taking Malacca, we would close the Straits so that never again would the Moslems be able to bring their spices by this route... I am very sure that, if this Malacca trade is taken out of their hands, Cairo and Mecca will be completely lost." – The Commentaries of the Great Afonso de Albuquerque
No comments:
Post a Comment