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Editor Introduction

The story of the preceding volumes was that of Medieval or Mohammedan India, the subject of this and the next volume comprises a new era in India’s history – the opening-up of Hindustan to the West. Alexander the Great had found one of the routes in the early ages, but no Europeans, except the occasional traveller, the persistent trader from Roman days, and the devoted Christian missionary, had traversed this or the other pathways to India from Alexander’s day until the time of the Moghul Empire.

The period of Mohammedan rule in India and the sway of the Ottoman power in the East had opened no new way for Occidental influence to enter Asia and had been prejudicial to any development of intercourse between Europe and India; but with the changes that were ushered in by the sixteenth century, the quest for India by the sea route began, and India was brought within reach of the maritime nations of Europe as a rich prize to strive for. The Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and English vied with each other in bitter rivalry to gain control of commerce and to establish a

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lasting supremacy in the East. The fullest and best account of this struggle will be found in the following pages from the late Sir William Hunter’s pen.

Sir William Hunter’s work, although comprising two bulky volumes in its fuller form, was not complete at his death, but in spite of that fact it will always remain one of the noblest monuments to his name. Through the courtesy of Lady Hunter and Sir William’s original publishers, arrangements have been made to reproduce in this and the following volume of the present series that portion of his work which relates to the first European settlements in India down to the founding of the East India Company in 1600, and also the portion covering the earlier events of the history of British India in the seventeenth century. The permission thus graciously accorded is acknowledged here with appreciation. Sir William’s text has been preserved practically without change, except for the omission of footnotes and for occasional modifications in certain matters of detail to agree with the rest of the series.

A new feature in the volume, however, is the Appendix which I have added, giving some early accounts by Mohammedan historians regarding the presence of Europeans in India during the Moghul Empire. I feel sure that certain of the descriptions and some of the expressions of opinion in this Appendix will be found to be interesting reading.

For particular assistance in illustrating this volume and the next by pictures from out-of-the-way

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sources I wish to thank Mr. George C. O. Haas, my student and ready helper, and I have had special aid from my friend, Dr. Justin E. Abbott, of Bombay, who has most kindly procured for the Grolier Society a special series of India photographs from which to select pertinent illustrations for the two volumes.

A. V. Williams Jackson

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