Description

In 1832 U.S. president Andrew Jackson, acting on the advice of Secretary of the Navy Levi Woodbury, dispatched Edmund Roberts as a “special agent of the government,” empowered to negotiate treaties of amity and commerce with countries in Asia. The objective was to expand trade between these countries and the United States. Between early 1832 and May 1834, Roberts circumnavigated the globe in the U.S. Navy sloop Peacock. In the course of his journey, he negotiated agreements with the sultan of Muscat (Oman) and the king of Siam ...