 Christianity came to India with the Apostle Thomas. But even after the Portuguese coming to Goa in the 15th century, it remained confined to the south and the east. The Portuguese and the French won some early battles, but could not consolidate their position and remained confined to small enclaves. Contact in the north had however been first made by missionaries from Rome, who opened a dialogue with the court of the great Akbar of the Mughal dynasty to spread the message of their faith. Small Christian enclaves came up in Agra, which was the capital of Akbar the Great, and in areas nearby. It was with the British traders of the East India Company that Western evangelization made its most energetic and recent foray into India. The faith spread in the wake of traders, and later with the political and military expansion of Robert Clive and Warren Hastings from Calcutta in the east, Madras in the south, Bombay and eventually across North India. As the East India Company spread its influence from Calcutta and Madras, the church followed in its wake. As the British Raj swept up the plains of the Ganges and the Krishna and the Godavari, the missionaries went deeper into the land, leaving the Raj far behind. The British opened up the interior with a network of rail and roads. Inevitably, Christianity in the north is largely identified with the British Raj in the popular mind. Although Christianity in northern India never achieved the size it had in Kerala in the south, it spread rapidly in several areas, among them the remote northeast. It was in the fertile ground of the northeastern hills and plains that Christian priests and missionaries found unbounded faith and devotion. The simple but independent-minded people adopted the faith and, as is usual in India, enriched it further by assimilating into it their own culture, their traditions and music. The northeast, like Kerala, also marked Christianity's contribution to Indian life and development with its heavy emphasis on education. If these tapes boast of 100% literacy today, much of the credit goes to the early missionaries and Christian scholars who opened schools and colleges and vocational centres. The missionaries found their acceptance because of the significant contribution they made in the fields of education and health. This was their greatest contribution, perhaps. It is in Bombay the gateway of India that one meets the vibrant modern phase of Christianity in its most western form. Delhi probably lacks the colour of Bombay that makes up for it in history. The famous church of St. James in Delhi was founded by the cavalry officer Colonel James Skinner, an Anglo-Indian soldier of considerable repute. He and his family are buried in the church compound. His descendants still attend Sunday service more than a century and a half after the church was established. Christianity in India today represents the major denominations, prominent among them the Roman Catholics, the Syrian Orthodox Churches of the South and several Protestant churches united in the churches of North and South India. Giving Christianity in India its unique place in the national ethos.