The Travels of Dean Mahomet by Dean Mahomet

'A richly documented portrait and a model of historical detective work.'Dane Kennedy, University of Nebraska' Placing the Travels in context, Michael Fisher's introduction and biographical essay trace the author's life in India and Britain.

His auto-ethnographic account of his family's domestic and religious customs, and of this crucial period in the violent establishment of British colonialism, stands as an important counterexample to any view of eighteenth-century English literature as the sole preserve of Europeans. He concluded with his voyage to Ireland in 1784. He began this memoir, which was originally published in 1794, with his wrenching departure from his childhood home among the Indian Muslim elite. Vividly recounting his travels as a camp follower and then as a subaltern officer in the British East India Company's army, Dean Mahomet - an early Indian emigrant to Britain - presents us with the first book ever written by an Indian in English. Mahomet's account of life in late 18th-century India and later as an emigrant to England is a fascinating look at a resourceful, multidimensional individual. An Indian, Dean Mahomet recalls his years as camp-follower, servant, and subaltern officer in the East India Company's army (1769 to 1784).

The Travels of Dean Mahomet by Dean Mahomet