The rise and fall of empires and the events that shaped world history. William Dalrymple and Anita Anand explore the intricate stories of revolutions, imperial wars, and the people who built and lost empires. From the British Empire to the Ottomans to Ancient India, history is shaped by power struggles and territorial conquests. How does it continue to affect the world today? Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, our exclusive newsletter, and access to our members’ chatroom on Discord! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.
359 episodes transcribedShah Jahan, the third son of the opium-addicted Jahangir, was born in 1592 with the name Khurram. More interested in precious gems and architecture th...
Often overshadowed by his son’s architectural wonders like the Taj Mahal, Emperor Jahangir was a true connoisseur of beauty. His reign witnessed a f...
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...
Prince Salim grows up in the continuously expanding empire of his father, Akbar. The young prince is being primed to take on this legacy, but he is mo...
“The Nabateans are a silent partner in everything that goes on in the high summer of the Ancient period” - Bettany Hughes By the time of Jesus’ birth...
The story of the Three Wise Men has been reinterpreted since it was first written down. The gift-bearing visitors to the newborn Jesus were initially...
The truth behind the story of the Three Wise Men has more connections to empire than many of us realise… Featured in every Nativity scene in school p...
As a dyslexic child, Akbar explored his curiosities about the world through visual wonders, and by having literature read aloud to him. As an adult, h...
Raja Birbal is a man of such exceptional wisdom and wit that he will become the stuff of legends. Birbal is just one of the Nine Gems Akbar surrounds...
It’s 1542, and the baby who will grow up to be Akbar the Great is born into nothing and nowhere. His father, Humayun is on the run to Persia and the y...
Kicked out of India, Humayun roams the desert as a nomad, accompanied by his young pregnant wife, his court poets, and his library camels. Sher Shah h...
On his death bed, Babur tells his eldest son not to fight with his brothers however awful they will be to him. As his father passes away, Humayun inhe...
Against all odds, Babur defeats Sultan Lodi and captures Delhi. But despite the wealth that India can provide him, Babur hates his new home. He compla...
“In Herat a man can’t stretch out his leg without touching a poet’s backside” - Babur It’s 1506, and Babur leaves his beloved base in Kabul to visit...
“To wander from mountain to mountain, hopeless and homeless, has nothing to recommend it” - Babur Before he became the father of the Mughal dynasty,...
J.M. Barrie, the fascinating Scottish writer, gave us Peter Pan - the boy who never grows up, and his notorious pirate nemesis: Captain Hook. But wher...
Robert Louis Stevenson, a sickly boy with a vivid imagination, grew up along Scotland’s rugged coast, where tales of shipwrecks and buried gold stirre...
For many years, commemorations of the two World Wars excluded the memorialisation of soldiers from the British Empire. But campaigners have gradually...
After robbing the fleet in a brutal, barbaric fashion, Henry Avery caused a diplomatic incident of global proportions. The Mughals were furious and th...
One of the most notable pirates of his day, Henry Avery would go on to make potentially the most lucrative heist ever on the high seas. Originally a n...
