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Courting India: Seventeenth-Century England, Mughal India, and the Origins of Empire

byNandini Das

Nandini Das reconstructs England's first official embassy to Mughal India through Sir Thomas Roe's seventeenth-century mission to Emperor Jahangir's court. The English arrived as uncertain petitioners seeking trade, not masters of an inevitable empire, and struggled to understand a wealthier, more powerful political culture. Diplomacy, gifts, translation, religion, commerce, and personal frustration reveal the imbalance of the encounter. Das uses Roe's experience to challenge triumphalist origin stories, showing that British expansion grew from negotiation, dependence, misunderstanding, and contingency rather than a clear plan for colonial domination.

Publisher

Pegasus Books

Publication date

2023

Format

Print edition

Pages

—

ISBN

9781639363223