Thomas Salmon (1679 - January 20, 1767) was a largely self-educated English historian, who spent time living in both the East and West Indies. Salmon was born in Meppershall, Bedfordshire. His father (also Thomas) was a cleric and musical scholar while his older brother Nathaneal was a Classicist, but was known more for his accounts of travel and folklore throughout England than his work on Roman history. Other details on the life of Thomas Salmon (the younger) are scant. After his seemingly many travels throughout the world, he lived in Cambridge and may have studied there, as his older brother had, as well as running a coffeeshop, before moving to London. Salmon participated in Lord Anson’s circumnavigation (1740 - 1744) and went on to publish extensively in the fields of geography and travel, contributing to world gazetteers, geographical grammars, histories, and narrative accounts. Most of the details of his life come from the clergyman and antiquarian William Cole (1714 - 1782), who was Salmon's friend.
