c. 1526 to c. 1764 C.E. [A.D.]

1. THE MUGHAL EMPIRE

1526 BABER defeats Sikandar Lodi, last of the Sultans. Importance of artillery. MUGHAL empire begins.

1542 SHER SHAH SUR an AFGHAN defeats HUMAYUN, Baber's son and briefly displaces the Mughals. Starts a series of economic reforms later continued by Akbar. 

1554 HUMAYUN re-establishes the Mughal dynasty.

1556-1605 AKBAR

* Establishes the MANSABDARI / JAGIRDARI system for administration and revenue collection. 

* Adopts a carrot and stick policy vis a vis the RAJPUTS and succeeds in winning over many of the Rajput clans. Marries a Rajput princess. 

* New religious policy stressing greater religious tolerance and even tries to promote a new eclectic faith, called Din e Elahi: Reasons for the new religious policy.

1605-27 JAHANGIR AND NUR JAHAN his wife who is said to have played an important role in the politics of the court.

1627 SHAH JAHAN: Great Builder, among other buildings he commissioned was the TAJ MAHAL as a mausoleum for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. 

1658-1707 AURANGZEB, Mughal empire at its peak, but also present are seeds of decline.

* Crisis in the MANSABDARI/JAGIRDARI system.

* Revolts of Jats (a peasant community in north India), Sikhs (a new and growing religious faith in the PUNJAB in north India) and Marathas (a movement originally of upwardly mobile peasant cultivators in western India) led by SHIVAJI, use guerrilla tactics to sometimes defeat unwieldy Mughal armies.
* Religious policy of greater intolerance: reasons.

1707-onwards: Later "Lesser", weaker Mughal rulers not capable of maintaining the centralized empire of the earlier Mughal rulers.

2. A CRUCIAL TRANSITION

1739 Invasion of NADIR SHAH from Persia ends effective power of the Mughals

* Regional powers like the MARATHAS in western India, and SIKHS in the north establish own empires.

* PROVINCIAL GOVERNORS of the Mughals declare their independence.

1757 Battle of Plassey: Forces of SIRAJ UD DAULAH the ruler of Bengal defeated by troops of the ENGLISHEAST INDIA COMPANY.

1761 Battle of Panipat: An Afghan general, AHMAD SHAH DURRANI defeats the MARATHAS who were possible contenders for creating an all-India empire.

1764 Battle of Buxar: Combined forces of the ruler of BENGAL, of OUDH (another possible contender for all-India imperial power), and the MUGHALS defeated by the English East India Company forces. Gains the British, DIWANI, the rights to collect revenue from the province of Bengal. 

3. THE EUROPEANS
Sixteenth Century: Portuguese dominance in coastal areas. Mughals ignore navy, coastal powers did not use force as that would keep trading ships away.

Seventeenth Century: North European Powers (Britain, France and the Dutch, gain at the expense of the Portuguese in South Asia. English EAST INDIA COMPANY establishes first warehouse in SURAT in 1619.
English establish other coastal centers like MADRAS, BOMBAY, and CALCUTTA through the century.

Eighteenth Century: Beginning of British political dominance, especially after the battle of Buxar, and victories over the French in 1760. Right to collect revenue from Bengal is a great source of profit.