Before the East India Company and before the British Empire, England was a pariah state. Seeking better fortunes, 16th- and 17th-century merchants, pilgrims and outcasts ventured to the kingdom of the mighty Mughals of India, attempting to sell coarse woollen broadcloth along the silk roads; playing courtiers in the Mughal palaces in pursuit of love; or simply touring the sub-continent in search of an elephant to ride. Their collision of worlds helped connect East and West, launching a tempestuous period of globalisation spanning from the Chinese opium trade to the slave trade in the Americas. At our Online Talk #IntoTheGoldenRealm, cultural historian Dr Lubaaba Al-Azami draws on rich, original sources to trace the origins of a relationship between two nations – one outsider and one superpower – whose cultures remain inextricably linked to this day.

About the speaker:

Dr Lubaaba Al-Azami is a cultural historian specialising in the Global Renaissance. She is a Lecturer in Early Modern English at Queen Mary University of London, and a research fellow at the University of Liverpool. She is also founding editor of Medieval and Early Modern Orients (MEMOs, memorients.com), a leading digital platform on premodern encounters between England and the Islamic worlds.