1. Chapter
18.3:
Mughal
Empire

2. Learning Goal
• Describe the Rise of the Mughal Empire
• Analyze the achievements of Akbar

3. Mughal Empire
• Descendent of Ghegis Khan established
the Mughal Empire in India
• Mughal Empire lasted from 1526-mid-
1700’s
• Great rulers included Babur, Akbar,
Salim, who took the title of Jahangir, or
“Grasper of the World”

4. I. Origins
A. Located in India
B. Muslims and Hindus clashed
C. Turkish warlords (descendents of Mongols)
established Delhi Sultanate
1. Delhi capital

5. Babur or Babar
• Founded the Mughal
dynasty
• Took power by force
after he was taken
away from him at age
11
• Overthrow the Sultan
of Delhi
• Sunni Muslim

6. II. Babur – Established the Mughal Empire
A. Conquered part of India
1. used elephants, guns, artillery
2. unsuccessful at unifying India
B. Traded guns along silk road
C. Advocate of arts
D. Wrote history of India

7. III. Akbar – 1556-1605
A. India’s greatest ruler;
Grandson of Babur
B. Muslim
1. Religious tolerance
toward all religions,
esp. Hindus
2. Married women of
various faiths, even
Christian and allowed
them to practice their
faiths

8. C. Military commander
D. Bureaucracy w/ Muslims and non-Muslims
E. Finance
1. eliminated the non-Muslim tax
2. eliminated Hindu pilgrim tax
3. established a graduated income tax
F.Had a personal library of 24,000 books
1. could not read

9. Salim
• Took the title of Jahingir
or “grasper of the world”
• Married a strong
princess, Nur Jahan,
who made up for
Jahingir’s shortcomings
as an emperor
• Was a very weak ruler:
his wife ruled in his
name.

10. Salim continued
• His wife was the strongest female ruler
in India history prior to modern times
(she liked tiger hunting)
• They rejected religious tolerance.
• Islam was the only religion that should
be practiced
• The Sikhs, a blending of Buddhism,
Hinduism, and Sufism were one of their
targets

11. End of religious tolerance:
SHAH JAHAN
• Gained power by assassinating all his
rivals
• His lavish spending on lovely things the
people in his empire were burdened by
taxes, war and famine
• Shah Jahan tried to turn his empire into
an Islamic state

12. Continued…
• Ordered the destruction of Hindu
temples, taxed non-Muslims more
heavily than Muslims, removed Hindus
from high gov’t offices
• Mughal empire reached its peak, but the
religious intolerance weakened the
government

13. Creation of the Taj Mahal
• Shah Jahan, Jahangir’s
grandson, built the Taj
Mahal as a tomb for his
beloved wife, Mumtaz
Mahal
• Tomb as to be “as
beautiful as she was
beautiful”
• Took 22 years and
20,000 workers to build
• Made of marble,
sapphires, bloodstones,
rubies, and lapis lazuli

14. Aurangzeb
• When Shah Jahan gets sick in
1657, his third son, Aurangzeb,
executes his eldest brother and
puts dad in jail until he dies
several years later.
• He becomes ruler in 1658
• Military genius
• Expands the Mughal empire to
the greatest size but the power
of the empire is weakened
during his reign

15. Why rulers should be nice:
Aurangzeb and his troubles
• Brutally oppresses his people
• He is a devout Muslim
• Enforces strict Islamic Law-no drinking,
gambling, or any other vice
• Brought back tax on Hindus stopped by
Ackbar.
• Removed them from government
positions.
• Destroyed their monuments

16. Continued…
• Hindu Rajputs rebel along with the
Sikhs
• To pay for the military to put down these
revolts he taxed the Hindus even more,
which ticked them off even more and
that led to rebellion
• After Aurangzeb dies the empire falls
apart. Emperors are now are just a
wealthy figurehead that rule a divided
patchwork of independent states

17. Europeans arrive
• 1498: Vasco deGama arrives in Calicuta
• Mughal emperors did not see the arrival of
Europeans as a threat to their existence
• Aurangzeb gives the Portuguese control over
Bombay in 1661
• The key to controlling Indian trade was controlling the
seas around India
– Mughal navy was too weak to control the seas
• Portuguese dominated trade with India during 1500’s.
Then the Dutch, the French, then the English.
• The English don’t leave until the 20th century

18. Mughals lose power to the
Europeans
• By mid-1700’s Mughal empire was too weak
to survive
• English and French traders played rival
princes off of each other
• British form the British East India Company
and the French form their own
• British and French rule different regions by
forming alliances with local officials and the
independent rajas

19. IV. Art
A. Supported by Sultans
B. Library
C. Taj Mahal - tomb
D. Peacock Throne
V. Empire fell b/c of religious tensions with later
rulers, famine and increasing taxes

20. Taj Mahal Peacock Throne