The first English ambassador arrived in Mughal India in 1616, desperate to establish a trade treaty. But, as Nandini Das reveals, England’s hopes would soon be shattered
In 1616, when the first English embassy was installed in Mughal India, England was a minor player on the global stage rather than a leading actor. Nandini Das explores what the challenges of this embassy can tell us about England’s unequal relationship with India at the time – and reveals how the future dominance of the British empire was far from a foregone conclusion
Nandini Das is the author of Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire (Bloomsbury, 2023)