_ 45 _ So, it was this great warrior nation that Portugal vanquished completely in all the actions that it undertook in the Indian Ocean. The squadrons of Emir Usseni in 1509 and the 15 galleys commanded by Aleque-lubi in 1553, were totally destroyed and not a single mast with the Turkish standard escaped. The squadron of Suleiman Pasha of 1537-1538 sailed from Aden to Diu with 76 to 85 sail hurling the direst threats, but it ended up fleeing in the morning when it sighted the 20small foists and cutters which it took to be the advance guard of the fleet of the Viceroy of India, D. Garcia de Noronha. Did the isthmus of Suez make the naval preparations difficult for them? Undoubtedly. And what about us? We had our main base in Lisbon. The carracks took at least five or six months on the most favorable crossing to Goa. We were surrounded by enemies in India. In the capital we depended upon 15 districts, as opposed to the 250 much larger sanjacos of the Turkish empire. All in all, the disproportion of material forces was enormous. But the spiritual forces of our people were invincible. That is the only conclusion that can be reasonably arrived at. We have nothing to hide in our history. After this stupendous victory (as had happened before) we suffered some small reverses.
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