Thesis title: Da mercanti ad ambasciatori. Nascita delle relazioni diplomatiche fra India e Inghilterra
This thesis investigates the evolution of relations between England and the Mughal Empire between 1603 and 1619, tracing the transition from informal and sporadic contacts to a defined diplomatic framework, culminating in the mission of the first English ambassador, Sir Thomas Roe. Positioned within the historiographical debate on Euro-Asian interactions, the study highlights the limited capacity of English diplomacy to comprehend and adapt to the symbolic and political codes of the Mughal court, and its gradual transformation into an instrument of commercial and imperial expansion.
During the early seventeenth century, the English East India Company operated without clear political direction, entrusting its dealings with India to merchants and emissaries of ambiguous status, often lacking the recognition required to legitimate their authority. The failures of figures such as William Hawkins and Thomas Kerridge reveal a broader inability to grasp the structures of Mughal power, leading to the collapse of initial diplomatic efforts.
Roe’s appointment marked an attempt to professionalize English diplomacy, yet his mission was undermined by deep structural ambivalences: while representing the Crown, he remained financially dependent on the East India Company, whose economic interests he was expected to advance. The thesis argues that this tension contributed to the rapid exhaustion of diplomatic initiatives, which were soon replaced by more assertive economic, military, and cartographic strategies that foreshadowed the emergence of British imperial policy in India.
Ultimately, Roe emerges less as a successful diplomat than as an uncertain intermediary whose authority was marginal within the Company’s decision-making. His mission nonetheless represents a turning point, initiating a more structured English presence in northern India and prefiguring the transformation of Anglo-Indian relations from diplomatic engagement to imperial domination.