Delhi, and another Afghan king was ruling over Bengal. Ahmedabad in Gujarat, Gulbarga, Bijapur, Ahmednagar and Ellichpur in the Deccan were each the capital of an independent Mahommedan kingdom; while the Hindu raja of Vijayanagar was recognized as paramount over the entire south. Neither Mogul nor Mahratta had yet appeared above the political horizon. Portuguese expeditions. After staying nearly six months on the Malabar coast, da Gama returned to Europe by the same route as he had come, bearing with him the following letter from the zamorin to the king of Portugal: "Vasco da Gama, a nobleman of your household, has visited my kingdom and has given me great pleasure. In my kingdom there is abundance of cinnamon, cloves, ginger, pepper, and precious stones. What I seek from thy country is gold, silver, coral, and scarlet." The arrival of da Gama at Lisbon was celebrated with national rejoicings scarcely less enthusiastic than had greeted the return of Columbus. If the West Indies belonged to Spain by priority of discovery, Portugal might claim the East Indies by the same right. Territorial ambition combined with the spirit of proselytism and with the greed of commerce to fill all Portuguese minds with the dream of a mighty Oriental empire. The early Portuguese discoverers were not traders or private adventurers, but admirals with a royal commission to conquer territory and promote the spread of Christianity. A second expedition, consisting of thirteen ships and twelve hundred soldiers, under the command of Cabral, was despatched in 1500. "The sum of his instructions was to begin with preaching, and, if that failed, to proceed to the sharp determination of the sword." On his outward voyage Cabral was driven by stress of weather to the coast of Brazil. Ultimately he reached Calicut, and established factories both there and at Cochin, in the face of active hostility from the natives. In 1502 the king of Portugal obtained from Pope Alexander VI. a bull constituting him "lord of the navigation, conquest, and trade of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India." In that year Vasco da Gama sailed again to the East, with a fleet numbering twenty vessels. He formed an alliance with the rajas of Cochin and Cannanore against the zamorin of Calicut, and bombarded the latter in his palace. In 1503 the great Alfonso d'Albuquerque is first heard of, as in command of one of three expeditions from Portugal. In 1505 a large fleet of twenty sail and fifteen hundred men was sent under Francisco de Almeida, the first Portuguese viceroy of India. In 1509 Albuquerque succeeded as governor, and widely extended the area of Portuguese influence. Having failed in an attack upon Calicut, he seized Goa, which from 1530 became the capital of Portuguese India. Then, sailing round Ceylon, he captured Malacca, the key of the navigation of the Indian archipelago, and opened a trade with Siam and the Spice Islands (Moluccas). Lastly, he sailed