Courting India - England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire

Zusatztext Nandini Das's rich, absorbing account of a critical juncture of global history, the Englishman Sir Thomas Roe's embassy to the court of the Mughal emperor Jahangir, charts both a remarkable personal narrative and the prehistory of colonial expansion, told from the perspective of an imperial go-between. This is a fascinating story of early modern political and cultural transactions, brilliantly researched and attractively written. It is destined to become the classic treatment of its subject. Informationen zum Autor Nandini Das Klappentext A profound and ground-breaking new history of one of the most important encounters in the history of colonialism: the British arrival in India in the early seventeenth century. _______________ ' A triumph of writing and scholarship. It is hard to imagine anyone ever bettering Das's account of this part of the story ' - William Dalrymple, Financial Times ' A fascinating glimpse of the origins of the British Empire . . . drawn in dazzling technicolour ' - Spectator 'Beautifully written and masterfully researched, this has the makings of a classic' - Peter Frankopan _______________ *A Financial Times Book to Read in 2023* When Thomas Roe arrived in India in 1616 as James I's first ambassador to the Mughal Empire, the English barely had a toehold in the subcontinent. Their understanding of South Asian trade and India was sketchy at best, and, to the Mughals, they were minor players on a very large stage. Roe was representing a kingdom that was beset by financial woes and deeply conflicted about its identity as a unified 'Great Britain' under the Stuart monarchy. Meanwhile, the court he entered in India was wealthy and cultured, its dominion widely considered to be one of the greatest and richest empires of the world.In Nandini Das's fascinating history of Roe's four years in India, she offers an insider's view of a Britain in the making, a country whose imperial seeds were just being sown. It is a story of palace intrigue and scandal, lotteries and wagers that unfolds as global trade begins to stretch from Russia to Virginia, from West Africa to the Spice Islands of Indonesia.A major debut that explores the art, literature, sights and sounds of Jacobean London and Imperial India, Courting India reveals Thomas Roe's time in the Mughal Empire to be a turning point in history - and offers a rich and radical challenge to our understanding of Britain and its early empire. Vorwort A profound and ground-breaking new history of one of the most important encounters in the history of colonialism: the British arrival in India in the early seventeenth century. Zusammenfassung A profound and ground-breaking new history of one of the most important encounters in the history of colonialism: the British arrival in India in the early seventeenth century. _______________ ' A triumph of writing and scholarship. It is hard to imagine anyone ever bettering Das's account of this part of the story ' - William Dalrymple, Financial Times ' A fascinating glimpse of the origins of the British Empire . . . drawn in dazzling technicolour ' - Spectator 'Beautifully written and masterfully researched, this has the makings of a classic' - Peter Frankopan _______________ *A Financial Times Book to Read in 2023* When Thomas Roe arrived in India in 1616 as James I's first ambassador to the Mughal Empire, the English barely had a toehold in the subcontinent. Their understanding of South Asian trade and India was sketchy at best, and, to the Mughals, they were minor players on a very large stage. Roe was representing a kingdom that was beset by financial woes and deeply conflicted about its identity as a unified 'Great Britain' under the Stuart monarchy. Meanwhile, the court he...

About the author

Nandini Das is professor of Early Modern Literature and Culture in the English faculty at the University of Oxford. Brought up in India, she was educated at the Jadavpur University in Kolkata, before moving to England for further study. Among other books, she is co-editor of The Cambridge History of Travel Writing. A BBC New Generation Thinker, she regularly presents television and radio programmes, including Tales of Tudor Travel: The Explorer's Handbook on BBC4.

Summary

WINNER OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY BOOK PRIZE
A SPECTATOR, WATERSTONES, BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE, PROSPECT AND HISTORY TODAY BOOK OF THE YEAR
A profound and ground-breaking new history of one of the most important encounters in the history of colonialism: the British arrival in India in the early seventeenth century.

'A triumph of writing and scholarship. It is hard to imagine anyone ever bettering Das's account of this part of the story' - William Dalrymple, Financial Times
'A fascinating glimpse of the origins of the British Empire . . . drawn in dazzling technicolour' - Spectator
'Beautifully written and masterfully researched, this has the makings of a classic' - Peter Frankopan

SHORTLISTED FOR THE POL ROGER DUFF COOPER PRIZE
LONGLISTED FOR THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE HWA CROWN AWARDS

When Thomas Roe arrived in India in 1616 as James I's first ambassador to the Mughal Empire, the English barely had a toehold in the subcontinent. Their understanding of South Asian trade and India was sketchy at best, and, to the Mughals, they were minor players on a very large stage. Roe was representing a kingdom that was beset by financial woes and deeply conflicted about its identity as a unified 'Great Britain' under the Stuart monarchy. Meanwhile, the court he entered in India was wealthy and cultured, its dominion widely considered to be one of the greatest and richest empires of the world.

In Nandini Das's fascinating history of Roe's four years in India, she offers an insider's view of a Britain in the making, a country whose imperial seeds were just being sown. It is a story of palace intrigue and scandal, lotteries and wagers that unfolds as global trade begins to stretch from Russia to Virginia, from West Africa to the Spice Islands of Indonesia.

A major debut that explores the art, literature, sights and sounds of Jacobean London and Imperial India, Courting India reveals Thomas Roe's time in the Mughal Empire to be a turning point in history - and offers a rich and radical challenge to our understanding of Britain and its early empire.

Additional text

Courting India is ostensibly a study of Sir Thomas Roe's time as the East India Company's representative to the Mughal court from 1615 to 1619, but it is so much more than that . . . [Nandini's] book makes us rethink the idea that Britain was always dominant in India

Product details

• Authors: Nandini Das, DAS NANDINI, Das Nandini Das
• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.03.2023
• EAN: 9781526615657
• ISBN: 978-1-5266-1565-7
• No. of pages: 464
• Dimensions: 155 mm x 235 mm x 35 mm
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > History > Regional and national histories; British Empire, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Colonialism & Post-Colonialism, HISTORY / World, India, General & world history, HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / General, Diplomacy, Early 17th century c 1600 to c 1650