'Trade follows the flag' is a truism of imperial expansion but in the 1680s it was the other way round, as East India Company entrepreneurs made an ambitious and abortive attempt to challenge the might of the Moghul empire.
Francis Robinson explores new educational and cultural advances in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.
Francis Robinson on an epic film of the life of the Indian politician, released in December 1982.
From 1858 until 1945, explains Frances Stewart, the Andaman Islands served as a penal colony for the British Empire. The islands were also valued for their good natural harbours. During the Second World War the Andamans were captured by the Japanese.
William Seymour argues here that the determination of Sir Charles Napier to uphold British interests in Sindh led to coercion and eventual war.
