Thomas Bowrey

Thomas Bowrey (d. 1713) was a British merchant sailor. In the 1670s and 1680s, he sailed around the East Indies.

The historian Richard Davenport-Hines lists Bowrey as the first Westerner to provide a written description of the experience of consuming cannabis in the form of bhang.

Bowrey also compiled the first Malay-to-English dictionary, and wrote a book of his experiences, A Geographical Account of Countries Round the Bay of Bengal. In 1688, he travelled back to England. On 17 September 1691, he was married to Mary, his cousin, and settled in Wapping. He continued in his support for ventures to the East Indies and owned [or was owed?] shares of many ships.

A Geographical Account of Countries Round the Bay of Bengal, 1669 to 1679 at the Internet Archive

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