The Mughal Empire () was an empire that at its greatest territorial extent ruled most of the Indian subcontinent between 1526 and 1707.

The territorial gains of the Mongols persisted into the 14th century in China ( Yuan Dynasty ), into the 15th century in Persia ( Timurid dynasty ) and in Russia ( Tatar and Mongol raids against Russian states ), and into the 19th century in India ( the Mughal Empire ).

Much like his father, Jahangir was dedicated to the expansion of Mughal held territory through conquest.

The Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah tried to halt Maratha expansion after the year 1723.

The flat and fertile terrain has facilitated the repeated rise and expansion of various empires, including the Gupta empire, Kanauj, Magadha, the Maurya Empire, the Mughal Empire and the Sultanate of Delhi – all of which had their demographic and political centers in the Indo-Gangetic plain.

By the 18th century, the once vast Mughal Empire was collapsing, undone by internal dissension and by expansion of the Marathas from the Deccan, the British from Bengal, and the Afghans from Afghanistan.

The Ahoms prevented Mughal expansion in Assam.

Vijayanagara empire rose in response to the Muslim intervention and covered the most of south India and acted as a bulwark against Mughal expansion into the south.

The Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah and his Nawab s began to halt all Maratha expansion after the year 1723.

His descendants also employed gunpowder weapons in their expansion of the Mughal Empire, such as Akbar the Great at the second Battle of Panipat ( 1556 ) against Adil Shah Suri and Hemu of the Sur Dynasty.

This was the peak of Maratha expansion, which caused great trouble for the Mughal Empire, already weak with no strong ruler.

The greatest threat to Bijapur's security was, from the late 16th century, the expansion of the Mughal Empire into the Deccan.

With the expansion of the Mughal Empire, the sovereign status of the Nag Dynasty was technically affected, but they continued to rule and administer independently until the advent of the East India Company.

The art of Mughal painting reached great heights under Jahangir's reign.

Under Shah Jahan's rule, Mughal artistic and architectural achievements reached their zenith.

They then reached Delhi on May 11, set the company's toll house afire, and marched into the Red Fort, where they asked the Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II, to become their leader and reclaim his throne.

The other sophisticated tradition was the Persian carpet which reached its peak in the 16th and early 17th century in works like the Ardabil Carpet and Coronation Carpet ; during this century the Ottoman and Mughal courts also began to sponsor the making in their domains of large formal carpets, evidently with the involvement of designers used to the latest court style in the general Persian tradition.

Construction of domes in the Muslim world reached its peak during the 16th – 18th centuries, when the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal Empires, ruling an area of the World compromising North Africa, the Middle East and South-and Central Asia, applied lofty domes to their religious buildings to create a sense of heavenly transcendence.

The Bhakti movement reached North India in the Delhi Sultanate and throughout the Mughal era contributed significantly to the characteristics of Hinduism as the religion of the general population under the rule of a Muslim elite.

The Jesuits in India, however, were not convinced, because, according to their informants ( merchants who visited the Mughal capitals Agra and Lahore ), Cathay-a country that could be reached via Kashgar-had a large Christian population, while the Jesuits in China had not found any Christians there.

During his reign, the Mughal empire reached its greatest extent ( the Bijapur and Golconda Sultanates which had been reduced to vassalage by Shah Jahan were formally annexed ).

It was when the dance reached the Mughal court after the 16 < sup > th </ sup > century that Kathak began to acquire its distinctive shape and features.

He was then sent on an embassy by one of the native princes, and via Uttarakhand finally reached the Mughal Empire and its residence in Agra in 1654.

However, when the news reached the Mughal Emperor, he could not speak, suddenly became sick and did not come out of his apartments for three days.

After the assassination of Alamgir II in 1759, the Peshwa under the sway of Sadashivrao Bhau had reached the peak of its short-lived power particularly when their involvement in the assassination had become eminent when he discussed abolishing the Mughal Empire and placing Vishwasrao on the throne in Delhi by bribing or deposing Imad-ul-Mulk.

Modelled on Gur-e Amir, the tomb of his ancestor and Asia's conqueror Timur in Samarkand, it created a precedent for future Mughal architecture of royal mausolea, which reached its zenith with the Taj Mahal, at Agra.

Without any shadow of doubt, it can be said that the jamdani industry of East Bengla reached its zenith during the Mughal era.

The art of making jamdani designs on fine fabric reached its zenith during Mughal rule.

When the Mughal march reached the Manas river in March – April 1669 and defeated some Ahom forces, Lachit decided on a strategic retreat to Guwahati.

Meanwhile, Mughal reinforcements in the shape of war-vessels and imperial officers ( Omraos ) reached Ram Singh, along with the Mughal admiral, Munnawar Khan and the Mughal Viceroy Shaista Khan, sent the message that Ram Singh was sent to fight the Assamese, not make friends with them.

Shah Alam II, was escorted by Mahadji Scindia and left Allahabad in May 1771 and in January 1772 reached Delhi with a battle-ready force trained on the European model, under the command of his able and loyal commander, Mirza Najaf Khan, together they sought to restore some of the long lost glories of the Mughal Empire.

After ten horrible weeks during which the honor of the royal family and prestige of the Mughal Empire reached its lowest ebb, loyal subjects and allies of Shah Alam II, led by Farzana Zeb un-Nissa, Ismail Beg, Mirza Shafi, Asaf-Ud-Dowlah and Mahadaji Shinde fought their way into Delhi.

The art of miniature painting reached its glory during the Mughal period.

But under Aurangzeb the Mughal Empire reached its greatest extent and successfully incorporated military, political and social elites of all religions into its structure.

When the news of this brutal murder reached Mulla Saeed, who was compiling the above mentioned historic religious document and was in constant company of Aurenzeb Alamgir, he conveyed this information to the Mughal Emperor, who ordered the Subedar of Awadh to completely destroy Sahala and provided two bungalows constructed by the French in Lucknow for residence to the descendants of Farangi Mahall.

During the Mughal era, the dominant political forces consisted of the Mughal Empire and its tributaries and, later on, the rising successor states-including the Maratha Empire-which fought an increasingly weak Mughal dynasty.

After the Battle of Buxar in 1764, the company acquired the rights of administration in Bengal from Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II ; this marked the beginning of its formal rule, which within the next century engulfed most of India and extinguished the Moghul rule and dynasty.

Once the Army of Humayun had made its charge and Sher Shah's troops made their agreed-upon retreat, the Mughal troops relaxed their defensive preparations and returned to their entrenchments without posting a proper guard.

In 1613, the Portuguese seized the Mughal ship Rahimi, which had set out from Surat on its way with a large cargo of 100, 000 rupees and Pilgrims, who were on their way to Mecca and Medina in order to attend the annual Hajj.

With its strong control of the Red Sea, Suleiman successfully managed to dispute control of the Indian trade routes to the Portuguese and maintained a significant level of trade with the Mughal Empire of South Asia throughout the 16th century.

The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan also intended to construct his capitol at Agra as an urban center that would rival both Istanbul and Isfahan in all its wealth and cultural lifestyle. He even bestowed the title or surname " Chaudhury " to the family of Dutta Chaudhury, the very ancient Zamindar of Andul, which is situated in Howrah district in the Indian state of West Bengal.

Company interests turned from trade to territory during the 18th century as the Mughal Empire declined in power and the British East India Company struggled with its French counterpart, the La Compagnie française des Indes orientales, during the Carnatic Wars of the 1740s and 1750s.

Before 2003, it was not proven that the original Hindu temple was demolished or dramatically modified on the orders of the Mughal Emperor Babur and the mosque was built in its place.

* Kulfi: believed to have been introduced to South Asia by the Mughal conquest in the 16th century ; its origins trace back to the cold snacks and desserts of Arab and Mediterranean cultures.

The exterior was based on Mughal architecture, giving the building its exotic form, the Chinoiserie style interiors are largely the work of Frederick Crace.

The Iranian Safavids, a dynasty stretching from 1501 to 1786, is distinguished from the Mughal and Ottoman Empires, and earlier Persian rulers, in part through the Shi ' a faith of its shahs, which they succeeded in making the majority denomination in Persia.

* Mughal Empire, or any member of its ruling dynasty

Renowned for its multi-storied houses-as mentioned by the Central Asian conqueror Babur-the city was part of the Mughal Empire in the 16th century.

The Mughal Emperors are also known to have used calligraphic symbols, alongside the Ottomans, the Mughal " Tughra " was circular in shape with three points at its tip, beside the calligraphic signature of the emperor.

This is largely to its being adopted as the official madhab of The Abbasid Caliphate, the Ottoman Empire and the Mughal Empire.

At its zenith, the Mughal Empire, which covered almost the entire Indian subcontinent ( including present day Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh ), was ruled from Delhi, Agra, and Allahabad during different periods.

Under Shah Jahan's reign, Mughal carpet weaving took on a new aesthetic and entered its classical phase.

The Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah was one of the most important patrons of Qawwali and is widely credited for its cultural advancement.