1526-1857

Right: Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire.
Below: Akbar the Great, one of the greatest rulers in history.


In 1526, Zahiruddin Muhammad, better known as Babur, lost his kingdom in central Asia to other Turks, and thus invaded India through Afghanistan. Babur's troops defeated the last of the Lodi rulers of Delhi at the battle of Panipat, and within two years of his entry into India, Babur had controlled much of the Indus and Ganges River valleys. He established a for his new "empire" a capital at Delhi, thus beginning the Mughal Empire.

After Babur's death in 1530 however, the reigns of the new empire were handed to his son, Humayan. However, within a decade rival forces drove Humayan into exile with the Safavids. Only in 1556 was Humayan able to restore the Mughal rule in India. He died within one year of his restoration.

When the leadership of the empire was passed onto Akbar, or Akbar the Great, as he was called. Interestingly, Akbar's reign was contemporaneous with those of several other phenomenal monarchs, including Elizabeth I, Suleyman the Magnificent, and Abbas I, and he was considered to be one of the greatest rulers ever. Akbar brought in several reforms, including equal treatment of both Hindus and women, prohibition of Sati, and numerous attempts to unify Muslims and Hindus. He tried to put this into action by introducing a new religion, Din-i-llahi, which combined the beliefs. The religon was a failure with little converts and several opposers. Although some of Akbar's attempts of unification and reform were shunned, he did prove a strong factor in leading the Mughal Empire to its peak.

The Mughal Empire had truly hit its perk through the rules of Akbar's succesors, Jahangir and Shah Jahan, who also took the Indian economy through the roof with new trading contacts with European countries, especially Britain.

After the rule of the Mughal Empire's last, powerful emperor, Aurangzeb , who stressed mainly the expansion of arts, the empires imploded through several rebellions and uprisings which led the empire in ruins. Many groups capitalized from this collapse, but none more than the Europeans who quickly saw the door for intervention open.

Though not the greatest empire in India's long history, the Mughal Empire showed a new age of change from old traditions, and helped India establish strong contacts with other nations other than the Muslims and East Asia.