SIR WILLIAM WILSON HUNTER, K.C.S.I., C.I.E.
M.A. (OXFORD): LL.D. (CAMBRIDGE)
ALBUQUERQUE
HENRY FROWDE
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE
AMEN CORNER, E.C.
[All rights reserved]
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RULERS OF INDIA
ALBUQUERQUE
BY H. MORSE STEPHENS
AUTHOR OF 'A HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION,'
'THE STORY OF PORTUGAL,' etc.
OXFORD
PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
BY HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
PREFACE
Affonso de Albuquerque was the first European since Alexander theGreat who dreamed of establishing an empire in India, or rather inAsia, governed from Europe. The period in which he fought and ruledin the East is one of entrancing interest and great historicalimportance, and deserves more attention than it has received from theEnglish people, as the present ruling race in India. Dr. A. C.Burnell, an authority second to none in Indian historical questions,says in his prefatory note to A Tentative List of Books and someMSS. relating to the History of the Portuguese in India Proper: 'Inthe course of twenty years' studies relating to India, I found thatthe history of the Portuguese had been shamefully neglected.... Inattempting to get better information, I found that the true historyof the Portuguese in India furnishes most important guidance for thepresent day, and the assertions commonly made about it are utterlyfalse, especially in regard to the ecclesiastical history.' Ipurpose, therefore, to give a short list of the more important workson the history of the Portuguese in the East during the sixteenthcentury, while they were a conquering and a ruling power, in the hopethat it may be useful to any one wishing to investigate the subjectfurther than it has been possible for me to do in this volume. Iconfine myself to the sixteenth century and to books on politicalhistory, as I have not the knowledge to classify the numerous workson the history of the Roman Catholic Missions in India, which isclosely bound up w