Thomas Roe
Also called: Sir Thomas Roe · Topic: Europeans in India and the Rise of Company Rule · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Sir Thomas Roe was the official ambassador of King James I of England at the court of the Mughal emperor Jahangir from 1615 to 1619. He was sent to win trade rights and safety for the English East India Company in the Mughal empire. He matters for two reasons. His embassy helped the Company get its trading base at Surat on a firmer footing, the first step on the long road "from traders to rulers". His journal is also one of the best foreign eyewitness accounts of Jahangir's court.
Explanation
Background: why England sent an ambassador
- The English East India Company was a private trading company, not a government. It worked under a royal charter (a written grant of special rights) from Queen Elizabeth I, dated 31 December 1600. [1]
- The charter gave it a monopoly on British trade in the East Indies. Monopoly means no other English trader could compete. [1]
- In India, though, a charter from London meant nothing. To trade safely, the Company needed written permission from the Mughal emperor.
- Earlier attempts brought weak results:
- William Hawkins reached Jahangir's court (c. 1609–1611). Jahangir treated him kindly, but Portuguese pressure at court meant he got no lasting trade rights.
- The English then beat the Portuguese at sea near Surat, at Swally (Suvali), 1612. This raised their standing with the Mughals.
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A factory at Surat followed (c. 1613). Here "factory" means a warehouse plus office, not a place where goods are made.
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Hawkins was only a merchant-captain. The English felt they needed a royal ambassador: a man who spoke for the King himself and so carried more weight at a proud imperial court.
What Roe did at the Mughal court
- Roe landed at Surat in 1615. He presented himself to Jahangir at Ajmer (early 1616).
- He stayed with the court for about three years. He followed it as it moved, for example to Mandu and into Gujarat.
- His main aim: a formal treaty (a written agreement between two states) that would give the English fixed rights to trade across the empire.
- What actually happened:
- Jahangir would not sign a treaty as an equal with a distant king. To a Mughal emperor, a foreign ruler sent gifts and asked for favours. He did not bargain as an equal.
- Roe got farmans (royal orders) and concessions instead. Many came through Prince Khurram (the future Shah Jahan), who governed Gujarat, the province that included Surat.
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These allowed the English to trade and keep factories, especially at Surat, with some protection from local officials.
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Most textbooks put it simply: Roe "secured permission to trade and set up factories in the Mughal empire". Historians add a caution. He got favours and orders, not the formal treaty he wanted.
Results
- Surat became the English Company's main base in western India. The Company traded there through the 17th century under Mughal grants, that is, with written permission from the emperor. [2]
- The English moved ahead of the Portuguese in Mughal favour.
- Roe's own lesson to the Company:
- He advised the Company to keep to peaceful trade at sea.
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He warned it not to build forts or fight wars on Indian land, because this had ruined the Portuguese.
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The irony: the Company later did exactly what Roe warned against. Fort St George at Madras became the Company's first fortified settlement in India (south India headquarters from 1641). [2] Fort William in Calcutta was built in 1696–1702. [2] The polite request for trade, which Roe stood for, was later followed by walls and armies.
Time, place and evidence
- Period: 1615–1619, in the reign of the Mughal emperor Jahangir.
- Places: Surat (Gujarat), the port where he landed; Ajmer, where he first met the emperor; the moving Mughal court, including Mandu.
- Key people:
- King James I of England, who sent him.
- Jahangir, the emperor.
- Prince Khurram (later Shah Jahan), governor of Gujarat.
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Nur Jahan, Jahangir's queen, and her family. Roe saw them as very powerful at court.
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How we know: Roe's journal and letters. He kept a detailed diary, published later as The Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to the Court of the Great Mogul. It describes:
- the wealth and ceremony of the court, including the emperor showing himself daily to the public at the jharokha (a palace balcony);
- Jahangir's personal habits and the rivalries among nobles and princes;
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how hard it was for a foreigner to get anything done through Mughal officials.
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Caution: Roe wrote as an outsider who often felt slighted. Read his journal as a foreigner's view, useful but not neutral.
Don't confuse with
- William Hawkins: the English captain who reached Jahangir's court before Roe (c. 1609–1611). He was a merchant, not a royal ambassador, and failed to get lasting rights. Roe came after him and did better.
- John Surman's embassy (1715–1717): this embassy went to the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar, not Jahangir. Its farman of 1717 gave the Company duty-free trade rights in Bengal. It is often called the Company's "Magna Carta". Don't mix it up with Roe.
- The royal charter of 1600: this came from Queen Elizabeth I in England and gave the Company its monopoly. [1] Roe's job was to win rights from the Mughal emperor in India. These are two different grants from two different rulers.
- Bernier / Tavernier: these were later French travellers, mainly of Shah Jahan's and Aurangzeb's time. Roe was an English ambassador at Jahangir's court, not a private traveller.
Prelims Hooks
- Sir Thomas Roe: ambassador of James I (not Elizabeth I) at the court of Jahangir, 1615–1619.
- Roe first met Jahangir at Ajmer. He landed at Surat.
- Correct order: Charter by Elizabeth I (1600) → Hawkins at Jahangir's court (c. 1609) → Roe's embassy (1615–19) → Fort St George fortified, Madras HQ (1641) → Calcutta founded (1690). [1] [2]
- Roe won farmans to trade and keep factories (chiefly at Surat), but no formal treaty with the emperor. This is a common statement-based trap.
- Roe's journal, The Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to the Court of the Great Mogul, is a foreign source for Jahangir's reign.
- Trap: Roe ≠ Surman. Surman's farman (1717) came from Farrukhsiyar and concerned Bengal.
Mains Points
- Diplomacy as the first step of colonial power. Roe came as a guest asking for favours, not as a conqueror. This fits the Company's "pretence of being mere traders". Indian rulers welcomed foreign merchants as a long-standing practice. [2] For a GS-I answer, show the chain:
- Permission (Roe's farmans, Mughal grants at Surat) →
- Warehouse (the factory) →
- Fort (Madras, Calcutta) →
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Rule (the presidencies of Bengal, Madras and Bombay). [2]
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Two views of power in one meeting. Jahangir saw England as a far-off minor kingdom. He would grant favours but would not sign a treaty between equals. Roe saw a rich but slow-moving state. A century later the balance had flipped, and the "humble traders" were making demands of a weak Mughal court. Use this to explain continuity and change in Mughal–European relations.
- Value and limits of a traveller's account. Roe's journal adds detail that Mughal court records leave out: court ceremony, the power of Nur Jahan's family, and the workings of officials. But it carries a foreigner's biases and complaints. Compare it with Persian sources such as Jahangir's own memoirs, the Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, to show careful use of evidence.