Malacca Falls to the Portuguese

August 24, 1511

Albuquerque's fleet of nineteen ships stormed the wealthy Muslim entrepot of Malacca, guardian of the straits between India and China. The sultan fled into the jungle. Portuguese cannon now controlled the chokepoint of Asian trade, and cloves, nutmeg, and Chinese silk began flowing west under Lisbon's flag. The conquest gave Portugal control of the most important commercial bottleneck in Asian trade, through which spices and silk had flowed for centuries.