Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire ( Urdu : مغل باد شاہ, Mughal Baadshah, alternative spelling Mogul , which is the origin of the word Mogul ) of India was founded by the Turco-Persian leader Babur in 1526 , when he defeated Ibrahim Lodi , the last of the Delhi Sultans at the First Battle of Panipat . The word "Mughal" is the Indo-Aryan version of " Mongol ." The empire was largely conquered by Sher Shah during the time of Humayun , but under Akbar , it grew considerably, and continued to grow until the end of Aurangzeb 's rule. After Aurangzeb died in 1707 , the empire started a slow and steady decline in actual power, although it maintained all the trappings of power in the Indian subcontinent for another 150 years. In 1739 it was defeated by an army from Persia led by Nadir Shah . In 1756 an army of Ahmad Shah looted Delhi again. The British Empire finally dissolved it in 1857 , immediately prior to which it existed only at the sufferance of the British East India Company .

The Mughal Empire ( , Mug̱ẖliyah Salṭanat ), self-designated as Gurkani ( , Gūrkāniyān ), was a Persianate empire extending over large parts of the Indian subcontinent and ruled by a dynasty of Mongol and Chagatai-Turkic origin. The beginning of the empire is conventionally dated to the founder Babur 's victory over Ibrahim Lodi in the first Battle of Panipat . The Mughal emperors were Central Asian Turko-Mongols , who claimed direct descent from both Genghis Khan (through his son Chagatai Khan ) and Timur . The "classic period" of the empire started in 1556 with the ascension of Akbar the Great to the throne. Under the rule of Akbar and his son Jahangir , India enjoyed economic progress as well as religious harmony, and the monarchs were interested in local religious and cultural traditions. Akbar was a successful warrior. He also forged alliances with several Hindu Rajput kingdoms. Some Rajput kingdoms continued to pose a significant threat to Mughal dominance of northwestern India, but they were subdued by Akbar. All Mughal emperors were Muslims , except Akbar in the latter part of his life followed a new religion called Deen-i-Ilahi , as recorded in historical books like Ain-e-Akbari and Dabestan-e Mazaheb . The Mughal Empire did not try to intervene in the local societies, but rather balanced and pacified them through new administrative practices and diverse and inclusive ruling elites, leading to more systematic, centralised, and uniform rule. Newly coherent social groups in northern and western India, such as the Marathas , the Rajputs , and the Sikhs , gained military and governing ambitions during Mughal rule, which, through collaboration or adversity, gave them both recognition and military experience. The reign of Shah Jahan , the fifth emperor, was the golden age of Mughal architecture . He erected several large monuments, the most famous of which is the Taj Mahal at Agra , as well as the Moti Masjid, Agra , the Red Fort , the Jama Masjid, Delhi , and the Lahore Fort . The Mughal Empire reached the zenith of its territorial expanse during the reign of Aurangzeb and also started its terminal decline in his reign due to Maratha military resurgence under Shivaji Bhosale . During his lifetime, victories in the south expanded the Mughal Empire to more than 3.2 million square kilometres (1.2 million square miles), ruling over more than 150 million subjects, nearly 1/4th of the world's population, with a combined GDP of over $90 billion. By the mid-18th century, the Marathas had routed Mughal armies, and won over several Mughal provinces from the Punjab to Bengal , and internal dissatisfaction arose due to the weakness of the Mughal Empire's administrative and economic systems, leading to the break-up of the empire and declaration of independence of its former provinces by the Nawabs of Bengal , Oudh , the Nizam of Hyderabad , Shah of Afghanistan and other small states. In 1739, the Mughals were crushingly defeated in the Battle of Karnal by the forces of Nader Shah , the founder of the Afsharid dynasty in Persia, and Delhi was sacked and looted , drastically accelerating their decline. During the following century Mughal power had become severely limited and the last emperor, Bahadur Shah II , had authority over only the city of Shahjahanabad . He issued a firman supporting the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and following the defeat was therefore tried by the British East India Company for treason, imprisoned, exiled to Rangoon and the last remnants of the empire were taken over by the British. The title (Mirza) descends to all the sons of the family, without exception. In the Royal family it is placed after the name instead of before it, thus, Abbas Mirza and Hosfiein Mirza. Mirza is a civil title, and Khan is a military one. The title of Khan is creative, but not hereditary. pg 601 Monthly magazine and British register, Volume 34 Publisher Printed for Sir Richard Phillips , 1812 Original from Harvard University John F. The New Cambridge history of India: 1.5. The Mughals and their Contemporaries. The Baburnama : Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor . In India the dynasty always called itself Gurkani , after Temür 's title Gurkân , the Persianized form of the Mongolian [ kürägän ] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup ( help ) , 'son-in-law,' a title he assumed after his marriage to a Genghisid princess.

The Mughal Empire ( , Mug̱ẖliyāh Sālṭanāt ) or Mogul Empire , self-designated as Gurkani ( , Gūrkāniyān, meaning “son-in-law”), was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. The Mughal empire is conventionally said to have been founded in 1526 by Babur , a warrior chieftain from what today is Uzbekistan , who employed aid from the neighboring Safavid and Ottoman empires, to defeat the Sultan of Delhi , Ibrahim Lodhi , in the First Battle of Panipat , and to sweep down the plains of Upper India . The Mughal imperial structure, however, is sometimes dated to 1600, to the rule of Babur's grandson, Akbar . This imperial structure lasted until 1720, until shortly after the death of the last major emperor, Aurangzeb , during whose reign the empire also achieved its maximum geographical extent. Reduced subsequently, especially during the East India Company rule in India, to the region in and around Old Delhi , the empire was formally dissolved by the British Raj after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 . Although the Mughal empire was created and sustained by military warfare, it did not vigorously suppress the cultures and peoples it came to rule; rather it equalized and placated them through new administrative practices, and diverse ruling elites, leading to more efficient, centralised, and standardized rule. The base of the empire's collective wealth was agricultural taxes, instituted by the third Mughal emperor, Akbar. These taxes, which amounted to well over half the output of a peasant cultivator, were paid in the well-regulated silver currency, and caused peasants and artisans to enter larger markets. The relative peace maintained by the empire during much of the 17th century was a factor in India's economic expansion. Burgeoning European presence in the Indian Ocean, and its increasing demand for Indian raw- and finished products, created still greater wealth in the Mughal courts. There was more conspicuous consumption among the Mughal elite, resulting in greater patronage of painting , literary forms, textiles, and architecture , especially during the reign of Shah Jahan . The Baburnama : Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor . In India the dynasty always called itself Gurkani , after Temür 's title Gurkân , the Persianized form of the Mongolian kürägän , 'son-in-law,' a title he assumed after his marriage to a Genghisid princess. The interests and futures of all concerned were in India, not in ancestral homelands in the Middle East or Central Asia. Furthermore, the Mughal empire emerged from the Indian historical experience. His fifty-year reign began in 1658 with the Mughal state seeming as strong as ever or even stronger. But in Aurangzeb’s later years the state was brought to the brink of destruction, over which it toppled within a decade and a half after his death; by 1720 imperial Mughal rule was largely finished and an epoch of two imperial centuries had closed." Richards, John F. It controlled territory partly through its network of strongholds, from its fortified capitals in Agra, Delhi or Lahore, which defined its heartlands, to the converted and expanded forts of Rajasthan and the Deccan. The emperors' will was frequently enforced in battle. Hundreds of army scouts were an important source of information. But the empire's administrative structure too was defined by and directed at war. Directly appointed imperial military and civil commanders (faujdars) controlled the cavalry and infantry, or the administration, in each region. There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).

1526–1857 empire in South Asia Not to be confused with the Mongol Empire or Moghulistan . The Mughal Empire was an early modern empire in South Asia . The Mughal Empire is conventionally said to have been founded in 1526 by Babur , a chieftain from what is today Uzbekistan , who employed aid from the neighboring Safavid and Ottoman Empires , to defeat the Sultan of Delhi , Ibrahim Lodi , in the First Battle of Panipat , and to sweep down the plains of North India . The Mughal imperial structure, however, is sometimes dated to 1600, to the rule of Babur's grandson, Akbar . This imperial structure lasted until 1720, until shortly after the death of the last major emperor, Aurangzeb , during whose reign the empire also achieved its maximum geographical extent. Reduced subsequently to the region in and around Old Delhi by 1760, the empire was formally dissolved by the British Raj after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 . Although the Mughal Empire was created and sustained by military warfare, it did not vigorously suppress the cultures and peoples it came to rule; rather it equalized and placated them through new administrative practices, and diverse ruling elites, leading to more efficient, centralised, and standardized rule. The base of the empire's collective wealth was agricultural taxes, instituted by the third Mughal emperor, Akbar. These taxes, which amounted to well over half the output of a peasant cultivator, were paid in the well-regulated silver currency, and caused peasants and artisans to enter larger markets. The relative peace maintained by the empire during much of the 17th century was a factor in India's economic expansion. The burgeoning European presence in the Indian Ocean and an increasing demand for Indian raw and finished products generated much wealth for the Mughal court. There was more conspicuous consumption among the Mughal elite, resulting in greater patronage of painting , literary forms, textiles, and architecture , especially during the reign of Shah Jahan . Among the Mughal UNESCO World Heritage Sites in South Asia are: Agra Fort , Fatehpur Sikri , Red Fort , Humayun's Tomb , Lahore Fort , Shalamar Gardens , and the Taj Mahal , which is described as "the jewel of Muslim art in India, and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage." Sinopoli, Carla M. Serious assessments vary from 116 to 145 million (with an average of 125 million). However, the true figure could even be outside of this range. Accordingly, while it seems likely that the population grew over the course of the seventeenth century, it is unlikely that we will ever have a good idea of its size in 1707. That said, we do know that the main concentrations of people were in the core Mughal provinces i.e. It was their high rural densities that ultimately sustained the main cities with all of their complexity and culture. There were, of course, sizeable rural populations supporting substantial, if lesser, urban centres elsewhere—for example in Gujarat, and on rivers like the Kaveri and the Godavari. Moreover, there were major concentrations of people on both the coastal plains. The interests and futures of all concerned were in India, not in ancestral homelands in the Middle East or Central Asia. Furthermore, the Mughal Empire emerged from the Indian historical experience. His fifty-year reign began in 1658 with the Mughal state seeming as strong as ever or even stronger. But in Aurangzeb's later years the state was brought to the brink of destruction, over which it toppled within a decade and a half after his death; by 1720 imperial Mughal rule was largely finished and an epoch of two imperial centuries had closed." Richards, John F. It controlled territory partly through its network of strongholds, from its fortified capitals in Agra, Delhi or Lahore, which defined its heartlands, to the converted and expanded forts of Rajasthan and the Deccan. The emperors' will was frequently enforced in battle. Hundreds of army scouts were an important source of information. But the empire's administrative structure too was defined by and directed at war. Directly appointed imperial military and civil commanders (faujdars) controlled the cavalry and infantry, or the administration, in each region. A History of India . There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).

1526–1857 empire in South Asia Not to be confused with the Mongol Empire or Moghulistan . Today part of India Pakistan Bangladesh Afghanistan The Mughal Empire was an early modern empire in South Asia . At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to the highlands of present-day Assam and Bangladesh in the east, and the uplands of the Deccan Plateau in South India . The Mughal Empire is conventionally said to have been founded in 1526 by Babur , a chieftain from what is today Uzbekistan , who employed aid from the neighboring Safavid and Ottoman Empires to defeat the sultan of Delhi , Ibrahim Lodi , in the First Battle of Panipat , and to sweep down the plains of North India . The Mughal imperial structure, however, is sometimes dated to 1600, to the rule of Babur's grandson, Akbar . This imperial structure lasted until 1720, shortly after the death of the last major emperor, Aurangzeb , during whose reign the empire also achieved its maximum geographical extent. Reduced subsequently to the region in and around Old Delhi by 1760, the empire was formally dissolved by the British Raj after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 . Although the Mughal Empire was created and sustained by military warfare, it did not vigorously suppress the cultures and peoples it came to rule; rather it equalized and placated them through new administrative practices, and diverse ruling elites, leading to more efficient, centralised, and standardized rule. The base of the empire's collective wealth was agricultural taxes, instituted by the third Mughal emperor, Akbar. These taxes, which amounted to well over half the output of a peasant cultivator, were paid in the well-regulated silver currency, and caused peasants and artisans to enter larger markets. The relative peace maintained by the empire during much of the 17th century was a factor in India's economic expansion. The burgeoning European presence in the Indian Ocean and an increasing demand for Indian raw and finished products generated much wealth for the Mughal court. There was more conspicuous consumption among the Mughal elite, resulting in greater patronage of painting , literary forms, textiles, and architecture , especially during the reign of Shah Jahan . Among the Mughal UNESCO World Heritage Sites in South Asia are: Agra Fort , Fatehpur Sikri , Red Fort , Humayun's Tomb , Lahore Fort , Shalamar Gardens , and the Taj Mahal , which is described as "the jewel of Muslim art in India, and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage". We have seen that there is considerable uncertainty about the size of India's population c.1595. Serious assessments vary from 116 to 145 million (with an average of 125 million). However, the true figure could even be outside of this range. Accordingly, while it seems likely that the population grew over the seventeenth century, it is unlikely that we will ever have a good idea of its size in 1707. Quote: "The realm so defined and governed was a vast territory of some 750,000 square miles [1,900,000 km ], ranging from the frontier with Central Asia in northern Afghanistan to the northern uplands of the Deccan plateau, and from the Indus basin on the west to the Assamese highlands in the east." Richards, John F. Quote: "The imperial career of the Mughal house is conventionally reckoned to have ended in 1707 when the emperor Aurangzeb, a fifth-generation descendant of Babur, died. His fifty-year reign began in 1658 with the Mughal state seeming as strong as ever or even stronger. But in Aurangzeb's later years the state was brought to the brink of destruction, over which it toppled within a decade and a half after his death; by 1720 imperial Mughal rule was largely finished and an epoch of two imperial centuries had closed." Richards 1995 , p. xv. Quote: "The Mughal state was geared for war and succeeded while it won its battles. It controlled territory partly through its network of strongholds, from its fortified capitals in Agra, Delhi or Lahore, which defined its heartlands, to the converted and expanded forts of Rajasthan and the Deccan. The emperor's will be frequently enforced in battle. Hundreds of army scouts were an important source of information. But the empire's administrative structure too was defined by and directed at war. Directly appointed imperial military and civil commanders (faujdars) controlled the cavalry and infantry, or the administration, in each region. Quote: "... well over half of the output from the fields in his realm, after the costs of production had been met, is estimated to have been taken from the peasant producers by way of official taxes and unofficial exactions. There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).