Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter 1
2. Table of Contents 8
3. List of Illustrations 9
4. Acknowledgements 11
5. Introduction The Companies in Asia 13
6. Part 1 Diplomacy
7. 1. Scramble for the spices 25
8. 2. Diplomacy in a provincial setting 55
9. 3. Contacting Japan 79
10. Part 2 Trade
11. 4. Surat and Bombay 101
12. 5. The English and Dutch East India Companies and Indian merchants in Surat in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 125
13. Part 3 Violence
14. 6. Empire by Treaty? 153
15. 7. ‘Great help from Japan’ 179
16. 8. The East India Company and the foundation of Persian Naval Power in the Gulf under Nader Shah, 1734-47 211
17. Epilog. 9. The Dutch East India Company in global history 239
18. Index 257