Twilight of the Sultanate c8.s4.22

c8.s4.22

From 1500 onwards Mahmūd was busy in wars against Malwa and Khandēsh. His achievements were so great that in 1510 he received congratulations from Sikandar Lodī for his success in Khandēsh. Towards the end of his reign Mahmūd had to engage in war with the Portuguese who had established a lucrative trade in Gujarat ports like Cambay and Chaul since the discovery of the Cape route by Vasco da Gama in 1498. This had adversely affected the interests of Indian merchants. To do away with the Portuguese monopoly of the spice trade, Mahmūd Beghārā entered into an alliance with Qansu Ghorī, the Sultan of Egypt. The Egyptian fleet under the command of Amīr Husain and the Indian contingent under the command of Malik Ayāz attacked and defeated a Portuguese squadron commanded by Don Lorenzo, son of the Portuguese Viceroy, Fransesco de Almeida, near Chaul in A.D. 1508. But next year the tables were turned and Mahmūd had to grant the Portuguese a site for a factory at Diu. Thereafter, the influence and strength of foreigners on the west coast went on growing apace.