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The Mughals Professor Pacas
Babur the Conqueror • Around 1470 CE the Kazakh’s (Qazaq was originally a sociopolitical term but became an ethnic designation for Turkic Qipchaq tribes led by Janibeg and Girey) drove out Shibani Khan and his Uzbeks from present day Kazahkstanforcing him to migrate to Transoxiana. • In 1500 Transoxiana became contested between the Uzbeks led by Muhammad Shibani (Khan) versus remnants of the Timurids (Timur/Tamerlane’s successors).
The end of TimuridTransoxiana and birth of Uzbekistan • One of Shibani Khan’s foes was the Timurid prince Babur Muhammad Shibani Khan was an ally of the Ottoman Turks and fellow co-religionist (Sunni Muslim). He allied himself with the Ottomans against the Safavid Shi’ites of Iran. • He lost his life against the Safavid’s at the Battle of Merv in 1510 CE/AD. • The skin of his head was stuffed with straw and sent to his the Sultan of the Ottomans as a challenged by the Safavids.
Babur and the Mughal Empire • This temporary set back allowed some Timurids to return to Transoxiana but were forced to flee in 1512 CE/AD when it was retaken by the resurgent Uzbeks…Babur was forced to flee to India and became the progenitor of the Mughal Empire of India established 1526 CE/AD. • By the time that the Mughals had gained major control of present day India its population was estimated between 100-150 million.
Babur cont’d • Babur’s Mughal India’s strength rested on their military power. • Babur (adopt and adapt) introduced horsemanship, artillery, and field cannons from central Asia…it was gunpowder and effective use of cannons that had secured swift victories in northern India over larger enemy forces. • Babur’s grandson Akbar (reigned 1556-1605) further expanded Mughal territory until most of India was consolidated under the reign of Aurangzeb.
Akbar and Indian Ocean trade • Akbar’s court benefited from commercial expansion in the Indian Ocean. • Although Mughals did not possess an ocean navy they tapped in the lucrative Silk Road trade via caravansaries as well as conducted business with Muslim merchants that conducted maritime trade with China and southeast Asia. • They also began to conduct trade with new comers in the Indian Ocean trade…the Portuguese.
Akbar’s overhaul of the revenue system • Until the 1560’s, the Mughal state relied on a network of decentralized tribute collectors called zamindars. • These collectors possessed rights to claim a share of the harvest while earmarking part of their earnings for the emperor. (Payment in-kind system/pre-monetary economy) • This system proved problematic as Mughals did not often receive their percentage due to corruption at the level of zamindars. • Peasants often resented that zamindars over-taxed them but ultimately blamed the corruption on the Mughal’s authority.
Akbar’s overhaul cont’d • As flourishing trade bolstered the money supply (often from Japan and Americas…silver), Akbar’s officials monetized the tax assessment system instead of depending of payments in-kind thus curbing the power of the zamindars. • * Most of the taxes whether in-kind or now monetized went to finance the Mughal military.
Akbar’s overhaul cont’d • Such fiscal policies reinforced the empire’s growing commercialization. • To generate cash to pay taxes, peasants had to sell their produce in markets-so market towns (urbanization) and ports flourished at rapid levels never seen before. However this was not a symbiotic relationship between urban centers and the peasant rural population…the relationship was very one sided as peasants produced to fund towns and cities but towns and cities did not produce goods for rural peasant communities. • The relation was one of massive exploitation by towns and cities of the peasant rural communities.
Zamindars servants of the state or robber barons? • These new developments transformed the zamindars from private tribute lords into servants of the state to collect taxes, though they continued to exploit the peasants as before and pocket some of the peasant’s income. • The abuse endure by the peasantry would eventually reach levels of resentment that would explode in social uprisings against the authority of the zamindars and also the Mughals in India. • These social movements were often led by new dynamic religious leaders that challenged the authority of Mughals and de facto Islam as well as challenging traditional Hinduism.
