_ 478 _ west coast of India (Anjidiv), in the Red Sea and in the Gulf (Ormuz)(A). King Manuel's letter of 1506 to the Viceroy suggested the island of Socotra as an observation post close to the Strait of Bab al-Mandab(B). The islands of Ormuz and Socotra were problematic places for human occupation due to the hot and unhealthy climate and the lack of water and vegetation. Both lay on the route taken by ships bound for the Gulf and Red Sea areas. The very different fortunes of the Portuguese in each of them must be related to their difference in importance in the system of trade at regional level. The preference for Ormuz which Afonso de Albuquerque showed in 1507,choosing to interpret in this way the royal orders which required him to guard the Straits, was based on the need to ensure supplies for his small fleet and his desire to control the commercial network of (A) Published in Cartas de Affonso de Albuquerque, vol.II, Lisbon 1898,pp.272-334. (B) Ibid. vol. III, pp.268-276; and José Pereira da Costa, Socotorá e o dominio português no Oriente,Coimbra,1973 (offprint from Revista da Universidade de Coimbra, vol.XXIII,base for the Portuguese strongholds in Morocco, See António Dias Farinha,'A Madeira e o Norte de África nos séculos XV e XVI', paper read to the first Colóquio Internacional de História da Madeira, Funchal, 1986 (in press).
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