Abstract:

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.

Contents

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