The Marathas 1600–1818

Dr Stewart Gordon presents a most comprehensive history of the Maratha Empire.

Stewart Gordon (Author)

9780521033169, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 February 2007

220 pages, 10 maps
22.9 x 15.1 x 1.3 cm, 0.339 kg

"...an intelligent and insightful new synthesis on the Marathas and their polity....a brilliant and compelling reading of the Maratha's political and military enterprise." Frank F. Conlon, American Historical Review

In this book, Dr Stewart Gordon presents a comprehensive history of one of the most colourful and least-understood kingdoms of India: the Maratha Empire. The empire was founded by Shivaji in the mid-seventeenth century, spread across most of India during the following century, and was conquered by the British in the nineteenth century. Using administrative documents of the Maratha polity, family papers and Histories of the Empire, Stewart Gordon explores the origin of the Marathas, their emergence as elite families, patterns of loyalty and strategies for maintaining legitimacy. He traces how the armies developed into European-style infantry and artillery and assesses the economics that funded the polity, especially taxation and credit. Finally the author considers the lasting effects the empire had on administrations, law and trade patterns of Central India, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

List of maps
General editor's preface
Acknowledgements
Glossary
Introduction: historiography and bibliography
1. The geopolitics of Maharashtra
2. Marathas and the Deccan sultanates
3. Shivaji (1630–80) and the Maratha polity
4. Family responses to invasion (1680–1719)
5 Baji Rao I's northern expansion (1720–1740)
6. Conquest to administration (1740–1760)
7. Centripetal forces (1760–1803)
Epilogue (1803–1818)
Conclusions
Index.

Subject Areas: General & world history [HBG]