The Strait of Malacca is a strategic geographical point. It was so 500 years ago and it´s so still today. Its control allowed decisive influence on the trade routes with India and China, as any merchant ships had to pass throught the strait. This was a neuralgic point of the highly valued spice trade. Afonso de Albuquerque wanted to take control of the routes and establish militarized settlements along them to guarantee Portugal´s hegemony.
seriousness of the crime, this is not in the answer choices but they determine it off of if they think the defendant will do it again or flee before the trial
