Foreign travellers in Indian History

(UPSC “HUNT” Series - Part 1)

Name (Nationality) Time Period Visited during the reign of Significance

(Dynasty/Ruler)
Deimachos (Greek) 320-273 BC Mauryan (Bindusara)
Megasthenes (Greek) 302-298 BC Mauryan (Chandragupta Maurya) First person to describe ancient India

Ambassador of Seleucus Nicator.

Described India in his book Indika.

Megasthenes also describes India's two major rivers

Sindhu and Ganga.

Ptolemy (Greece) 130 AD Wrote “The geography of India”

Fa-Hien (Chinese) 405-411 AD Gupta (Chandragupta II) First Buddhist pilgrim to visit India

His voyage is described in his travelogue “Record of

Buddhist Kingdom”

Hiuen Tsang (Chinese) 630-645 AD Pushyabhuti (Harshavardhana) Studied about the Caste System
I-Tsing (Chinese) 671-695 AD (Visited India in connection with Buddhism)
Al-Masudi (Arab) 956 AD (Has given account of India in his book
‘Muruj- ul-Zehab’)
Al-Biruni (Khwarazm) 1024-1030 AD (He came to India along with Mahmud of 1st Muslim scholar to study India.
Ghazni)
Wrote the book ‘Tahqiq-i-Hind’.

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Marco Polo (Italian) 1292-1294 AD Pandyan (Madverman, Kulasekhara) Visited Southern India during the reign of Rudramma Devi
of the Kakatiyas.
Ibn Battuta (Moroccan) 1333-1347 AD Tughlaq (Muhammad-Bin- Tughlaq) Appointed as judge by Tughlaq.

His book - The Travels & Rehla

Shihabuddin al-Umari 1348 AD At-Ta’rif bi-al-mustalah ash-sharif
(Damascus)
Nicolo De Conti (Venetian) 1420-1421 AD Vijayanagara (Devaraya I)

Abdur Razzaq (Persian) 1443-1444 AD Vijayanagara (Devaraya II) Persian traveller, Ambassador of Shahrukh of Timurid
dynasty.

His book entitled ‘Matla-us-Sadain wa Majma-ul-Bahrain’

described the life and events in Calicut under the
Zamorin and also of the Ancient City of Vijayanagar at
Hampi.

Athanasius Nikitin (Russian) 1470-1474 AD Bahmani (Muhammad III)

Domingo Paes (Portuguese) 1520-1522 AD Vijayanagara (Krishnadeva Raya)

Duarte Barbosa (Portuguese) 1500-1516 AD Vijayanagara (Krishnadeva Raya) Barbosa studied Malayalam and has written about the caste
culture
Domingo Paes (Portuguese) 1520-1522 AD Visited the court of Krishnadeva Raya of Covers in detail Vijayanagara’s military structure called
Tuluva dynasty of Vijayanagar empire. Malankara system and the yearly royal Durga festival.

Fernao Nuniz (Portuguese) 1535-1537 AD Tuluva dynasty (Achyutdeva Raya) Give a glimpse into the Mahanavami festival.

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 He admires the extravagant jewels worn by the ladies of
the court and the thousands of women who serve the
king.

John Hughen Von Linschoten 1583 Given a valuable account of the social and economic life of
(Dutch) South India.

Ralph Fitch (British traveller) 1585 Visited Akbar’s court in 1585 AD He visited Bihar in 1587. He travelled to India through the
land route.

William Hawkins (British) 1608-1611 AD Mughal Emperor (Jahangir) Britain’s King James I had sent Hawkins as ambassador.

Led the first expedition of the English East India

Company to India in 1609.

Did not succeed in getting Jahangir’s permission to start a

factory
Thomas Coryat 1612-1617 AD Jahangir

Pal Canning 1615-1625 Jahangir

Sir Thomas Roe (British) 1615-1619 AD Mughal Emperor (Jahangir) Ambassador of James I, king of England.

Came to seek protection for an English factory at Surat.

Franciso Palsaer(Dutch) 1620 -1627 Gave a vivid account of the flourishing trade at Surat,
Ahmadabad, Broach, Cambay, Lahore, Multan etc.

John Fryer (British) 1627-1681 Reign of Shahjahan.

Peter Mundy(Italian) 1630-1634 AD Mughal Emperor (Shah Jahan)

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Jean Baptiste Tavernier 1638- 1643 AD Mughal Emperor (Shah Jahan) Between 1638 and 1643 AD, during his second voyage, he
(French) came to India and travelled as far as Agra before arriving in
the Kingdom of Golconda.

In his book, he goes into great detail on diamonds and

Indian diamond mines.

He is famous for discovering and purchasing the Blue

Diamond, which he later sold to Louis XIV of France.

Nicolao Manucci (Italian) 1653- 1708 AD Timurid dynasty (Dara Shikoh)

Francois Bernier (French) 1656-1717 AD French physician and Philosopher.

Visited India during the reign of Shah Jahan.

Francois Bernier was the physician of Dara Shikoh.

Jean de Thevenot (French) 1666 Aurangzeb Given an account of cities like Ahmedabad, Cambay,
Aurangabad and Golconda.

Gemelli Careri (Italian) 1695 Landed at Daman. Remarks on the Mughal emperor’s military organisation
and administration

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