9781422285855

Portrait of Babur (from around 1605), leader of the Mughal Empire, which greatly increased under his rule.

In 1526, the era of divergent Muslim dynas- ties ended when a monarch named Babur entered India from present-day Uzbekistan to start the Mughal Empire. “Mughal” is Per- sian for Mongol, the group from which Babur descended. His empire quickly stretched across present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. Emperors of subsequent gen-

erations—especially his grandson, Akbar—further increased the size of the empire. It was not to last, however; by the seventeenth century, the merciless sixth emperor of the dynasty, Aurangzeb, met increased resistance from both his subjects and his allies. When he died in 1707, the power of the Mughal Empire had eroded.

The palace of Fatehpur Sikri, founded by the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1569.