216. Seeds of British India: England’s First Ambassador to the Mughal Court (Ep 2)

What do you buy for a man who has everything? 

Thomas Roe is tasked with wooing the Emperor Jahangir. On March 6th 1615, he sets sail from England on the 8 month voyage to the Mughal Empire, home to one fifth of the world’s population. He has been sent by James I and the East India Company on a diplomatic mission to improve trading relations. The English envy the fabulously rich Emperor Jahangir whose personal wealth is ten times that of the national revenue of England at the time. Expecting to be greeted as a diplomat, Roe arrives in India and is forced to undergo a customs check. He is ill and accompanied by a badly behaved cook and a drunk chaplain. He hasn’t even reached court in Ajmer and everything seems to be going wrong. Will he succeed in his mission to win over Jahangir?

Listen as Anita and William are joined by Nandini Das, author of Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire, to discuss the grumpy ambassador’s stay at Jahangir’s court and how it shaped the East India Company.

Twitter: @Empirepoduk

Email: empirepoduk@gmail.com

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Assistant Producers: Anouska Lewis & Alice Horrell

Producer: Callum Hill

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn

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