Early American Visitors to India
Elihu Yale is one of the earliest documented British Americans to visit India. Born in the state of Connecticut, he went to India in 1672 to work for the East India Company. He rapidly rose through the ranks and became the Governor of Chennai in 1687 and held that position until 1692 and was the chief administrator of St. George Fort at Chennai. While being a representative of the East India Company, he conducted secret trades with the Chennai merchants against the company regulations and amassed a big fortune.
This was the time when the East India Company was engaged in the illegal slave trade in Chennai. This occurred during the reign of Yale, and the exact nature of his involvement in the trade is unclear. Some sources state that he himself was a slave owner and trader, while the other sources state that as a minimum he managed the slave trade without owning slaves – This is like saying someone is only selling drugs, but they do not use them!
Yale also owned the fort of Cuddlaore, and his tenure at Chennai was not exactly popular with the citizens of Chennai as he levied high taxes on the traders which led to several revolts. Yale crushed all the revolts. Yale was also notorious for arresting and trying Chennai citizens and once hanged a boy who ran away with his horse.
Yale eventually returned to India and continued his business dealings with the Chennai diamond and silk merchants and his fortune continued to grow.
He set up a large endowment in his name which eventually led to the creation of Yale University. (Yale University has a Tamil department)
There is not much documentation regarding who else visited India from the US right after this time. Perhaps The Americans were too busy fighting the British on their own soil? After the American War of Independence a few years, later the Ship “The United States of Philadelphia” arrived at the Port of Puducherry a day after Christmas with a 40 men crew. The Americans presumed Puducherry to be a French territory and understandably would rather do business with the French than with the British. The British however were still working on the Treaty of Paris that would eventually transfer the ownership of Puducherry to the French. But, when the Americans came Puducherry was still under the control of the British. The Americans came with several cases of Wine and fine Virginia Tobacco hoping to lure the citizens of Puducherry and the French but could not sell much as the British prevented them from selling to the local populace. The captain of the shop managed to visit Chennai and meet the Nawab of Arcot, and this caused initial concern among the British as they thought the Americans were working with the Nawab to overthrow the British. Eventually, the British realized that the Americans were not a threat and let them leave the city.
Furber, Holden. “The Beginnings of American Trade with India, 1784-1812.” The New England Quarterly 11, no. 2 (1938): 235–65. https://doi.org/10.2307/360708.
