Tekst achterflap

In the early eighteenth century, the Indian Ocean was a dynamic crossroads of commerce, politics, and shifting power. European trading companies, Indigenous rulers and polities, and long-established merchant networks all competed and collaborated across a region stretching from the Red Sea to the South China Sea. This book explores that world through the remarkable career of one man: Sir Robert Cowan, an Irishman who rose from provincial origins in Derry to become Governor of Bombay and one of the East India Company’s most influential servants. Drawing on Cowan’s extraordinarily rich archive, one of the most extensive personal collections surviving for any Company servant, this book follows his journey from Derry to Bombay, and all stops in between. Through his letters, accounts, and private dealings, we see not only the daily realities of Company rule but also the vibrant network of personal relationships, patronage ties, and commercial opportunities that shaped life in the early modern Indian Ocean world. Cowan’s pursuit of wealth, his role in diplomacy and security, and his navigation of both Company policy and private trade reveal the blurred lines between public duty and personal ambition that defined the age. Intended for readers interested in the history of empire, maritime trade, and the East India Company, this book offers a fresh perspective on a formative period in the Indian Ocean. By using Cowan’s life and career as a lens, it illuminates the human connections and competing interests that underpinned the expansion of colonial power, and places Irish involvement in empire at the centre of British early modern colonial history.

Inhoudsopgave

Declaration Acknowledgements Note on Conventions used Introduction Chapter One: Robert Cowan I – John Cowan, (? – 1733), and Ulster Background II – Robert Cowan and Lisbon, c. 1710-19 III – Cowan’s Early Patronage Circle Chapter Two: Goa and Surat, 1721-2 I – Cowan’s Personal Experience at Goa II – The Treaty Negotiations III – The Anglo-Portuguese Expedition of 1721 IV – Robert Cowan and his Posting to Surat, Apr.- Aug. 1722 Chapter Three: Mocha, 1724-7 I – The Mocha Coffee Market and Company Trade II – Cowan’s Personal Experience of Mocha III – Cowan’s Personal Finances and Trade 1724-7 IV – Cowan’s Interpersonal Network V – The East India Company Withdrawal from Mocha Chapter Four: Bombay, 1728-35, Part I I – East India Company Trade in the Western Ocean II – The Bombay Military and Power Projection III – Cowan and Anglo-Portuguese Relations Chapter Five: Bombay, 1728-35, Part II I – Cowan’s Interpersonal Network II – Cowan and Company Politics in London III – Company Politics in the Western Presidency 1733-4 Chapter Six: Cowan’s Return to England and Legacy, 1735-39 I – Cowan’s Private Accounts II – Cowan and the Diamond Trade III – Cowan’s life in England and Will IV – Court Pleadings and Cowan’s Legacy Conclusion Glossary Appendix One Recipients of Correspondence from Robert Cowan during his time in India, 1719-35 Appendix Two Draft Articles of Alliance for the Anglo-Portuguese Expedition of 1721 Bibliography Manuscript Sources British Library National Archives, Kew Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Belfast Primary Printed Sources Secondary Sources Electronic Resources

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