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

Non sufficit orbis – Philip II’s global empire after 1580. Imperial Case Study 2 The Mughal Empire (1526-1857). ‘…to the Mogor [Mughal emperor Akbar, r. 1556-1605], the whole world seems small, and he thinks that everything within it belongs to him ’.

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

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

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

  3. ‘…to the Mogor [Mughal emperor Akbar, r. 1556-1605], 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. 1530-1540; 1555-1556) Akbar (r. 1556-1605) Jahangir (r. 1605-1627) Shahjahan (r. 1628-1657) Aurangzeb (r. 1658-1707) Bahadur Shah (r. 1707-1712) Jahandar Shah (r. 1712-1713) Farrukhsiyar (r. 1713-1719) Muhammad Shah (r. 1719-1748) - Bahadur Shah II (r. 1837-1857)

  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 • 1576-1590s: 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 NawabMurshidQuli Khan (1717-27) • 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.

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