The Mughal Empire 1526 - 1857

Babur

In 1526, Babur, a Timurid (Turco-Persian) descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan, swept across the Khyber Pass and established the Mughal Empire, which lasted for over 200 years. he succeeded in laying the basis for the Mughal Empire which strenghtened the Persian culture of Muslim India .Although Babur hailed from the Barlas tribe which was of Mongol origin, his tribe had embraced Turkic and Persian culture.In 1526, Babur defeated the last of the pashtun Delhi Sultans, Ibrahim Shah Lodi, at the First Battle of Panipat.

To secure his newly founded kingdom, Babur then had to face the Rajput confederacy under the leadership of Rana Sanga of Chittor, at the battle of Khanwa. These early military successes of the Mughals in India, achieved by an army much smaller than its opponents, have been attributed to their cohesion, mobility, horse-mounted archers, and use of artillery

Babur's son Humayun succeeded him in 1530 but suffered major reversals at the hands of the Pashtun Sher Shah Suri and effectively lost most of the fledgling empire before it could grow beyond a minor regional state. From 1540 onwards Humayun became a ruler in exile, reaching the Court of Safavid ruler in 1542 while his forces still controlled some fortresses and small regions. But when the Afghans fell into disarray with the death of Sher Shah Suri, Humayun returned with a mixed army, raised more troops and managed to reconquer Delhi in 1555.

His son Akbar was an infant when Humayun decided to cross the rough terrain of Makran with his wife, and so was left behind to keep him from the rigours of the long journey. Since he did not go to Persia with his parents, he was eventually transported from the Rajput fortress of Umarkot in Sind where he was born to be raised for a time by his uncle Askari in the rugged country of Afghanistan. There he became an excellent outdoors man, horseman, hunter and learned the arts of the warrior.

Within a few months after the resurgent Humayun conquered the central plateau around Delhi, he was killed in an accident, leaving an unsettled realm still involved in war. Akbar (1556 to 1605) succeeded his father on 14 February 1556, while in the midst of a war against Sikandar Shah Suri for the reclamation of the Mughal throne. Thus, he was thrust onto the throne and soon recorded his first victory at the age of 13 or 14, and the rump remnant began to grow, then it grew considerably, so that he became called Akbar, as he was a wise ruler, set fair but steep taxes, he investigated the production in a certain area and the inhabitants were taxed accordingly 1/3 of the agricultural produce. He also set up an efficient bureaucracy and was tolerant of religious differences which softened the resistance by the conquered.

The Taj Mahal, built under Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

Jahangir, the son of Mughal Emperor Akbar and Rajput princess Mariam-uz-Zamani, ruled the empire from 1605 - 1627. In October 1627, Shah Jahan, the son of Mughal Emperor Jahangir and Rajput princess Manmati, succeeded to the throne, where he inherited a vast and rich empire in India; and at mid-century this was perhaps the greatest empire in the world. Shah Jahan commissioned the famous Taj Mahal (1630?1653) in Agra as a tomb for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their 14th child.

By 1700 the empire reached its peak with major parts of present day India, except for the North eastern states, the Sikh lands in Punjab, the lands of the Marathas, areas in the south and most of Afganistan under its domain, under the leadership of Aurangzeb Alamgir. Aurangzeb was the last of what are now referred to as the Great Mughal kings.

The Mughal Dynasty ruled most of the Indian subcontinent by 1600 .

At the height of its power, around 1700, it controlled most of the subcontinent and parts of what is now Afghanistan . Following 1720 it declined rapidly. Its decline has been variously explained as caused by wars of succession, agrarian crises fuelling local revolts, the growth of religious intolerance and British colonialism. 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.

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