In December 1572 the Mughal emperor Akbar arrived in the port city of Khambayat. Presumably anxious with the news about the Mughal military campaign in Gujarat, several Portuguese merchants in Khambayat rushed to Akbar’s presence. This encounter marked the beginning of a long, complex, and unequal relationship between a continental Muslim empire that was expanding into south India, often looking back to Central Asia, and a European Christian maritime empire whose rulers considered themselves ‘kings of the sea’. Focusing on borderland management, imperial projects, and cross-cultural circulation, this volume delves into the ways in which the Portuguese understood and dealt with the Mughals.