Admiral J. A. Ballard's study of the British Navy presents the dramatic drama of the European competition for dominance in the Indian Ocean, in which India was the most valuable prize. Of the four European powers - Portugal, Holland, France and England - it was the British who eventually became the rulers of the Indian Ocean, and therefore, to one degree or another, of all South Asian countries. Based on original documents, the author consistently sets out how contacts between Europe and Asia were established and developed from the time of the first maritime trade and military expeditions in the Indian Ocean until the beginning of the 19th century. and at what cost the British maintained their dominance here for two centuries.