Courting India

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This work offers a profound and groundbreaking perspective on a pivotal moment in the early seventeenth-century British encounter with India. Traditionally, the narrative of the British Empire's rise has overshadowed the uncertainty surrounding its initial interactions with India. In September 1615, Thomas Roe, Britain’s first ambassador to the Mughal Empire, arrived on the western coast of India and entered the court of Jahangir, a ruler of immense wealth and power who regarded Roe with skepticism. While London thrived during the Renaissance, it faced financial strife and unstable power dynamics. The ensuing events in India marked a historical turning point, characterized by palace intrigue, scandal, and mutual misunderstanding, as global trade networks expanded from Russia to Virginia and West Africa to the Spice Islands. Through a meticulous examination of Indian and British records, alongside insights into the art, literature, and cultural landscapes of both Elizabethan London and Imperial India, the author reveals the complexities of cultural and national collision at a personal level. This narrative challenges conventional views of Britain’s early empire and serves as a poignant reminder of the distortions often found in the historical accounts of the victors.