logo
episode-header-image
Dec 2024
54m 22s

216. Seeds of British India: England’s F...

Goalhanger
About this episode
What do you buy for a man who has everything?  Thomas Roe is tasked with wooing the Emperor Jahangir. On March 6th 1615, he sets sail from England on the 8 month voyage to the Mughal Empire, home to one fifth of the world’s population. He has been sent by James I and the East India Company on a diplomatic mission to improve trading relations. The English en ... Show More
Up next
Yesterday
391. Road To 9/11: The Rise of Osama Bin Laden (Part 3)
Who were the bin Ladens, and how did they build a construction empire in Saudi Arabia? What was Osama bin Laden’s childhood like, and how was he radicalised by a puritanical PE teacher? What did a young Osama see on his television in 1982 that inspired his plan to down America’s ... Show More
44m 34s
Aug 26
390. Road To 9/11: The Soviet-Afghan War (Part 2)
Did the CIA actually fund Osama bin Laden during the Soviet-Afghan war? Who was Abdullah Azzam, the radical scholar who turned jihad into a global franchise? How did a bureaucratic office meeting create Al-Qaeda? In Episode 2 of this new series, William Dalrymple is joined by Jas ... Show More
43m 17s
Aug 23
389. Road To 9/11: Origin of Al-Qaeda (Part 1)
What were the building blocks of the rise of Radical Islamism that paved the road to the 9/11 terror attacks? How did the torture of radical members of the Muslim Brotherhood fan the flames of Islamist thought in the 1960s? Who were Sayyid Qutb and Ayman al-Zawahiri, and how did ... Show More
55m 6s
Recommended Episodes
Mar 2023
Meeting the Mughals: England’s disastrous first embassy to India
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 – an ... Show More
34m 54s
Sep 2025
The Mughal empire: everything you wanted to know
The Mughal empire was one of the most powerful and influential dynasties in South Asian history, blending together a mix of cultural traditions to create a legacy of dazzling architecture, innovative governance, and turbulent politics. Speaking to Emily Briffett, historian Nandin ... Show More
49m 50s
Apr 2020
The Mughal Empire
Greg Jenner is joined by historian Dr Mehreen Chida-Razvi and comedian Sindhu Vee to explore The Mughal Empire and its legacy in art and architecture. We learn why an Emperor always needed to be wary of his siblings and how a zebra came to cause disbelief in court, and we hear th ... Show More
54m 9s
Apr 2024
The History of the Mughal Empire - The Throneless Times
In this first episode of this bonus series, we hear about Timur's devastating raid of northern India, and then follow his descendant Babur through his adventurous early years.  For this episode, I found the following publications particularly useful: William Dalrymple, The Anarc ... Show More
25m 37s
Apr 2024
Qutbuddin Mubarak Shah
<p>"If you have to take an beautiful enslaved convert boy from another province to become your lover, and then you fall hopelessly in love with him, and then promote him and he attains great power, do be aware than he might actually want to take your throne." Somehow, this extrem ... Show More
48m 25s
Aug 2022
Emperor Akbar & Din Ilahi
tail spinning
30m 26s
Jan 2021
The Mughal Empire (Radio Edit)
Greg Jenner is joined by historian Dr Mehreen Chida-Razvi and comedian Sindhu Vee to explore the Mughal Empire and its legacy in art and architecture.We learn why an Emperor always needed to be wary of his siblings and how a zebra came to cause disbelief in court, and we hear the ... Show More
29 m
Jul 2021
75. The East India Company
Tom and Dominic are joined by historian William Dalrymple to tell the fascinating and shocking story of the East India Company in the 18th century. How could a gang of “spectacularly corrupt” merchants conquer vast parts of Asia from a small office in London with just 35 employee ... Show More
1h 2m