Teggin, Edward O. Patronage & Profit

The East India Company Career of Sir Robert Cowan in Bombay and the Western Indian Ocean, c. 1719-35

At the beginning of the 18th century, the Indian Ocean was a dynamic hub of trade, politics, and shifting power dynamics. European trading companies, local rulers and communities, and established merchant networks competed and cooperated in a region stretching from the Red Sea to the South China Sea. This book explores this world through the remarkable career of one man: Sir Robert Cowan, an Irishman who rose from humble beginnings in Derry to become Governor of Bombay and one of the most influential officials in the East India Company. Drawing on Cowan's exceptionally extensive archiveone of the most comprehensive surviving personal collections of a Company officialthis book traces his journey from Derry to Bombay and all the places in between. Through his letters, reports, and private business dealings, we gain insight not only into daily life under Company rule but also into the vibrant network of personal relationships, patronage, and trading opportunities that shaped life in the early modern world of the Indian Ocean. Cowan's pursuit of wealth, his role in diplomacy and security, and his dealings with the politics of the East India Company and private trade reveal the blurred lines between public duty and personal ambition that characterized the era. This book, aimed at readers interested in the history of the British Empire, maritime trade, and the East India Company, offers a fresh perspective on a pivotal period in the Indian Ocean. Through Cowan's life and career, it illuminates the human connections and conflicting interests that underpinned the expansion of the colonial power, placing Irish involvement in the Empire at the heart of early modern British colonial history.