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

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Nandini Das is the author of Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire (Bloomsbury, 2023)

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Authors

Rhiannon DaviesSection editor, BBC History Magazine

Rhiannon Davies is section editor for BBC History Magazine and our Tudor ambassador, writing a fortnightly newsletter in which she shares the latest Tudor news, anniversaries and content with her audience. She also regularly appears on the award-winning HistoryExtra podcast.

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