1. Non sufficit orbis – Philip II’s global empire after 1580

2. Imperial Case Study 2 The Mughal Empire (1526-1857)

3. ‘…to the Mogor [Mughal emperor Akbar, r
‘…to the Mogor [Mughal emperor Akbar, r ], the whole world seems small, and he thinks that everything within it belongs to him’.
Philip II of Spain to Viceroy Dom Francisco da Gama, 15 January 1598

4. How to rule this empire? Expansion: military and dynastic
Administration and economy: managing plural populations
Religion: syncretism and diversity
Projecting power: internal and external challenges
Disintegration and decline

5. Mughal dynasty (1526-1857) Babur (r. 1526-1530)
Humayun (r ; )
Akbar (r )
Jahangir (r )
Shahjahan (r )
Aurangzeb (r )
Bahadur Shah (r )
Jahandar Shah (r )
Farrukhsiyar (r )
Muhammad Shah (r ) -
Bahadur Shah II (r )

6. Expansion – key dates 1526: Babur defeats sultan of Delhi at Panipat
1540/55: Humayun expelled by Sher Khan Suri/ returns in triumph
1560s: extension of Mughal rule in Rajasthan
1572-3: Akbar conquers Gujarat
s: Mughal conquest of Bengal
1636: Bijapur acknowledges Mughal suzerainty
1686-7: Bijapur and Golconda formally incorporated
1698: Conquest of Gingi extends Mughal rule deep into South India

7. Administration and Economy
Diverse cadre of officers (Chaghatai, Uzbek, Turani, Irani, Rajput, Maratha, Afghan, Indian Muslims)
Mansabdari system determining the rank, pay-scale, and military duties of office-holders
Centralised revenue system, with (rotating and non- hereditary) land grants (jagirs) made to mansabdars as reward for service
Agriculture + manufacturing: silk and cotton textiles
Oceanic trade: private merchants and members of governing elite

8. Religion
Mughal emperors followed Sunni Islam, yet great openness to Sufism and generally tolerant of other religions
Syncretism and personality cult Akbar
jizya tax on non-Muslims abolished in 1579; reinstated in 1679
Religion no bar to entering Mughal elite
Greater turn towards Sunni orthodoxy under Aurangzeb, yet few forced conversions

9. Projecting Power: Internal and external challenges
Internal: vassals and tributaries (i.e. rajas, zamindars), nobles, rival members of imperial family (succession disputes)
External: Safavids, Uzbeks, Maghs, Deccan sultanates, Marathas, Sikhs, Europeans
Responses:
Diplomacy and force
Imperial ideology expressed through elaborate court ceremonial, art and architecture

10. Projecting Power: Internal and external challenges
Internal: vassals and tributaries (i.e. rajas, zamindars), nobles, rival members of imperial family (succession disputes)
External: Safavids, Uzbeks, Maghs, Deccan sultanates, Marathas, Europeans
Diplomacy and force
Imperial ideology expressed through elaborate court ceremonial, art and architecture

11. Disintegration and Decline post-1707: ‘long twilight’ rather than rapid demise
Weakening of central authority after death Aurangzeb (1707)
Emergence of successor states, e.g. Bengal under Nawab Murshid Quli Khan ( )
Rise to power Marathas
Sack of Delhi by Nader Shah (1739)
British assume the diwani over Bengal (1765)
Bahadur Shah II deposed by British after 1857 rebellion (“Mutiny”)

12. Conclusions
Comparing empires: seeing the diversity of political and cultural arrangements across early modern world
Mughal empire based on contiguous territorial expansion; Habsburg empire maritime and colonial
Mughal rule not predominantly extractive and exploitative: regions flourished
Ethnic and religious pluralism; composite elite
Based on compromise with local and regional elites: permitting plurality within empire, yet opening it to centrifugal forces
‘[The Mughals ruled] over a complex and plural empire with a fair degree of ideological flexibility.’
Sanjay Subrahmanyam, ‘A Tale of Three Empires: The Mughals, Ottomans, and Habsburgs in a Comparative Context’ (2006), p. 82.