An empire advances

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. Roe represented a kingdom that was beset by financial woes and deeply conflicted about its identity as a unified "Great Britain." 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 this fascinating history of Roe’s four years in India, Nandini Das offers an insider’s view of Britain in the making. It is a story of palace intrigue, scandal, lotteries, and wagers that unfold as global trade begins to stretch from Russia to Virginia, from West Africa to the Spice Islands of Indonesia.

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