This thesis tries to demonstrate the value of reading primary sources within the context of their cultural history instead of interpretting them through a modern day lense. It did so by stuyding...Show moreThis thesis tries to demonstrate the value of reading primary sources within the context of their cultural history instead of interpretting them through a modern day lense. It did so by stuyding the works of Ibn Battuta and Ma Huan two writers of travelogues from distinctly different cultures that both traveled around the Indian Ocean prior to the arrival of Europeans in the region.Show less
This thesis focuses on the acculturation of European mercenaries in the armies of Post-Mughal successor states at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. The thesis takes William...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the acculturation of European mercenaries in the armies of Post-Mughal successor states at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. The thesis takes William Dalrymple's "White Mughals" as a departure point and uses sources left behind by the mercenaries to test his hypothesis that these mercenaries generally acculturated into the societies of the post-Mughal successor states. However, through the analysis of these sources, this thesis argues that there was no acculturation to the degree Dalrymple argued present. Moreover, this thesis argues that there was an active segregation from Indians by most of the mercenaries, with an economic motive.Show less
