When the early models of the spyglass appeared in Holland, Europeans quickly recognized the importance of the new device for both military reconnaissance and celestial exploration. Shortly thereafter, missionaries, sea captains, and traders began taking the telescope around the world, first across Europe and then to Asia. In 1615, the British ambassador Sir Thomas Roe presented a telescope to the Mughal court of Jahangir. This occurred in the same year as Chinese scholars could read a preliminary account of Galileo's discoveries written in Chinese.

Mughal India

When Europeans began exploring India in the late sixteenth century, and more extensively in the early seventeenth century, they were stunned by the amount of wealth that was in the hands of the rulers of Mughal India. As one British official put it, Sultan Jahangir was “the greatest and richest master of precious stones that inhabits the whole earth.” Others noted the great disparity of wealth and power between Jahangir and “Christian kings,” saying that it was so great as to be “incredible.”