University:
University of Pennsylvania
Course:
HIST 0757 | Mongolian Civilization: Nomadic and Sedentary
Academic year:

2021
Views:

452

Pages:

21
Author:

kundgetanufv

Mughal Empire Mughal Empire I • Created by Zahı̄r-ud-Dı̄n Muhammad Bābur, the Sultan of Kabul. • Bābur is a Chagatai Turk (related with Tamerlane and Ghengis Khan). • However, Bābur uses the tactics of the Uzbekis’ cavalry⇒gunpowder empire (Hodgson-McNeill). • Victory at the First Battle of Panipat (1526, 90 km. north from Delhi), against the Lodi Empire. • Bābur writes an autobiographical work, Bāburnāma, in the chagatai language (with strong Fārsi influence). 30 31 Mughal Empire II • Consolidated by Akbar the Great. • Mansabdar system of providing ranks to servants of the empire. • Cash taxation based on the productivity of land. • Monetary reform. • Empire will last, although in minimal form, until 1857. • In some sense, precursor and cause of the British Raj. 32 33 34 35 Mughal Empire III • Population: between 110 and 130 million. • Rich and powerful at its peak (we still use the word Mogul to denote a powerful industrialist, buildings of Shah Jahan). • Strong Persian influence⇒Farsi and Urdu languages. • Old-style empire: conquest of existing societies to extract surplus. • Constant conquests were key to keep the empire going. • A service nobility of immigrants from the Islamic world and, below them, Hindu Rajput chieftains. 36 37 38 Economic life of the Mughal Empire I • Fertile river valleys generate large agricultural surpluses and taxes. • Allow for artisan sector: textiles, shipbuilding, and steel. • Trade networks all along Asia, from Arabia to Indonesia and China. • Arrival of gold and silver. • Role of Gujarati traders. • Role of religious foundations in Bengal and Burma clearing new lands. 39 40 41 Economic life of the Mughal Empire II • Economic decline after 1707: 1. Costly wars of Aurangzeb, who tries to conquer south of India. 2. Repeated raids by Nadir Shah of Persia and Ahmed Shah Abdali of Afghanistan, new regional powers (Marathas, Sikhs). 3. Disruption caused by trade with Europeans: more power to maritime provinces, merchants, and gentry classes, less for the old-warrior elite in interior cities. 4. Key point: control over the littoral was always weak. • British textile production. 42 43 The British arrive I • A British East India Company fleet first arrived in India in 1607, first factory in 1612. • Establishes factories along the coast (Surat, Madras, Bombay, Calcutta,...). • Main business is textile trade, highly developed at the time in India. • Big expansion only starts in 1746: British and French start to struggle for supremacy in India by supporting different sides in regional conflicts at the breakdown of the Mughal empire. • Role of Robert Clive and victory at Plassey, 1757, over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies. 44 45 46 47 The British arrive II • Rapid growth of BEAC until the big rebellion of 1857. • British strategy. Doctrine of lapse. • Permanent settlement of 1793 with Bengalis landowners: fixed land tax, enforcement of property rights. Creation of a market for land. • Evidence that, before British arrive, Bengal is significantly poorer than Western Europe. • Effect of the first decades of colonization is difficult to gauge. 48 49

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