The Portuguese governor António de Noronha then signed a treaty with Akbar, officially establishing bilateral relations between Portugal and the Moghal Empire.

[4] Portugal established direct contact with India after Vasco da Gama first reached the subcontinent by sea via the Cape Route in 1498.

A first fortress was then built in the allied Kingdom of Cochin in 1502 in exchange for a military alliance against the Zamorin of Calicut and Goa was captured by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1510.

Bahadur was however routed in battle and as a result, the following year he allowed the Portuguese to erect a formidable fortress at the strategically important Island of Diu in the southern tip of the Kathiawar Peninsula, in exchange for protection should his sultanate fall.

At the request of the Sultan of Gujarat, the Portuguese governor of India Nuno da Cunha dispatched Vasco Pires de Sampayo at the head of a naval squadron with 250 soldiers to recover the fort of Verivene by the mouth of the Indus River, which had been taken by the Mughals.

[5] An attack was made one morning, but before the Portuguese could land their artillery the Mughals abandoned the fort during the night and it was recovered for Gujarat the following day.

[7] He burnt two settlements, ships, captured prisoners and later attacked a Mughal stronghold three leagues away from Daman at Pernel, which was abandoned after six days of artillery bombardment and razed.

[7] In 1580, Diogo Lopes Coutinho de Santarém at the head of a force of eight ships had a village near Surat burned, after its garrison had killed six Portuguese who had gone ashore.

Despite their numerical advantage, facing stiffer resistance than anticipated the Mughals hesitated in assaulting the unwalled city and withdrew their army after six months of maneuvers and skirmishes.

Although the siege was closely fought, on the evening of January 5, 1639, the Portuguese captain of the city nevertheless offered William Methwold refreshments when his ship docked there.

[3] Mughal trade ships were still required to acquire Portuguese naval licenses to sail the Indian Ocean and they cost between 3000 and 8000 mahmudis.

Although open conflicts tended to be avoided, the Portuguese Viceroy of India covertly supported the Marathas against the Mughals and promoted anti-Mughal alliances in the Deccan with Ahmadnagar, Bijapur and Golkonda.