Understanding the Indian Economy from the Post-Reforms of 1991, Volume I

CHAPTER 2

Evolution of the Indian Economy: The Early Muslim Period and the Mughal Empire (1200 to 1760)

The Mughal Empire was a Persianate empire. “The Mughal Empire (also known as the Mogul, Timurid, or Hindustan Empire) is considered one of the classic periods of India’s long and amazing history. In 1526, Zahir-ud-Din Muhammad Babur, a man with Mongol heritage from Central Asia, established a foothold in the Indian subcontinent that was to last for more than three centuries. By 1650, the Mughal Empire was one of three leading powers of the Islamic world, the so-called Gunpowder Empires, including the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Persia. At its height in about 1690, the Mughal Empire ruled almost the entire subcontinent of India, controlling four ...