The Mughal Empire
Early HistoryIn India, 8th century, invaders came to India. They called themselves Mughals, after the Mongols. During a bloody battle with between the Hindus and the Muslims, it seemed the Muslims could only get to the Indus RIver Vally (see Indus). However, in 1000, the Turkish army dominated India. They're leader was Sultan Mahmud. They burnt many temples and cities, and made the Hindu people their own.
Later, between the 13th and 16th centuries, there were lots of different rulers that ruled this new territory. They ruled from Delhi, and in 1398, Timur and Lame destroyed Delhi, and for 3 centuries, nobody did anything. Then finally in the 16th century, a leader arose.
And that leader's name was Babur. Now, Babur was 11, in 1494, and when Babur inherited the empire. His empire was taken by elders for apparent reasons. Later, he built up and army. Babur was a great army leader, winning with only 12,000 against 100,000 in Delhi. After he died, his son took over, but later the throne was taken by him 13 year old grandson. His name was Akbar, and this young man would let the Mughal Empire into a Golden Age. |
AkbarBabur's grandson, Akbar, who ruled from 1556 to 1605. Akbar was smart. He had a powerful military with heavy artillery such as cannons, He also put some rajputs in office. The rajputs were his enemy. Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. Akbar eventually unified 100 million people.
Due to so many cultures being blended together, Akbar made new art, literature, languages, laws and ideas. In Akbar's empire, the official language was Persian, but common people spoke Hindi and soldiers spoke Urdu (Persian, Arabic, and Hindi). Another new addition to the culture was art called miniatures, which were book illustrations. The most famous miniatures appeared in the Book of Akbar. A new famous poet, Tulsi Das, wrote Ramayana and many other poems. Architecture of the period was large structures with lots of details embedded. Often, these details told stories about Hindu themes. Akbar allowed religious freedom, marrying various women of different religions himself. Akbar himself was Muslim, but defended non-muslims from a "religionist" tax called jizya. He made a gradual income tax not unlike the U.S.'s, that fairly distributed taxation among his followers. This made more people pay their taxes. Akbar also allowed any religion or nationality to be in office.
Although you are hearing all this great stuff about Akbar, he did have one mediocre policy: his land policy. He gave lots of land to his government employees, but then when they died, he took back the land. Therefore, their families did not get to keep the land. However, it did stop aristocracy in the Mughal Empire. |
Akbar's SucessorsIn 1605, Akbar died. His first sucessor to the throne was Jahangir, his first son. Jahangir gave the power from the state to his wife, Nur Jahan. She was an important political leader who made her father the prime minister of the Mughal court. She also tried to prepare her first son, Khusrau, for the throne. however, when Khusrau rebelled against his father because he was not Islam, but Sikhs. Sikhs is a religion of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sufism combined. After this, the Sikhs became very hated in India.
Shah Jahan was the next sucessor, being Jahangir's son. He killed anyone that threatened to take him away from the throne. He loved his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. the Taj Mahal was built as a tomb for Mumtaz Mahal when she died giving birth to child number 14. The Taj Mahal is an amazing marble structure in India that still stands today. India at the time of Shah Mahal was in bad shape. A lack of food, money, and technology was sweeping the empire. Also, in the royal court, Shah jahan became sick, and his 4 brothers tried to grab the throne. Auranwgzeb, the third son, won the battle and got the throne from 1658 to 1707. he put his father in jail and killed his brother. Auranwgzeb foced people to be Islamic, not drink alcohol, or gamble. He made people pray at a specific time every day. He brought back teh non-Muslim tax (see "Akbar"), destroyed all Hindu temples of worship, and fired any Hindus from office. Therefore, the Hindu rajputs had a revolution, and lost. Also, the Sikhs started a military state in Northwest India. To pay for all these wars against enemies, he taxed Hindus even more. This created more hostility. Aurangzeb hurt India. he took away their resources, and forced the Mughal empire to die out. After he died himself, many people fought for the throne. All this ended with wathe term emperor meaning rich instead of the all powerful leaders that the past leaders were considered. |