Mughaak empire chapter 1

The Mughal Empire was an Islamic early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries.[11] For some two hundred years, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus river basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to the highlands of present-day Assam and Bangladesh in the east, and the uplands of the Deccan Plateau in South IndiaThe Mughal Empire is conventionally said to have been founded in 1526 by Babur, a warrior chieftain from what is today 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 maximumgeographical extent. The empire's loss of control over the Indian subcontinent was catalyzed by their loss to the Maratha Empire in the Mughal–Maratha Wars. Reduced subsequently to the region in and around Old Delhi by 1760, 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 marketsThe 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 Maha