Ralph Fitch

Ralph Fitch (1550 – 1611) was a gentleman, a merchant of London and one of the earliest British travellers and merchants to visit Mesopotamia, the Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean, South Asia & Southeast Asia including the court of Akbar the Great (Mughal emperor). At first he was no chronicler but he did eventually write descriptions of the Southeast Asia he saw in 1583–1591, and upon his return to England, in 1591, became a valuable consultant for the English East India Company.