Mughals

**Made by: Delaney Herring, Marissa Tapscott, Naomi Palacios & Haley Keller. ** **Introduction **  The Mughal Empire of India had a ruling time frame of 1526-1858. The Mughals were descendants of the Timurids a Central Asian Sunni Muslim. While beginning their raid of power in the 15th century the height of their power existed in the 17th century. The Mughals extended their territory from Bengal in the east to Balochistan in the west. They ruled over 150 million subjects almost 1/4th of the current world population.

 The Mughal Empire was lead by many strong leaders.The mughal empire, like other empires, power was passed down through generation.The first ruler that happened to name the empire was Barbur. the power was then soon passed down to a thirteen year old dyslexic named Akbar. Akbar did many great things. Akbar was a very strong leader that extended the empire over half of the indian subcontinent. Though Akbar was different then a lot of his people being a Muslim leader for an area full of Hindus. Non Muslims weren't given as many opportunities in the ruling courts as Muslims. Akbar was a different type of ruler and broke with tradition. Akbar decided to take all his people Hindu and Muslim and put them together to create a stronger government.He removed taxes that were just to Non-Muslims and even limited farmers taxations as well. Akbar tried to mix Hindus and Muslims by inviting Hindus into the government and military. Arkar also encourage spiritual intellectual discourse from scholars from many cultural backgrounds. Akbar married a Hindu princess and encouraged her to teach him Hinduism and practice it in their home. Akbar becoming the first Mughal leader to marry a Hindu. Akbar ruling was about the balance of diversity and centralizing the empire within himself. Akbar died in 1605 ending his rule though his grandchildren did keep his ways of life until his great grandson Aurangzed unturned many of Akbar’s measures.
 * Political **

 The Indian economy remained as successful under the ruling of the Mughals as it was previously. It flourished as the creation of the road system and a uniform currency came to surface. Mughals traded mainly manufactured goods and peasant-grown cash crops and sold them throughout the world. Around the 1600’s the gross domestic product of India was estimated to be 24.3% of the world economy, 2nd largest in the world. This all occurred under the Mughal power. When the Mughal empire expanded to 90% of South Asia they began to enforce a uniform customs & tax administration system. Most industry under Mughal rule was based in rural areas. When tobacco was introduced in the 1600’s it became a large cash crop for the Mughal’s. As the use of agriculture grew in their economy, techniques used to grow crops remained the same. The Mughal’s not only catered to a large domestic demand but also to a large international demand.  Around this time cotton cloth was a huge demand and only a few cotton industries were set up around the world. At that point in history, Bengal was known for its quality silk and cotton cloth. The Mughal’s generally traded with central Asia but did trade internationally. An emperor name Shah Jahan imposed heavy taxes on the people and demanded half of all the crops grown in the country be sent to him. As a result, hardship and famine broke out.
 * Economic **


 * Social **

 Mughal rulers made their lavish courts centers of Art and Learning. Music, painting, and literature flourished in Mughal India. Under the ruling of Akbar, music, painting and literature flourished throughout the Mughal's empire. Akbar greatly valued education even though he himself could not read he set up a library for his people. The Mughal's high valued education and with education came inventions and money. Education was highly promoted in the Mughal empire. Tawaifs were high class courtesans who served the moneyed and the nobility. You become a Tawaif once you mature and possess a sufficient command over dancing and singing. The roles of a Tawaif were to dance, sing, recite poetry, and entertain their suitors. The ruling class of the Mughal empire were Sunni Muslim, but majority of the population were of the Hindu religion because of pervious ruling. Akbar became interested about all religions and invited religious scholars of all faiths to his court to spread knowledge of other religions. His conclusion was that all religions share the same divine truth. In order to accommodate every religion, a new religion was formed called Divine Faith. This was a blend of Islam, Hinduism and Christianity.  Mughals treated their women with much respect. Women were patrons of the arts. Low class were neutralized by rising population growth, high taxes, and the collapse of traditional industry. The middle class consisted of a few wealthy merchants living in costal towns. The bulk of the merchants pretended to be poor to avoid taxation. Also, most of the population in the Moghul empire were Islamic.


 * Works Cited **
 * - "The Mughal Empire of India (Overview)." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. ** **- Farah, Mounir A. //World History: The Human Experience//. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997. Print.**