An Historical Disquisition Concerning the Knowledge Which the Ancients Had of India: And the Progress of Trade with that Country Prior to the Discovery of the Passage to it by the Cape of Good Hope

William Robertson

doi:10.1017/CBO9781139199056

William Robertson (1721–93), Principal of the University of Edinburgh and historiographer to His Majesty for Scotland, published this work in 1791. Already famous for a History of Scotland, which went into many editions, and a History of America, Robertson aimed to synthesise all earlier western accounts of the subcontinent from classical times to the sixteenth century. Beginning with a consideration of the practical difficulties facing explorers from Europe and Africa who headed east, Robertson discusses the (legendary) Pharaoh Sesostris of Egypt, Alexander the Great, and Roman military incursions into, and trade with, India, before turning to the Portuguese, Spanish, French and English explorers of the early modern period, furnishing his account with copious source notes. A long appendix then describes 'the genius, the manners, and institutions of the people of India, as far as they can be traced from the earliest ages to which our knowledge of them extends'.

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An Historical Disquisition Concerning the Knowledge Which the Ancients Had of India

And the Progress of Trade with that Country Prior to the Discovery of the Passage to it by the Cape of Good Hope

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-iv

PREFACE
pp v-x

Contents
pp xi-xii

Maps
pp xiii-xiv

SECTION I - Intercourse with India, from the earliest Times, until the Conquest of Egypt by the Romans
pp 1-42

SECTION II - Intercourse with India, from the Establishment of the Roman Dominion in Egypt, to the Conquest of that Kingdom by the Mahomedans
pp 43-90

SECTION III - Intercourse with India, from the Conquest of Egypt by the Mahomedans, to the Discovery of the Passage by the Cape of Good Hope, and the Establishment of the Portuguese Dominion in the East
pp 91-148

SECTION IV - General Observations
pp 149-176

NOTE and ILLUSTRATIONS
pp 177-252

APPENDIX
pp 253-336

NOTES TO THE APPENDIX
pp 337-364

INDEX
pp 365-375

ERRATA
pp 376-376

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An Historical Disquisition Concerning the Knowledge Which the Ancients Had of India

And the Progress of Trade with that Country Prior to the Discovery of the Passage to it by the Cape of Good Hope

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