Europe’s India: Words, People, Empires, 1500–1800
by Sanjay Subrahmanyam /
2017 / English / PDF
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When Portuguese explorers first rounded the Cape of Good Hope and
arrived in the subcontinent in the late fifteenth century,
Europeans had little direct knowledge of India. The maritime
passage opened new opportunities for exchange of goods as well as
ideas. Traders were joined by ambassadors, missionaries,
soldiers, and scholars from Portugal, England, Holland, France,
Italy, and Germany, all hoping to learn about India for reasons
as varied as their particular nationalities and professions. In
the following centuries they produced a body of knowledge about
India that significantly shaped European thought.
When Portuguese explorers first rounded the Cape of Good Hope and
arrived in the subcontinent in the late fifteenth century,
Europeans had little direct knowledge of India. The maritime
passage opened new opportunities for exchange of goods as well as
ideas. Traders were joined by ambassadors, missionaries,
soldiers, and scholars from Portugal, England, Holland, France,
Italy, and Germany, all hoping to learn about India for reasons
as varied as their particular nationalities and professions. In
the following centuries they produced a body of knowledge about
India that significantly shaped European thought.Europe’s India
Europe’s India tracks Europeans’ changing ideas of India
over the entire early modern period. Sanjay Subrahmanyam brings
his expertise and erudition to bear in exploring the connection
between European representations of India and the fascination
with collecting Indian texts and objects that took root in the
sixteenth century. European notions of India’s history,
geography, politics, and religion were strongly shaped by the
manuscripts, paintings, and artifacts―both precious and
prosaic―that found their way into Western hands.
tracks Europeans’ changing ideas of India
over the entire early modern period. Sanjay Subrahmanyam brings
his expertise and erudition to bear in exploring the connection
between European representations of India and the fascination
with collecting Indian texts and objects that took root in the
sixteenth century. European notions of India’s history,
geography, politics, and religion were strongly shaped by the
manuscripts, paintings, and artifacts―both precious and
prosaic―that found their way into Western hands.
Subrahmanyam rejects the opposition between “true” knowledge of
India and the self-serving fantasies of European Orientalists.
Instead, he shows how knowledge must always be understood in
relation to the concrete circumstances of its production.
Subrahmanyam rejects the opposition between “true” knowledge of
India and the self-serving fantasies of European Orientalists.
Instead, he shows how knowledge must always be understood in
relation to the concrete circumstances of its production.Europe’s India
Europe’s India is as much about how the East came to be
understood by the West as it is about how India shaped Europe’s
ideas concerning art, language, religion, and commerce.
is as much about how the East came to be
understood by the West as it is about how India shaped Europe’s
ideas concerning art, language, religion, and commerce.