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charged with the special duty o protecting English shipping and English
interests rom attacks by the Dutch, Still and in spite o the treaty o deense
the wto nations rivalyr actions continued until 1667 when the English actoyr
was closed in Bantam, his action put an end to a phase in the East lndia
ompany activities in the East.

he English in the ul.

A١١ the time the English and Dutch were patraking in deadly rivalyr in the
Eastern lslands the histoirc ight against the Potruguese was proceeding
practically without interruption. hough heavily beaten with some o her best
centers o trade captured, her commerce crippled and her presitge
shattered7 Potrugal ought on with all the energy o despai.r Driven out o the
Eastern Seas by the Dutch ships she concentrated her resources on the
deense o her possession in lndia oa. oa was no mean cit.y It was only
one o several impotrant possessions that Potrugal then owned in this region
like ochin, annanore, olombo, elyon, Janapatam, Hormuz, ombroon
and Bahrain. At a veyr early stage ollowing their irst ivsit to Surat the English
turned the attention to the Persian uI rade. hey looked at the
uI as a channel or the prosecution o Eastern trade.

East lndia ompany s earliest venture was probably Sir Robetr Shilre,y a
gentleman adventurer who, or a good many years at the opening o the
seventeenth centuyr igured on the Diplomatic stage in Europe as
Ambassador to Shah Abbas the 1" Robetr Shirley was a resourceul man
and soon won his way to avour by the measures he introduced or the re­
organisation o the Persian Army on European lines. ١٦ 1607 he had
practically adopted a Persian domicile by maryring the daughter o a
ircassian noble who was one o the Shahs principle oicers, ١٦ 16- Robetr
Shirley was employed by the Shah on a dilpomatic mission to hte coutr o
ing James. ١٦ 1615 he was back in Persia but was sent by Shah Abbas or
a resh mission in Europe,(Potrugal, Spain and later England). lle
represented the Shah in Europe or 1 years but on returning to Persia was
told that the Shah had no utrher use or his services. He was intensely
motriied, sickened and died. His remains were, in the irst instance buried
under his doorstep in ehran but were later ehumed by his wie, taken to
Rome and buried in the hurch o Santa aira Dellascala. His wie entered
the convent attached to the church on quitting the East.

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