In 1498 the Portuguese established direct contact with India by sea after Vasco da Gama sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and reached Calicut.

Among other things, Dom Francisco was tasked with building a fort on Angediva Island, which was believed to be useful to conduct trade at safely and support Portuguese fleets operating in the region.

[1] The Portuguese first clashed with the forces of Bijapur in 1506 when the lord of Goa attempted to capture the fort the viceroy Dom Francisco de Almeida had built on Angediva Island six months before.

The Portuguese conducted a punitive attack against Dabul in 1509 after the naval squadrons of the city harassed the armada of the viceroy Dom Francisco de Almeida en route to the Battle of Diu.

[7] Lacking the men to defend it, the local Muslim governor requested that the Portuguese captain of Goa Ruy de Mello either help him repulse the attack or take over it those lands, in the hopes that he'd be able to keep its revenue.

[8] In 1523 the chief tax-collector Fernão Annes de Souto-Maior was attacked and sieged for two days at a temple in Mardol that was built like a fort, by a 5000 men force dispatched by the Adil Shah.

A brief combat was struck after António Correia arrived to souccour Fernão Annes but although the Muslims were badly mauled the governor of India decided to quit the lands so as not to break the peace previously signed with the Adil Shah.

[11] The lands of Salsette and Bardês where invaded once again by Calabate Khan, but the forces of Bijapur abandoned their equipment and withdrew to the mountains of Colem, when Castro marched out to meet him with 1500 horse and 4000 foot.

[14] The Portuguese governor of India Dom Pedro de Mascarenhas was contacted by a number of Bijapur nobles who sought his support for an impending revolt against the ruling Adil Shah.

[15][16] General Nazer-Melek marched through Salsete and came in sight of the fortress of Rachol, from where captain Dom Pedro de Menezes o Ruivo sallied out with a number of men and skirmished favourably, but the Portuguese were ultimately forced to abandon the field.

[15] Aware of this, the new governor of India Francisco Barreto marched out with 200 horsemen, 3000 Portuguese soldiers, 1000 kanarese auxiliaries and routed Nazer-Melek at Pondá.

[16] Nazer Melek entrenched himself at Pondá once more, but after a number of ships arrived from Portugal with fresh reinforcements, he sued for peace and a treaty was signed shortly afterwards.

The viceroy of India Dom Luís de Ataíde was however able to keep the naval supply lines open while the forces of Bijapur proved unable to overcome Portuguese defenses.

[17] After the Dabul incident, a powerful fleet commanded by Dom Paulo de Meneses was dispatched from Goa to conduct amphibious operations along the coasts of Bijapur in retaliation.

[17] Ali Adil Shah meanwhile invaded the mainland districts of Bardês and Salcete once more, however in 1578 peace was signed with governor Dom Luís de Ataíde.

[18] The Adil Shah admitted that he had declared war against Portugal without sufficient cause but had since ordered his captains to withdraw from Bardez and Salcete and his port to opened to commerce.

Notwithstanding occasional conflict over the possession of Goa, bilateral relations were established and Portuguese ambassadors, merchants and missionaries often frequented Adil Shahi domains including the capital.

[18] The Portuguese provided suplhur, lead and copper while the Adil Shah would supply timber, steel, iron, sailors, stone cannon, ballast for the ships, saltpeter for gunpowder manufacture, and numerous other articles in return.