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.. Quote: "The realm so defined and governed was a vast territory of some , 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."
The Mughal Empire is conventionally said to have been founded in 1526 by Babur, a Timurid prince hailing from the Fergana Valley in Central Asia, who, with assistance from the Safavid and Ottoman empires, Quote: "Babur then adroitly gave the Ottomans his promise not to attack them in return for their military aid, which he received in the form of the newest of battlefield inventions, the matchlock gun and cast cannons, as well as instructors to train his men to use them." defeated the Sultan of Delhi, Ibrahim Lodi, in the First Battle of Panipat and swept down the plains of northern India. The Mughal imperial structure, however, is sometimes dated to 1600, during the rule of Babur's grandson, Akbar.. Quote: "Another possible date for the beginning of the Mughal regime is 1600, when the institutions that defined the regime were set firmly in place and when the heartland of the empire was defined; both of these were the accomplishment of Babur's grandson Akbar." This imperial structure lasted until 1720, shortly after the death of the last major emperor, Aurangzeb,. 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.". Quote: "By the latter date (1720) the essential structure of the centralized state was disintegrated beyond repair." 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,. Quote: "The vaunting of such progenitors pointed up the central character of the Mughal regime as a warrior state: it was born in war and it was sustained by war until the eighteenth century, when warfare destroyed it.". 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. Local military checkpoints or thanas kept order. Directly appointed imperial military and civil commanders (faujdars) controlled the cavalry and infantry, or the administration, in each region. The peasantry in turn were often armed, able to provide supporters for regional powers, and liable to rebellion on their account: continual pacification was required of the rulers." Quote: "With Safavid and Ottoman aid, the Mughals would soon join these two powers in a triumvirate of warrior-driven, expansionist, and both militarily and bureaucratically efficient early modern states, now often called "gunpowder empires" due to their common proficiency is using such weapons to conquer lands they sought to control." it did not vigorously suppress the cultures and peoples it came to rule; rather, it equalised and placated them through new administrative practices, and diverse ruling elites, leading to more efficient, centralised, and standardised rule. The basis of the empire's collective wealth was agricultural taxes, implemented by the third Mughal emperor, Akbar.. Quote: "The resource base of Akbar's new order was land revenue". Quote: "The Mughal empire was based in the interior of a large land mass and derived the vast majority of its revenues from agriculture." These taxes, which amounted to well over half the output of a peasant cultivator,. 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. Moreover, payments were exacted in money, and this required a well regulated silver currency." were paid in a well-regulated silver currency, and allowed peasants and artisans to enter larger markets.. Quote: "His stipulation that land taxes be paid in cash forced peasants into market networks, where they could obtain the necessary money, while the standardization of imperial currency made the exchange of goods for money easier."
The relative peace maintained by the empire during much of the 17th century was a factor in India's economic expansion.. Quote: "Above all, the long period of relative peace ushered in by Akbar's power, and maintained by his successors, contributed to 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.. Quote: "As the European presence in India grew, their demands for Indian goods and trading rights increased, thus bringing even greater wealth to the already flush Indian courts." There was conspicuous consumption among the Mughal elite,. Quote: "The elite spent more and more money on luxury goods and sumptuous lifestyles, and the rulers built entire new capital cities at times." resulting in greater patronage of painting, literary forms, textiles, and architecture, especially during the reign of Shah Jahan.. Quote: "All these factors resulted in greater patronage of the arts, including textiles, paintings, architecture, jewellery, and weapons to meet the ceremonial requirements of kings and princes." 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 has been described as "the jewel of Muslim art in India, and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage".
Name The word Mughal (also spelled Mogul or Moghul in English) is the Indo-Persian form of Mongol. However, the Mughal dynasty's early followers were Chagatai Turks and not Mongols. The term Mughal was applied to them in India by association with the Mongols and to distinguish them from the Afghan elite who ruled the Delhi Sultanate. In the West, the terms Grand Mughal and Mughal were used for the emperor and, by extension, the empire as a whole. The term remains disputed by Indologists. In Marshall Hodgson's view, the dynasty should be called Timurid/Timuri or Indo-Timurid.
The closest to an official name for the empire was Hindustan, which was documented in the Ain-i-Akbari. Mughal administrative records also refer to the empire as "dominion of Hindustan" (), "country of Hind" (), "Sultanate of al-Hind" (), as observed in the epitaph of Emperor Aurangzeb, or endonymous identification from emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar as "Land of Hind" () in Hindustani. Contemporary Chinese chronicles referred to the empire as Hindustan ().
The Mughal designation for their dynasty was Gurkani (), a reference to their descent from the Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur, who took the title 'son-in-law' after his marriage to a Chinggisid princess.
History
Babur and Humayun (1526–1556)
The Mughal Empire was founded by Babur (reigned 1526–1530), a Central Asian ruler who was descended from the Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur (the founder of the Timurid Empire) on his father's side, and from Genghis Khan on his mother's side. Paternally, Babur belonged to the Turkified Barlas tribe of Mongol origin.Gérard Chaliand, A Global History of War: From Assyria to the Twenty-First Century, University of California Press, California 2014, p. 151 Ousted from his ancestral domains in Central Asia, Babur turned to India to satisfy his ambitions. He established himself in Kabul and then pushed steadily southward into India from Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass. Babur's forces defeated Ibrahim Lodi, Sultan of Delhi, in the First Battle of Panipat in 1526. Through his use of firearms and cannons, he was able to shatter Ibrahim's armies despite being at a numerical disadvantage, expanding his dominion up to the mid Indo-Gangetic Plain. After the battle, the centre of Mughal power shifted to Agra. In the decisive Battle of Khanwa, fought near Agra a year later, the Timurid forces of Babur defeated the combined Rajput armies of Rana Sanga of Mewar, with his native cavalry employing traditional flanking tactics.
The preoccupation with wars and military campaigns, however, did not allow the new emperor to consolidate the gains he had made in India. The instability of the empire became evident under his son, Humayun (reigned 1530–1556), who was forced into exile in Persia by the rebellious Sher Shah Suri (reigned 1540–1545). Humayun's exile in Persia established diplomatic ties between the Safavid and Mughal courts and led to increasing Persian cultural influence in the later restored Mughal Empire. Humayun's triumphant return from Persia in 1555 restored Mughal rule in some parts of India, but he died in an accident the next year.
Akbar to Aurangzeb (1556–1707)
Akbar (reigned 1556–1605) was born Jalal-ud-din Muhammad in the Umarkot Fort, to Humayun and his wife Hamida Banu Begum, a Persian princess. Akbar succeeded to the throne under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped consolidate the Mughal Empire in India. Through a series of wars, Akbar was able to extend the empire in all directions and controlled almost the entire Indian subcontinent north of the Godavari River. He created a new ruling elite loyal to him, implemented a modern administration, and encouraged cultural developments. He increased trade with European trading companies. India developed a strong and stable economy, leading to commercial expansion and economic development. Akbar allowed freedom of religion at his court and attempted to resolve socio-political and cultural differences in his empire by establishing a new religion, Din-i Ilahi, with strong characteristics of a ruler cult. He left his son an internally stable state, which was in the midst of its golden age, but before long signs of political weakness would emerge.
Jahangir (born Salim, reigned 1605–1627) was born to Akbar and his wife Mariam-uz-Zamani, an Indian princess. Salim was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti. He "was addicted to opium, neglected the affairs of the state, and came under the influence of rival court cliques". Jahangir distinguished himself from Akbar by making substantial efforts to gain the support of the Islamic religious establishment. One way he did this was by bestowing many more madad-i-ma'ash (tax-free personal land revenue grants given to religiously learned or spiritually worthy individuals) than Akbar had. In contrast to Akbar, Jahangir came into conflict with non-Muslim religious leaders, notably the Sikh guru Arjan, whose execution was the first of many conflicts between the Mughal Empire and the Sikh community.