In April 1608, when a ship named Hector-belonging to the English East India Company-arrived on the shores of Surat in present-day Gujarat, no one foresaw how some of the merchants on board would go on to alter the course of history in India. From the moment of its docking to the Revolt of 1857, a succession of its eminent passengers helped transform the Company from a trading collective to a colonizing juggernaut. In Governors of Empire, historian Amar Farooqui traces the journeys each of these men undertook, from arriving on Indian shores, through acquiring territories using equal parts trade agreements and political deceit, all the way to returning to Britain considerably wealthier than before.