The Mughals, the Portuguese and the Indian Ocean: Changing Imageries of Maritime India

The volume examines the efforts of the Mughals and the Portuguese to control India’s maritime trade. The research papers present a historical journey through maritime India in the early modern period, analysing its changing imageries and meanings against the background of the Mughal expansion from land to sea and the fluctuating fortunes of the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean. The chapters deal with historical processes that directly or indirectly help to understand the economy and politics of the Mughals as well as dwell upon the socio-economic processes of maritime India. They discuss the religious dialogues of Emperor Akbar with the Jesuits, traces trade routes vis-à-vis India’s trade with West Asia and the commercial activities that took place between the different ports of coastal western India and the markets of East Africa.