Incidentally, in Indian campaigns, Afonso de Albuquerque notably promoted intermarriage between Portuguese soldiers and local Indian women (often widows of defeated enemies), forcibly converting the women to Catholicism and granting them dowries and land. This created a mixed Luso-Indian population in Goa and helped establish a self-sustaining Portuguese colony. His most audacious (and unrealised) ideas included diverting the Nile River to ruin Egypt and stealing the body of Prophet Muhammad from Medina to ransom it in exchange for Muslim withdrawal from the Holy Land. Muslims and Hindus in Goa reportedly visited his tomb for years after his death, believing his bones protected them from unjust rulers and that Portuguese rule would last as long as they remained in Goa. He was a master of psychological warfare: when Persian envoys demanded tribute at Hormuz, he famously replied he would pay only in cannonballs and arrows. He however died at sea off Goa in December 1515, heartbroken after learning King Manuel I had appointed a successor amid court intrigues. His last words reportedly lamented being ill-treated by both king and men. How the mighty fall!

War on drugs (cont/d)

This was a particularly grizzly (and imported) crime @António Ferreira https://youtu.be/IayR3mtn_Cs Why Portugal?