Mughal Empire شاهان گورکانی Shāhān-e Gūrkānī مغلیہ سلطنت
↓ 1526–1857 ↓
Flag
The Mughal Empire during the reign of Aurangzeb, around 1700
Capital	Agra (1526–1571) Fatehpur Sikri (1571–1585) Lahore (1585–1598) Agra (1598–1649) Delhi (1649–1857)
Language(s)	Persian (initially also Chagatai Turkic; later also Hindustani)
Government	Absolute monarchy, unitary state with federal structure
Emperor
- 1526–1530	Babur (first)
- 1837–1857	Bahadur Shah II (last)
Historical era	Early modern period
- Battle of Panipat	21 April 1526
- Indian Rebellion	10 May 1857
Area
- 1700	4,500,000 km2 (1,737,460 sq mi)
Population
- 1700 est.	150,000,000
Density	33.3 /km2  (86.3 /sq mi)
Currency	Rupee
Preceded by Succeeded by Timurid dynasty Delhi Sultanate Suri dynasty Adil Shahi dynasty Sultanate of Bengal Deccan Sultanates Maratha Empire Durrani Empire Hotaki dynasty British Raj Hyderabad State Nawab of Carnatic Nawab of Bengal Nawab of Awadh Kingdom of Mysore Bharatpur State 20px
Today part of	India  Pakistan  Bangladesh  Afghanistan
Population source:[1]

The Mughal Empire, Shahan-e-Gurkhani, Shahan-e-Mughal, Sultanate-e-Mughliya, Daulat-e-Mughliya (Persian: شاهان گورکانی‎ Shāhān-e Gūrkānī; Urdu: مغلیہ سلطنت; self-designation: گوركانى Gūrkānī ),‎^[2][3] or Mogul (also Moghul) Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent.^[4] The Mughal emperors were direct descendants of Genghis Khan through Chagatai Khan and Timur. The Mughal Empire began in 1526; at the height of their power in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, they controlled most of the Indian Subcontinent—extending from Bengal in the east to Balochistan in the west, Kashmir in the north to the Kaveri basin in the south.^[5] According to "Babur-Nama", Kazakh tribal aristocracy along with number of other Turkic soldiers participated actively in the campaign of Babur, which made great influence over the development of Mughal Empire.^[6] Its population at that time has been estimated as between 110 and 150 million, over a territory of more than 3.2 million square kilometres (1.2 million square miles).^[1]

The "classic period" of the empire started in 1556 with the accession of Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar, better known as Akbar the Great. Under the rule of Akbar the Great, India enjoyed much cultural and economic progress as well as religious harmony. The Mughals also forged a strategic alliance 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.^[7][8] The reign of Shah Jahan, the fifth emperor, was the golden age of Mughal architecture. He erected many splendid monuments, the most famous of which is the legendary Taj Mahal at Agra, as well as Pearl Mosque, the Red Fort, Jama Masjid (Mosque) and Lahore Fort. The Mughal Empire reached the zenith of its territorial expansion during the reign of Aurangzeb. During his lifetime, victories in the south expanded the Mughal Empire to more than 1.25 million square miles, ruling over more than 150 million subjects, nearly 1/4th of the world's population, with a combined GDP of over $90.8 billion.^[1][9]

By the year 1750s, the Marathas ravaged the Mughal provinces from the Deccan to Bengal and internal dissatisfaction and separatist agendas from the Rajputs, Sikhs and Jats arose due to the weakness of the Mughal Empires administrative and economic systems.^[10] In 1739, a weakened Mughal Empire was defeated during the Battle of Karnal, by the forces of Nader Shah.^[11] A treaty signed in 1752 made Marathas the protector of the Mughal throne at Delhi.^[12][13]. The last Emperor, Bahadur Shah II, whose rule was restricted to the city of Delhi, was imprisoned and exiled by the British after the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

The name Mughal is derived from the original homelands of the Timurids, the Central Asian steppes once conquered by Genghis Khan and hence known as Moghulistan, "Land of Mongols". Although early Mughals spoke the Chagatai language and maintained some Turko-Mongol practices, they became essentially Persianized^[14] and transferred the Persian literary and high culture^[14] to India, thus forming the base for the Indo-Persian culture and the Spread of Islam in South Asia.^[14][15]

Early history[link]

A dagger from the Mughal Empire with hilt in jade, gold, rubies and emeralds. Blade of damascened steel inlaid with gold.

Zahir ud-din Muhammad Babur learned about the riches of Hindustan and conquest of it by his ancestor, Timur, in 1503 at Dikh-Kat, a place in the Transoxiana region. At that time, he was roaming as a wanderer after losing his principality, Farghana. In his memoirs he wrote that after he had acquired Kabulistan in 1504, he desired to regain the territories in Hindustan held once by Turks. He started his exploratory raids from September 1519 when he visited the Indo-Afghan borders to suppress the rising by Yusufzai tribes. He undertook similar raids up to 1524 and had established his base camp at Peshawar. Finally in 1526 in his fifth attempt, Babur defeated the last of the Delhi Sultans, Ibrahim Shah Lodi, at the First Battle of Panipat. To secure his newly founded kingdom, Babur then had to face the formidable Rajput Rana Sanga of Chittor, at the Battle of Khanwa. Rana Sanga offered stiff resistance but was defeated

Babur's son Humayun succeeded him in 1530, but suffered reversals at the hands of the Pashtun Sher Shah Suri and lost most of the fledgling empire before it could grow beyond a minor regional state. From 1540 Humayun became ruler in exile, reaching the court of the Safavid rule in 1554 while his force still controlled some fortresses and small regions. During 1553–1556, the Hindu king, Hemu Vikramaditya acceded to the throne of Delhi by defeating forces of Mughal Emperor Akbar at Agra and Delhi. However, the Mughals reestablished their rule after Akbar's army defeated Hemu during the Second Battle of Panipat.

Humayun crossed the rough terrain of the Makran with his wife until their son Akbar was born in the fortress of Umarkot in Sind. The resurgent Humayun then conquered the central plateau around Delhi, but months later died in an accident, leaving the realm unsettled and in war.

Akbar succeeded his father on 14 February 1556. He became known as Akbar, as he was a wise ruler, setting high but fair taxes. He was a more inclusive in his approach to the non-Muslim subjects of the Empire. He investigated the production in a certain area and taxed inhabitants one-fifth of their agricultural produce. He also set up an efficient bureaucracy and was tolerant of religious differences which softened the resistance by the locals. He made alliances with Rajputs and appointed native generals and administrators. Later in life, he devised his own brand of syncretic philosophy based on tolerance.

Jahangir, son of Emperor Akbar, ruled the empire from 1605–1627. In October 1627, Shah Jahan, son of Emperor Jahangir succeeded to the throne, where he inherited a vast and rich empire. At mid-century this was perhaps the greatest empire in the world. Shah Jahan commissioned the famous Taj Mahal (1630–1653) in Agra which was built by the Persian architect Ustad Ahmad Lahauri as a tomb for Shah Jahan's wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their 14th child. By late 17th century, the empire reached its peak under the leadership of Aurangzeb Alamgir with major parts of present day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and most of Afghanistan.

Mughal dynasty[link]

A panorama in 12 folds showing the procession of the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah II to celebrate the feast of the Eid ul-Fitr in 1843.

Genealogy of the Mughal Dynasty

By the year 1690, at it zenith the realms of the Mughal Empire spanned from Kabul to Cape Comorin.^[16].

The Mughal Empire was the dominant power in the Indian subcontinent between the mid-16th century and the early 18th century. Founded in 1526, it officially survived until 1858, when it was supplanted by the British Raj. The dynasty is sometimes referred to as the Timurid dynasty as Babur was descended from Timur.

The Mughal dynasty was founded when Babur, hailing from Ferghana (Modern Uzbekistan), invaded parts of northern India and defeated Ibrahim Shah Lodhi, the ruler of Delhi, at the First Battle of Panipat in 1526. The Mughal Empire superseded the Delhi Sultanate as rulers of northern India. In time, the state thus founded by Babur far exceeded the bounds of the Delhi Sultanate, eventually encompassing a major portion of India and earning the appellation of Empire. A brief interregnum (1540–1555) during the reign of Babur's son, Humayun, saw the rise of the Afghan Suri Dynasty under Sher Shah Suri, a competent and efficient ruler in his own right. However, Sher Shah's untimely death and the military incompetence of his successors enabled Humayun to regain his throne in 1555. However, Humayun died a few months later, and was succeeded by his son, the 13-year-old Akbar the Great.

The greatest portions of Mughal expansion was accomplished during the reign of Akbar (1556–1605). The empire was maintained as the dominant force of the present-day Indian subcontinent for a hundred years further by his successors Jahangir, Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb. The first six emperors, who enjoyed power both de jure and de facto, are usually referred to by just one name, a title adopted upon his accession by each emperor. The relevant title is bolded in the list below.

Akbar the Great initiated certain important policies, such as religious liberalism (abolition of the jizya tax), inclusion of natives in the affairs of the empire, and political alliance/marriage with the Rajputs, that were innovative for his milieu; he also adopted some policies of Sher Shah Suri, such as the division of the empire into sarkar raj, in his administration of the empire. These policies, which undoubtedly served to maintain the power and stability of the empire, were preserved by his two immediate successors but were discarded by Emperor Aurangzeb who spent nearly his entire career expanding his realm, beyond the Urdu Belt, into the Deccan and South India, Assam in the east; this venture provoked resistance from the Marathas, Sikhs, Jats and Ahoms.

Decline[link]

After Emperor Aurangzeb's death in 1707, the empire fell into succession crisis. Barring Muhammad Shah, none of the Mughal emperors could hold on to power for a decade. In the 18th century, the Empire suffered the depredations of invaders like Nadir Shah of Persia and Ahmed Shah Abdali of Afghanistan, who repeatedly sacked Delhi, the Mughal capital. Most of the empire's territories in India passed to the Marathas, Nawabs, and Nizams by c. 1750. The Mughal Emperors lost effective power in favor of the British after the Battle of Buxar in 1764.^[17] In 1804, the ineffective Shah Alam II formally accepted the protection of the British East India Company. The company had already begun to refer to the weakened emperor as "King of Delhi", rather than "Emperor of India". The once glorious and mighty Mughal army was disbanded in 1805 by the British; only the guards of the Red Fort were spared to serve with the King of Delhi, which avoided the uncomfortable implication that British sovereignty was outranked by the Indian monarch. Nonetheless, for a few decades afterward the British East India Company continued to rule the areas under its control as the nominal servants of the emperor and in his name. After the Revolt of 1857, even these courtesies were disposed. The rebels declared their allegiance to Shah Alam's descendant, Bahadur Shah II which led to a protracted Siege of Delhi, after which the victorious British abolished the institution altogether with transfer of authority to the British crown. The last Mughal emperor was deposed and exiled to Burma, where he died in 1862.

List of Mughal emperors[link]

Influence on the Indian subcontinent[link]

Mughal influence on South Asian art and culture[link]

Mir Sayyid Ali, writing a commentary on the Quran, during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan.

A major Mughal contribution to the Indian subcontinent was their unique architecture. Many monuments were built by the Muslim emperors, especially Shahjahan, during the Mughal era including the UNESCO World Heritage Site Taj Mahal, which is known to be one of the finer examples of Mughal architecture. Other World Heritage Sites includes the Humayun's Tomb, Fatehpur Sikri, Red Fort, Agra Fort, and Lahore Fort The palaces, tombs, and forts built by the dynasty stands today in Agra, Aurangabad, Delhi, Dhaka, Fatehpur Sikri, Jaipur, Lahore, Kabul, Sheikhupura, and many other cities of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.^[18] With few memories of Central Asia, Babur's descendents absorbed traits and customs of the Indian Subcontinent,^[19] and became more or less naturalised.

Mughal influence can be seen in cultural contributions such as^{[citation needed]}:

• Centralised, imperialistic government which brought together many smaller kingdoms.^[20]
• Persian art and culture amalgamated with Indian art and culture.^[21]
• New trade routes to Arab and Turkic lands.
• The development of Mughlai cuisine.^[22]
• Mughal Architecture found its way into local Indian architecture, most conspicuously in the palaces built by Rajputs and Sikh rulers.
• Landscape gardening

Although the land the Mughals once ruled has separated into what is now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, their influence can still be seen widely today. Tombs of the emperors are spread throughout India, Afghanistan,^[23] and Pakistan. There are 16 million descendants spread throughout the Subcontinent and possibly the world.^{[24][unreliable source?]}

Urdu language[link]

Although Persian was the dominant and "official" language of the empire, the language of the elite later evolved into a form known as Urdu. Highly Persianized and also influenced by Arabic and Turkic, the language was written in a type of Perso-Arabic script known as Nastaliq, and with literary conventions and specialized vocabulary being retained from Persian, Arabic and Turkic; the new dialect was eventually given its own name of Urdu. Compared with Hindi, the Urdu language draws more vocabulary from Persian and Arabic (via Persian) and (to a much lesser degree) from Turkic languages where Hindi draws vocabulary from Sanskrit more heavily.^[25] Modern Hindi, which uses Sanskrit-based vocabulary along with Urdu loan words from Persian and Arabic, is mutually intelligible with Urdu.^[26] Today, Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and also an important co-official language in India.

Mughal society[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

A silver coin made during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Alamgir II.

The Indian economy remained as prosperous under the Mughals as it was, because of the creation of a road system and a uniform currency, together with the unification of the country. Manufactured goods and peasant-grown cash crops were sold throughout the world. Key industries included shipbuilding (the Indian shipbuilding industry was as advanced as the European, and Indians sold ships to European firms), textiles, and steel. The Mughals maintained a small fleet, which merely carried pilgrims to Mecca, imported a few Arab horses in Surat. Debal in Sindh was mostly autonomous. The Mughals also maintained various river fleets of Dhows, which transported soldiers over rivers and fought rebels. Among its admirals were Yahya Saleh, Munnawar Khan, and Muhammad Saleh Kamboh. The Mughals also protected the Siddis of Janjira. Its sailors were renowned and often voyaged to China and the East African Swahili Coast, together with some Mughal subjects carrying out private-sector trade. Cities and towns boomed under the Mughals; however, for the most part, they were military and political centres, not manufacturing or commerce centres. Only those guilds which produced goods for the bureaucracy made goods in the towns; most industry was based in rural areas. The Mughals also built Maktabs in every province under their authority, where youth were taught the Quran and Islamic law such as the Fatawa-e-Alamgiri in their indigenous languages.

The nobility was a heterogeneous body; while it primarily consisted of Rajput aristocrats and foreigners from Muslim countries, people of all castes and nationalities could gain a title from the emperor. The middle class of openly affluent traders consisted of a few wealthy merchants living in the coastal towns; the bulk of the merchants pretended to be poor to avoid taxation. The bulk of the people were poor. The standard of living of the poor was as low as, or somewhat higher than, the standard of living of the Indian poor under the British Raj; whatever benefits the British brought with canals and modern industry were neutralized by rising population growth, high taxes, and the collapse of traditional industry in the nineteenth century.

Science and technology[link]

Muhammad Salih Thattvi headed the task of creating a seamless celestial globe using a secret wax casting method in the Mughal Empire, the famous celestial globe was also inscribed with Arabic and Persian inscriptions.^[27][28].

Astronomy[link]

While there appears to have been little concern for theoretical astronomy, Mughal astronomers continued to make advances in observational astronomy and produced nearly a hundred Zij treatises. Humayun built a personal observatory near Delhi, while Jahangir and Shah Jahan were also intending to build observatories but were unable to do so. The instruments and observational techniques used at the Mughal observatories were mainly derived from the Islamic tradition.^[29][30] In particular, one of the most remarkable astronomical instruments invented in Mughal India is the seamless celestial globe (see Technology below).

Alchemy[link]

Sake Dean Mahomed had learned much of Mughal Alchemy and understood the techniques used to produce various Alkali and soaps to produce Shampoo. He was also a notable writer who described the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II and the cities of Allahabad and Delhi in rich detail and also made note of the glories of the Mughal Empire.

Sake Dean Mahomed was appointed as shampooing surgeon to both Kings George IV and William IV.^[31]

Technology[link]

Fathullah Shirazi (c. 1582), a Persian-Indian polymath and mechanical engineer who worked for Akbar the Great in the Mughal Empire, developed a volley gun.^[32]

Considered one of the most remarkable feats in metallurgy, the seamless globe was invented in Kashmir by Ali Kashmiri ibn Luqman in 998 AH (1589–90 CE), and twenty other such globes were later produced in Lahore and Kashmir during the Mughal Empire. Before they were rediscovered in the 1980s, it was believed by modern metallurgists to be technically impossible to produce metal globes without any seams, even with modern technology. Another famous series of seamless celestial globes was produced using a lost-wax casting method in the Mughal Empire in 1070 AH (1659–1960 CE) by Muhammad Salih Tahtawi with Arabic and Persian inscriptions. It is considered a major feat in metallurgy. These Mughal metallurgists pioneered the method of wax casting while producing these seamless globes.^[33]

Rocket[link]

Mysorean rockets were upgraded versions of Mughal rockets, these rockets were utilized effectively during the Anglo-Mysore Wars, and were later updated by the British and successively employed during the Napoleonic Wars.

The Mughal Emperor Akbar was the first to initiate and utilize metal cylinder rockets known as bans particularly against War elephants, during the Battle of Sanbal.^[34]

In the year 1657, the Mughal Army under the command of Prince Aurangzeb is known to have utilized Rockets during the Siege of Bidar, in order to annex the Adil Shahi dynasty and its lieutenant Sidi Marjan.^[35] Prince Aurangzeb's forces were also known to have discharged rockets and grenades while scaling the walls. Sidi Marjan himself was mortally wounded after a rocket struck his large gunpowder depot and after twenty-seven day's of hard fighting Bidar was captured by the victorious Mughals.^[35]

Later onward's the Mysorean rockets were upgraded versions of Mughal rockets utilized during the Siege of Jinji by the progeny of the Nawab of Arcot. Hyder Ali's father Fatah Muhammad the constable at Budikote, commanded a corps consisting of 50 rocketmen (Cushoon) for the Nawab of Arcot. Hyder Ali realized the importance of rockets and introduced advanced versions of metal cylinder rockets. These rockets turned fortunes in favor of the Sultanate of Mysore during the Second Anglo-Mysore War particularly during the Battle of Pollilur.^[36]

Gallery[link]

• 

  The Bazaar outside the Wazir Khan Mosque in Lahore.

• 

  A Mughal War elephant guarding the gateway to the Grand Mosque in Mathura.

• 

  Muslims entering a Grand Mosque in the Mughal Empire.

• 

  Mughal troopers purchase copper utensils in the Bazaar.

See also[link]

Mughal architecture

The Taj Mahal in Agra, India built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan

Complex Arabesque inlays at the Mughal Agra Fort

Lalbagh Fort, constructed in the mid 17th century in Dhaka during the reign of Aurangzeb

The Alamgiri Gate is the main entrance to the Lahore Fort built during the reign of Aurangzeb

Jama Masjid, Delhi built by Shah Jahan, 1656

• Mughal (tribe)
• Mughal architecture, a style of architecture
• Mughal Army, was the army of the Mughal Empire
• Mughal gardens, a style of gardens
• Mughal cuisine, a style of cooking
• Mughal painting, a style of painting
• Mughal weapons
• Mughal-e-Azam, an India film
• Mirza Mughal, fifth son of Bahadur Shah II, the last Mughal emperor
• History of India
• Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent
• Mongols, one of several ethnic groups
• Turco-Persian/Turco-Mongol
• List of the Muslim Empires
• List of Sunni Muslim dynasties
• Islamic architecture
• Timurid dynasty
• Charlemagne to the Mughals

References[link]

History of the Mongols

Before Genghis Khan

Khamag Mongol

Mongol Empire

Khanates

- Chagatai Khanate

- Golden Horde

- Ilkhanate

- Yuan Dynasty

Northern Yuan

Timurid Empire

Mughal Empire

Crimean Khanate

Khanate of Sibir

Nogai Horde

Astrakhan Khanate

Kazan Khanate

Zunghar Khanate

Mongolia during Qing

Outer Mongolia (1911-1919)

Republic of China (Occupation of Mongolia)

Mongolian People's Republic (Outer Mongolia)

Modern Mongolia

Mengjiang (Inner Mongolia)

People's Republic of China (Inner Mongolia)

Republic of Buryatia

Kalmyk Republic

Hazara Mongols

Aimak Mongols

Timeline

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