Monsoon Traders tells the story of the Company over three centuries, covering its origins, the maritime experience, encounters with indigenous peoples, goods traded, wealth created, technology, shipbuilding, conflict and conquest, piracy, rebellion and empire. The book is illustrated throughout with images from the National Maritime Museum in London, which has an important but hitherto under-researched collection of objects relating to the Company, including fine art, objets d'art, maps, charts, navigational instruments, ship models and weapons. Together with expert texts by three leading historians in the field, these combine to tell the story of the East India Company's encounter with the Indian Ocean and the effects this had on both Asian and British societies, people and politics. AUTHOR: Huw Bowen is Professor of Modern History, University of Wales, Swansea. Robert Blyth is Curator, Imperial and Maritime History at the National Maritime Museum, London. John McAleer is Curator of 18th-Century Imperial and Maritime History at the National Maritime Museum, London. 115 colour & 3 b/w illustrations.