A wide-ranging account of the place Goa occupied both in India and the world beyond, before the advent of the British Raj. It was the capital of an European maritime empire that teetered on the brink of collapse in the tumultuous seventeenth century, only to become a thriving cultural, religious and diplomatic hub in the 18th century, building close relations with the foremost continental empires of the day — Mogul, Maratha and Mysore.
The globalisation of trade in the 18th century restored its former Atlantic ties via Brazil and the development of the African slave trade, while also opening doors to the Orient, via China and the opium markets. Within a century, however, it was but a modest outpost of the bustling Bombay.