Important Foreign Travellers to India

Foreign Travellers	Period of Stay	Description
Megasthenes	302 B.C. – 298 B.C.	He was the ambassador of Seleucus. He visited India during the supremacy of Chandragupta Maurya. Chandragupta was known to the Greeks as Sandrocottus. He was also the author of the book ‘Indica’.
Deimachos	320-273 BC	Greek Ambassador Come as ambassador to Bindusāra or Amitraghāta, the son and successor of Chandragupta Maurya. He was sent by Antiochus I (the son of Seleucus Nikator).
Ptolemy	130 A.D.	From Greece Geographer Wrote “the geography of India”-which describes ancient Indian geography.
Fa-Hien	405 A.D. – 411 A.D.	He was a Chinese Buddhist monk. He visited India during the reign of Vikramaditya (Chandragupta II). He is known for his visit to Lumbini. His voyage is described in his travelogue “Record of Buddhist Kingdoms”. ‘Foguoji’ is one of his famous books.
Huien Tsang	630 A.D. – 645 A.D.	He was a Chinese traveller. He visited India during the supremacy of Harsha Vardhana. Si-yu-ki or ‘The Records of the Western World’ was written by him.
I-TSING	671-695 AD	He was a Chinese traveller. Visited India in connection with Buddhism. His work includes biographies of many important monks.
Al-Masudi	957 A.D.	Al-Masudi was An Arab traveller. In his book Muruj-al-Zahab, he has explained his journey.
Alberuni/Abu al-Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni	1024 A.D. – 1030 A.D.	He was a Persian scholar. He accompanied Mahmud of Ghazni and wrote a book titled ‘Tahqiq-i-hind’. He is considered the father of Indology.
Marco Polo	1292 A.D. – 1294 A.D.	He was a European traveller. He visited Southern India during the reign of Rudramma Devi of the Kakatiyas.
Ibn Battuta	1333 A.D. – 1347 A.D.	He was a Moroccan traveller. He visited India during the rule of Mohammed Bin Tughlaq. Rihla is a book written by Ibn Batuta.
Shihabuddin al-Umari	1348 A.D.	Came from Damascus He gives a vivid account of India in his book “ Masalik albsar fi-mamalik al-amsar”
Nicolo Conti	1420 A.D.– 1421 A.D.	He was an Italian merchant. He visited India during the reign of Deva Raya I of Vijayanagar.
Abdur Razzaq	1443-1444 A.D.	Persian traveller, Ambassador of Shahrukh of Timurid dynasty. Came during the rule of Devraya II of the Vijaynagar Empire. Stayed in India at the palace of the Zamorin of Kozhikode, Calicut 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 Vijayanagara at Hampi.
Athanasius Nikitin	1470- 1474 A.D.	Russian merchant Visited South India Describes the condition of the Bahmani kingdom under Muhammad III (1463-82). His narrative “The journey beyond 3 seas”
Duarte Barbosa	AD 1500	Portuguese voyager Stayed in India for 16 years, most of the time in Kerala and in the Vijayanagara dynasty. Barbosa studied Malayalam and has written about the caste culture that prevailed here as well as about social life. He wrote the ‘Book of Duarte Barbosa.’
John Hughen Von Linschotten	1583 A.D.	Dutch traveller Given a valuable account of the social and economic life of South India.
Domingo Paes	1520-1522 A.D.	Portuguese traveller. Visited the court of Krishnadeva Raya of the Tuluv dynasty of the Vijayanagar empire.
Captain William Hawkins	1608 A.D. – 1611 A.D.	Captain William Hawkins led the first expedition of the English East India Company to India in 1609. He visited India during the reign of Jahangir. He carried a personal letter from King James I of England. He did not succeed in getting Jahangir’s permission to start a factory.
Fernao Nuniz	1535-1537 A.D.	Portuguese merchant Came during the rule of Achyutdeva Raya of the Tuluva dynasty of Vijayanagar Empire Wrote a history of the empire from its earliest times of the closing years of Achyutdeva Raya’s reign
Thomas Roe	1615 A.D. – 1619 A.D.	Sir Thomas Roe was an English diplomat. He visited India during the reign of Jahangir in 1615. He came to seek protection for an English factory at Surat. His “Journal of the Mission to the Mughal Empire” is a treasured contribution to the history of India.
Francois Bernier	1656 A.D. – 1668A.D.	He was a French physician and traveller. He was in India from 1656-1668 He visited India during the reign of Shah Jahan. He was physician to Prince Dara Shikoh and later was attached to the court of Aurangzeb ‘Travels in the Mughal Empire’ was written by Francois Bernier. The book mainly talks about the rules of Dara Shikoh and Aurangzeb.

Leave a Comment Cancel reply