The
Mughal Empire (
Persian:
مغلیہ سلطنت,
romanized: mug͟hliyah saltanat)
[9] or
Mogul Empire, self-designated as
Gurkani(
Persian:
گورکانیان, Gūrkāniyān, meaning “son-in-law”),
[10] was an early-modern empire that controlled much of
South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries.
[11] For some two centuries, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the
Indus basin in the west, northern
Afghanistan in the northwest, and
Kashmir in the north, to the
highlands of present-day
Assamand
Bangladesh in the east, and the uplands of the
Deccan plateau in
south India.
[12]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,
[13] 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.
[14] This imperial structure lasted until 1720, until shortly after the death of the last major emperor,
Aurangzeb,
[15][16] 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,
[17][18][19] it did not vigorously suppress the cultures and peoples it came to rule; rather it equalized and placated them through new administrative practices,
[20][21] and diverse ruling elites, leading to more efficient, centralised, and standardized rule.
[22] The base of the empire's collective wealth was agricultural taxes, instituted by the third Mughal emperor, Akbar.
[23][24] These taxes, which amounted to well over half the output of a peasant cultivator,
[25] were paid in the well-regulated silver currency,
[22] and caused peasants and artisans to enter larger markets.
[26]The relative peace maintained by the empire during much of the 17th century was a factor in India's economic expansion.
[27]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.
[28] There was more conspicuous consumption among the Mughal elite,
[29]resulting in greater patronage of
painting, literary forms, textiles, and
architecture, especially during the reign of
Shah Jahan.
[30] 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."
[31]