Mughal Empire
Persianate India and the Taj Mahal
Babur from Ferghana
a refugee Timurid prince conquers India with Ottoman gunpowder tactics
1483–1530
Humayun's Catastrophe and Recovery
the second Mughal emperor loses the dynasty, recovers it, and dies on the stairs
1530–1556
Akbar the Great
the illiterate emperor who built the institutional Mughal state
1556–1605
Jahangir and Nur Jahan
the wine-and-opium emperor whose Persian wife actually ran the empire
1605–1627
Shah Jahan and the Peacock Throne
the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort, and the empire at peak architectural extravagance
1628–1658
Aurangzeb
the most controversial Mughal: orthodox Sunni state-builder, religious zealot, or both at once
1658–1707
The Long Decline
Nader Shah sacks Delhi, the Marathas rise, the regional powers break away
1707–1757
The Company Takes Over
a chartered British corporation conquers the wealthiest part of the early-modern world
1757–1849
The 1857 Rebellion and the End
the cartridges, the Delhi siege, and Bahadur Shah Zafar in Rangoon
1857–1858