Travels in the Mogul Empire

The first modern English translation of a book on travel in seventeenth-century India reasserts its interest for imperial Britain.

François Bernier (Author), Irving Brock (Translated by)

9781108073288, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 19 May 2011

356 pages
21.6 x 14 x 2 cm, 0.45 kg

The first English version of Bernier's 1670 work since its initial translation from the French in 1672, Irving Brock's 1826 edition vastly improved his predecessor's work. François Bernier (1625?–1688) trained as a physician at Montpellier and left France for Syria in 1654, travelling to Egypt and finally to India ('Hindustan'), where he spent twelve years as the court physician to the Great Mogul Aurangzeb. Celebrated and influential, his Travels shaped European opinions and knowledge of India. Brock provides a biography in his preface to Volume 1, where he also outlines the volumes' contents. Volume 1 narrates civil war, describes the government and finances of the court, and the army, and closes with detailed descriptions of Delhi and Agra. Including Brock's many interventions to relate the narrative to imperial Britain, this work will be of interest to scholars of post-colonialism, of early modern travel and of Asian and European encounters.

Preface
Travels in the Mogul Empire.

Subject Areas: Historical geography [HBTP]