The Mughal Empire (1526-1858)

Summary

The Mughal Empire was one of more well known Muslim empires that had Mongol and Turkic origin. The center of their empire was in Northern India. It effectively ruled most of India from the early sixteenth century to the mid nineteenth century. They were able to attempt to integrate Muslims with the Hindus as an Indian state. This is were the term Mughal comes from. The empire was started a by a Turkic prince named Babur around 1526. Babur defeated a Afghan Lodi Sultan and conquered the land that became their empire. The Mughal Empire was also known as "the gunpowder empire" for the first use of gunpowder in India. Babur did not make an emphasis on his people to all be Muslims as it was the ruling class. It was not until Akbar as the ruler that he put taxes on non Muslims. The Mughal Empire started to fall in the nineteenth century when British started to control key parts of land to the empire. They had treaties with the British that allowed the empire to stay but with authorization of rules from the British. Muslims and Hindus attempted to rebel against the British but the threat of the British and European conquers would doom the people in the empire. Without wealth and a sustainable military the Mughal Empire started to deteriorate and ended.

Significance

The Mughal Empire is significant for multiple reasons. They were not the only Islamic empires in the Eurasian regions. The Safavid and Ottoman empires were two powerful empires. Both were ruling for centuries and at times had conflict with the Mughal Empire. Mughal practiced in warfare, diplomacy, and commerce. This resulted in the transformation of South Asia into a dominant land power. The relationship of the Mughals and the Europeans was very beneficial at the beginning of the empire but once Britain learned about the geopolitics of the area they had to move their armies to neighboring lands and later to the empire. Decades of British involvement of the Mughal Empire with treaties and "rule" over the empire led to Bahadur Shah II being the last Mughal ruler after his involvement in the Indian Mutiny of 1857 which was an attempt to overthrow British control of the region.

Map Analysis

This map is unique as it shows the dominant religions of each country. The interesting thing about India is that their primary religion is Hinduism but they have the third most Muslims of any country in the world. They have about 200 million Muslims currently living in India. That is only 14.6% of their entire population. For example, Pakistan has the second most Muslims with more than 200 million Muslims but that is over 96.5% of their entire population. The Mughal Empire resulted in millions of Muslims migrating to India and even though it a relatively small portion of their population it is currently bigger than 48 of the 50 Muslim majority countries.

Reflection

The Mughal Empire plays an important role in the history of South Asia. For more than 3 centuries this empire was successfully able to maintain control most of India during that time. They were able to become one of the most dominant empires with the geographical advantages as well as the refined practice in warfare, diplomacy, and commerce. They were able to make their empire flourish during its time and was revolutionary in some aspects. All of South Asia is forver changed from the events that took place during the rule of the Mughal Empire.

Works Cited

“Akbar the Great and the Consolidation of the Empire.” Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, inc., www.britannica.com/topic/Mughal-dynasty/Akbar-the-Great-and-the-consolidation-of-the-empire.

“Islam by Country.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Feb. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_by_country.

“The Mughal Empire.” MANAS, southasia.ucla.edu/history-politics/mughals-and-medieval/.

“Mughal Empire.” Visit the Main Page, www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Mughal_Empire.

Rahul Tongia, Anurag Sehgal, and Saneet Chakradeo. “Mughal Empire and the Making of a Region: Locating South Asia in Early Modern International Order.” Brookings, 1 July 2020, www.brookings.edu/articles/making-of-a-region-locating-south-asia-in-early-modern-international-order/.