Waqai-i Manazil-i Rum: Tipu Sultan’s Mission to Constantinople

Waqai-I-Manazil-I-Rum, a diary of the embassy sent by Tipu Sultan to Constantinople in 1786, contains an account of the activities of the embassy from the time it left Seringapatam until its departure from Basra to Constantinople. It sheds light on Tipu Sultan’s commercial ambitions in the Persian Gulf and on certain aspects of his administration. It also describes the position of the Indian merchants in the Persian Gulf, the part they played in its economic life, and the social, economic and political conditions of the Persian Gulf territories at the end of the eighteenth century. This invaluable book is, thus, a useful supplement to the European accounts of the period. The waqai is editied by Mohibbul Hasan with detailed notes on persons, place, names, technical terms, and words of non-Persian origin. The introduction describes, as a historical background, the condition of India and the Persian Gulf during the second half of the 18th century, and summarises the work with a translation of the accounts of Masqat, Abu Shahr, Basra, and some of the islands of the Persian Gulf.