Travellers In The Golden Realm: A Review

England and India, India and England, two sides of two different coins, intricately linked through centuries of colonialism. That is the narrative that is often put about both by British and Indian historians, but as Lubaaba Al-Azami shows in her new book Travellers In The Golden Realm, this was far from the case.

Indeed, as Al-Azami shows throughout her book, the English came to India seeking trade, starting from the time of Elizabeth I, their desire was to trade in certain goods and then move onto lands of Molucca further east to gain spices. However, English arrogance and refusal to truly understand where they stood in the pecking order frustrated their progress.

This is most ably shown by the examples of Sir Thomas Roe and William Norris, two men who were sent as ambassadors of their respective monarchs and singularly failed to understand the dynamics of the court and the monarch they were going to court. For Roe that meant a four year ambassadorship ended in failure and for Norris it ended in his death.

Throughout the book, Al-Azami uses the source material and her own brilliant analysis to create an image of a body of people so out of their depth one would find them sad if they were children. She goes on to show how through their rivalries with the Portuguese and the Dutch and internal rivalries with different factions in England and the East India Company, the English kept harming themselves.

The final touch comes in the epilogue, where Al-Azami highlights just how insane the received wisdom of the British Empire in India being inevitable, truly is. The British benefited from luck and circumstance more than the tides of history and had things gone differently—Aurangzeb deciding to expel the East India Company for instance—the British would never have had a chance to do the things they did. 

In short, this book is well-researched and brilliantly written. Al-Azami faces up to the tough questions with panache and grace. This book is a must have for anyone wanting to learn more about Mughal India and England’s initial interactions.

Travellers In The Golden Realm is out now via John Murray.