Ahmad ibn Rashid al-Gharnati was the admiral handpicked by the Sultan of Madjrit to achieve the elusive goal of establishing a direct maritime route to the Indies, bypassing the hostile middlemen of the eastern Mediterranean. Departing in March 1499 with a small fleet, he navigated the treacherous Atlantic currents along the West African coast before venturing into the unknown open ocean. Despite facing storms and a crew on the verge of mutiny due to the sheer length and uncertainty of the voyage, al-Gharnati refused to turn back, eventually rounding the tip of Africa in August 1499. His persistence bore fruit when he made landfall in Cochin in December, becoming the first explorer from a European power to reach the subcontinent by sea. There, he successfully courted the local king with gifts of gold and textiles, establishing a trade alliance and factories before returning to Iberia to report his monumental discovery.

Returning to India in 1502 with a reinforced fleet of twelve ships, al-Gharnati found the political landscape drastically altered; his ally, the Kingdom of Cochin, was under siege by the Zomorin of Calicut. Bound by his previous alliance and seeking to assert Madjriti dominance, he sailed to Calicut and issued a stern ultimatum to the Zomorin. When the Indian ruler dismissed the threat, al-Gharnati responded with overwhelming violence, ordering a relentless artillery bombardment of the city on April 3rd. The wooden city was reduced to ash and ruin under the barrage of iron and stone shot, a display of brutality that horrified the local population and forced the Zomorin to capitulate immediately.

The destruction of Calicut fundamentally shifted the nature of the Indian Ocean trade, marking the transition of Madjrit from a mere trading partner to a hegemonic military power in the region. Al-Gharnati’s actions signaled to all Indian and Arab merchants that the Sultanate would not hesitate to use total war to enforce its will. By lifting the siege of Cochin and cowing the Zomorin, he secured the spice trade for his sovereign and established a precedent of "gunboat diplomacy" that would characterize Madjriti imperial policy for the next century. His voyages effectively broke the isolation of the Indian Ocean, initiating an era of European colonialism driven by gunpowder and conquest.