Lopo Soares de Albergaria (c. 1460 in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...

– c. 1520 in

Torres Vedras Torres Vedras () is a municipality in the Portuguese district of Lisbon, approximately north of the capital Lisbon in the Oeste region, in the Centro of Portugal. The population was 83,075, in an area of . History In 1148, Afonso I took ...

) was the fifth captain-major of the

Portuguese Gold Coast The Portuguese Gold Coast was a Portuguese colony on the West African Gold Coast (present-day Ghana) along the Gulf of Guinea. Established in 1482, the colony was officially incorporated into Dutch territory in 1642 following Portugal’s def ...

and third

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Portuguese India The State of India ( pt, Estado da Índia), also referred as the Portuguese State of India (''Estado Português da Índia'', EPI) or simply Portuguese India (), was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded six years after the discovery of a s ...

, having reached India in 1515 to succeed

Afonso de Albuquerque Afonso de Albuquerque, 1st Duke of Goa (; – 16 December 1515) was a Portuguese general, admiral, and statesman. He served as viceroy of Portuguese India from 1509 to 1515, during which he expanded Portuguese influence across the Indian Ocean ...

as governor.

Career

Lopo Soares de Albergaria (sometimes called Lopo Soares de Alvarenga, or simply Lopo Soares) was a middling noble, well-connected to the powerful Almeida family. Lopo Soares had served a successful term (1495–99) as captain-general of

São Jorge da Mina Elmina Castle was erected by the Portuguese in 1482 as Castelo de São Jorge da Mina (''St. George of the Mine Castle''), also known as ''Castelo da Mina'' or simply ''Mina'' (or '' Feitoria da Mina''), in present-day Elmina, Ghana (formerly th ...

in the

(West Africa). In 1504 Lopo Soares commanded the 6th Portuguese India Armada. Regarded as one of the more successful early India armadas, Lopo Soares brought the fleet back in 1505 nearly intact, with one of the best cargos yet received by King

Manuel I of Portugal Manuel I (; 31 May 146913 December 1521), known as the Fortunate ( pt, O Venturoso), was King of Portugal from 1495 to 1521. A member of the House of Aviz, Manuel was Duke of Beja and Viseu prior to succeeding his cousin, John II of Portuga ...

. This placed him in a good position for future preferment and appointments. In March 1515 Lopo Soares de Albergaria was chosen by King Manuel I to succeed

as governor of

, and departed from Lisbon to India on 7 April. The seventeen-ship fleet transported also an embassy to the

emperor of Ethiopia The emperor of Ethiopia ( gez, ንጉሠ ነገሥት, nəgusä nägäst, "King of Kings"), also known as the Atse ( am, ዐፄ, "emperor"), was the hereditary monarchy, hereditary ruler of the Ethiopian Empire, from at least the 13th century ...

with Portuguese ambassador

Duarte Galvão Duarte Galvão (1435/1440 – 9 June 1517) was a Portuguese courtier, diplomat and chronicler. Duarte was born at Évora between about 1435 and 1440. His father, Rui Galvão, was a clerk of the royal chamber (''escrivão da cámara'') before 142 ...

, Ethiopian ambassador Mateus (also known as Matthew the Armenian) and father

Francisco Álvares Francisco Álvares ( – 1536-1541) was a Portuguese missionary and explorer. In 1515 he traveled to Ethiopia as part of the Portuguese embassy to emperor Lebna Dengel accompanied by returning Ethiopian ambassador Matheus. The embassy arriv ...

. In August, having learned through contacts in Venice that the Mamluk Sultan of Cairo had prepared a fleet at Suez to fight the Portuguese, king Manuel repented to have replaced Albuquerque, and immediately wrote to Albergaria to return the command of all operations to Albuquerque, and provide him with resources to fight. However, when the letter arrived, Albuquerque had already died. Portuguese attack on Jiddah 1517

As governor in India Albergaria made a naval expedition into the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

in 1517, taking on board the embassy to Emperor Dawit II of Ethiopia, including Mateus, Duarte Galvão and Francisco Álvares, with the intent of landing them on the coast. First Albergaria reached

Aden Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 peopl ...

, which offered to surrender but he felt he could not spare the men to garrison the port. Albergaria failed to capture Jeddah in 1517, and the attempt to land the embassy by reaching the port of

Massawa Massawa ( ; ti, ምጽዋዕ, məṣṣəwaʿ; gez, ምጽዋ; ar, مصوع; it, Massaua; pt, Maçuá) is a port city in the Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea, located on the Red Sea at the northern end of the Gulf of Zula beside the Dahla ...

failed as well, with Albergaria getting no closer than the Dahlak Archipelago, and was aborted after the death of old Duarte Galvão at

Kamaran Kamaran Island ( ar, كمران ''Kamarān'') is the largest Yemeni island in the Red Sea. The island is long and wide and is strategically located at the southern end of the Red Sea. It is a "shelf island" located in the shallow waters of the ...

. Álvares and Mateus were forced to wait until Albergaria's replacement, Diogo Lopes de Sequeira, successfully sent the embassy under D.

Rodrigo de Lima Rodrigo Lima (born May 9, 1991) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competed in Bellator's bantamweight division, as well as in smaller promotions. Mixed martial arts career Early career: ''Watch Out Combat Show'' Lima started his profes ...

in 1520. In 1518 Lopo Soares de Albergaria captured

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

for his king, having landed at

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

with a large fleet. Here he ordered the construction of a small fort named "Nossa Senhora das Virtudes" or "Santa Bárbara".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Albergaria, Lopo Soares De Portuguese admirals Viceroys of Portuguese India 1460s births 1520s deaths Captain-majors of Portuguese Gold Coast Maritime history of Portugal Portuguese in Kerala Portuguese nobility People from Lisbon People from Torres Vedras Year of birth uncertain Year of death uncertain 1515 in India 1518 in India 1510s in Portuguese India 15th century in Ghana 15th-century Portuguese people 16th-century Portuguese people

Career

See also

References