List of Important Foreign Envoys Who Visited Ancient India [Updated] (2024)

FAQs

Which foreign travelers visited ancient time in India? ›

The important Foreign travellers who visited India were Deimachus, Megasthenes, Fa Hein, Hiuen Tsang, I-Tsing, Al Masudi, Al Beruni (Abu Rehman Mahamud), Macro Polo, Ibn Batuta, Nicolo Conii, Abdul Razak, Duarte Barbosa, William Hawkins, Thomas Roe, Francois Bernier, etc.

Megasthenes, ambassador of Seleucus Nikator was the first foreign traveller to India. India has witnessed the visit of great foreign envoys like Al-Masudi, Fa-Hien, Hiuen-Tsang, Marco Polo and Abdul Razak, etc. Read on to get the list of important foreign travellers in Indian history for the IAS Exam.

Fa - Hien is the famous Chinese pilgrim who visited India during the reign of Chandragupta II. Fa - Hien started from China in 399 A.D and covering all the way through the deserts came up to Peshawar.

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to come to India. Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese explorer was the first European to reach India on the Malabar coast through the Atlantic Ocean. He discovered the route to India through Cape of Good Hope in the year 1498.

Faxien, also spelt as Fa-Hien, was the first Chinese traveller to visit India in the early fifth century. The purpose of his visit was to look for texts sacred to Buddhism.

Ibn Batuta belonged to Morocco, Africa and traveled to India in the fourteenth century. He is best known as a traveler and explorer, whose account documents his travels and excursions over a period of almost thirty years. Arriving in the city of Delhi in 1334, he won employment as a judge under Muhammad Tughluq.

Nicolo Conti, was an Italian traveller who visited India during medieval period.

Tavernier, the French traveller who visited India during the Mughal period described about the social life in India.

Manucci's Visit: Niccolao Manucci was an Italian traveller who visited India in the 17th century. He arrived in India in 1653, during the reign of Shahjahan.

When did foreigners first come to India? ›

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive in India and the last to leave. In c. 1498 CE, Vasco da Gama of Portugal discovered a new sea route from Europe to India. He sailed around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope and reached Calicut.

Several hundred Chinese pilgrims travelled to India between the 5th and the 12th centuries, seeking authentic teachings and authoritative texts in the Buddhist homeland. The most famous are Faxian, Xuanzang, and Yijing, who left written accounts of their travels.

Nicolo Conti, an Italian, was at Vijayanagara in about 1420, just after the accession of Devaraya I. The first known foreign traveller, he mentions the fortifications of the city and the thousands of men employed in the army of the rulers.

Francois Bernier was a French doctor who came to India during the reign of Aurangzeb as well.

Al-Biruni was a traveller from Central Asia, who reached India. He noted in his travelogue that people had to pay tax to farm cereals, graze cattle, and even trade.