The 4th Portuguese India Armada was a Portuguese fleet that sailed from Lisbon in February, 1502. Assembled on the order of King Manuel I of Portugal and placed under the command of D. Vasco da Gama, it was the fourth of some thirteen Portuguese India Armadas, was Gama's second trip to India, and was designed as a punitive expedition targeting Calicut to avenge the numerous defeats of the 2nd Armada two years earlier.
Along the way, in East Africa, the 4th Armada established a Portuguese factory in present-day Mozambique, made contact and opened trade with the gold entrepot of Sofala and extorted tribute from Kilwa. Once in India, the armada set about attacking Calicut shipping and disrupting trade along much of the Malabar Coast. But the ruling Zamorin of Calicut refused to accede to Portuguese demands, arguing that the violent exactions of the armada exceeded any claims they might have for compensation. The 4th Armada left without bringing the Zamorin to terms and leaving matters unresolved. Before departing, the armada established a crown factory in Cannanore and left behind a small patrol under Vicente Sodré, the first permanent Portuguese fleet in the Indian Ocean.
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