In an Antique Land uses its dual narratives to examine the changes colonialism caused historically, while questioning what the impacts of modern globalization—the process of increasing international interaction and integration across the world—are. Accordingly, the impacts of colonialism and globalization form a key theme in the work, as it does throughout much of Ghosh’s writing.

Colonialism’s influence on the Indian Ocean trade routes begins with Portugal’s naval domination after 1509. Subsequently, wealth was redirected into Europe, making the area less wealthy. Ghosh also emphasizes the more subtle change of spreading the colonial worldview: This is presented as the belief that military and scientific prowess are the standards by which a nation (or group of nations) must be judged. Ghosh argues that, due to colonial rule, the essentials of this worldview were internalized by postcolonial nations, including Egypt. He states the Egyptians place themselves on a “ladder of Development” (237), where they are lower than the modern Western-centric standard, making them insecure interacting with their “shamefully anachronistic” (200) objects and technology.

Ghosh’s argument with Imam Ibrahim demonstrates the impact of the colonial mindset, as he frames their reliance on “realist” terms as “the only language we had been able to discover in common” (237).