Afonso de Albuquerque

The biography of Afonso de Albuquerque by the English historian Elaine Sanceau is impressive for two reasons.

Firstly becasue it tells the story of a larger-than-life figure who had to battle all the time he was in India to dominate a vast area of sea and coast with only a handful of men and ships, beset by political intrigues from within and without. His achievements in conquering costal cities, persuading local warlords that he represented a major international power to obtain their cooperation to build fortresses and charge taxes, while all the time having to contend with disloyal subordinates, jealous of his position and authority, are worthy of such a dedicated work of research and presentation.

Secondly, the extracts of text and facsimilies of original documents reveal the huge amount of painstaking work that must have gone into decoding and cataloging hundreds, if not thousands of documents to produce this definitive biography. That rigour occasionally results in a rather dry read, but our difficulties pale into insignificance if we consider the author's task.

A fascinating biography of a truly great man.