Cristóvão da Gama ( 1516 – 29 August 1542), anglicised as Christopher da Gama, was a Portuguese military commander who led a Portuguese army of 400 musketeers on a crusade in Ethiopia (1541–1543) against the Adal Muslim army of Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (also known as Ahmad Gurey) aided by the Ottoman Empire. He, along with the allied Ethiopian army, was victorious against larger forces in four battles, but was seriously wounded in his last battle and was captured, tortured, and executed. Richard Burton, in his First Footsteps in East Africa, referred to Gama as "the most chivalrous soldier of a chivalrous age." Early career Cristóvão (or Christopher) da Gama was the son of navigator Vasco da Gama and the younger brother of Estêvão da Gama. He first came to India in 1532 with his brother, returned to Portugal in 1535, then joined Garcia de Noronha in sailing to Diu 6 April 1538. Many times in these travels he demonstrated a quick mind that saved his companions. In recognition of his usefulness, in 1541, his brother Estêvão, then Viceroy of India, gave him command of a ship in the fleet Estêvão led into the Red Sea against the Ottoman naval base at Suez. He was defeated along with his brother in the ensuing battle against the Ottomans. Ethiopian campaign After this crushing defeat at the hands of the Ottomans, he returned with his brother back to Massawa on May 22, 1541, to rejoin the ships they had left there. While at Massawa, his brother Estêvão da Gama attempted to salvage something from this expedition by dispatching an expeditionary force under Cristóvão to assist the beleaguered Emperor of Ethiopia, Gelawdewos. Four hundred Portuguese men-at-arms were selected, seventy of whom were also skilled artisans or engineers, and 130 slaves for this expedition, equipped with about a thousand arquebuses, an equal number of pikes and several bombards. João Bermudes, who had represented himself as the Patriarch of Ethiopia to the Portuguese, accompanied this expedition. An account of this campaign in the Ethiopian highlands was later written by Miguel de Castanhoso, who accompanied Gama and was an eye-witness to almost everything he recorded. The men were landed at Massawa and Arqiqo, the next port south of Massawa, and began their trek inland to Debarwa, the capital of the Bahr negus, or Ethiopian viceroy for the northern provinces. The Portuguese reached Debarwa after a