ABSTRACT
Philosophers and historians in Edinburgh and Glasgow are surrounded with evidence that social structures change in relation to economic circumstances. Historical writing, in its traditional form of chronological narrative concerning statesmen and significant political events, is a valued reference in late-eighteenth-century cultural interpretation. To describing common social and political aspects of Eastern cultures, travelers offered detailed observations in areas of their particular interests, whether in botany, the arts, or the complications of trade in the East. The travel accounts of many merchants and diplomats during the late eighteenth century indicate the actual complexities of global politics either preceding or outside of the direct colonial involvement of European states. With the expansion of Britain's global trade, the cycle of growth and ultimate decline of empires are of great interest to British writers during the late eighteenth century. Late-eighteenth-century writers argued that the decline of empires of the East is the result of the excessive luxury and the corruption of Oriental despots.
