The half century between 1783 and 1833 witnessed the creation of British India. Through his writings, the leading East India Company servant, Sir John Malcolm helped to shape the historical thought of British empire-building in India. Comparing Malcolm with contemporaries such as James Mill, this book uses his works to examine the intellectual history of British expansion in South Asia, shedding light upon the history of orientalism, the origins of indirect rule and the formation of British power in southern and western India. It presents Malcolm as one of the most prolific and influential imperial ideologues of the century before the Indian Uprising of 1857.