The Portuguese expansion in Indian seas and its effects on the Levantine trade (1500-1517)

The capture of Ceuta in 1415 would be a chance for the Portugueses to carry their combat against Islam beyond the sea. However, they didn't prefer to do it. Even so, a crusading movement could be sustained in the overseas regions with non-muslim residents that offer economical potentials. The islands in Atlantic and the western coast of Africa were priceless for such a goal. The discoveries initiated in those lands by Prince Henry and continued by the following Portuguese monarchs both proved fruitful and enabled to the Portugueses, over half a century later, to enter in a large area in which the most attractive commodity traffic for the whole world was circulating. This study aims to analyze the Portugueses' relations with Indians, their opponents' reactions in India and the Levant and their deterrent blows against the Portugueses, and the Portuguese assaults against the Arabian Sea carried out by some general-governors (vice-rei) such as Dom Francisco de Almeida, Afonso de Albuquerque and Lopo Soares. This study is also based on the main Portuguese and Italian sources, the English and Turkish translations of the main Arabic ones and the secondary works.