Thai, portuguese friendship sails into its 500th year

Having captured Malacca in 1511, Alfonso de Albuquerque, who directed his operations from Goa, promptly dispatched an embassy to King Ramathibodi II of Ayutthaya with credentials and gifts from the King of Portugal at the ready. The reason was that Albuquerque had heard that Malacca was officially a tributary state to the Siamese king, who he wanted to sound out over where the matter stood. nationmultimedia