Sam Dalrymple

The trials of England’s first ambassador to India

After landing in Surat in 1615, Sir Thomas Roe was studiously ignored, and months passed before he was finally received by the Mughal emperor

James I’s envoy Sir Thomas Roe waited several months before he was finally received at the Mughal court. Painting by William Rothenstein (British school, 19th century). [Alamy] 
issue 11 March 2023
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  • Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire

    Nandini Das

    Bloomsbury, pp. 480, £30

In the beginning, there were two nations. One was a vast, mighty and magnificent empire, brilliantly organised and culturally unified, which dominated a massive swathe of the Earth. The other was an undeveloped, semi-feudal realm, riven by religious factionalism and barely able to feed its illiterate, diseased and stinking masses.

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