Monte Horizonte

The year 2010 makes the 500th anniversary of the Portuguese taking the Indian city of Goa under the command of the great Afonso de Albuquerque.Portugal came to the aid of a Hindu price, Thimayya, and the two forces combined and liberated the city from Muslim rule. Portuguese forces entered the city on 17 February 1510, with little fighting- only to be besieged and forced to retreat in May 1510. That November 34 ships with 1,500 Portuguese soldiers and 300 Malabarese took Goa in less than a day from Ottoman forces. Goa soon became the Portuguese eastern capital until it was retaken by India in 1961.