This volume has shown the multifaceted nature of the German discourse on India in the late eighteenth century. At its centre were the two Hanoverian regiments that sent thousands of German soldiers to India and produced a not inconsiderable volume of published writing on the subcontinent. These regiments are evidence of the considerable involvement of Germans in early modern colonialism. The first chapter showed that this involvement was significant far beyond the crucial role of Germans as servants of the Dutch VOC and was present also in North America and French and British India. The heavy reliance on non-national European manpower, among them many Germans, supplies an additional aspect of hybridity to early modern colonialism that was especially evident for trading companies.

The main interest of the book has been the perceptions of these German agents of colonialism and its significance for the more general German discourse. A central argument of the book has been that the hybrid character of the early modern colonialism was reflected in the perceptions of the German participants. We have seen that the fact that these regiments were Hanoverians did not in itself mean that the soldiers and even officers felt a particular commitment to British interests.