Mughals called themselves Gurkani, not Mongols, in their own records
Outsiders labeled Babur's dynasty "Mughal"—Indo-Persian for Mongol—yet early followers were Chagatai Turks, and the house preferred Gurkani, recalling Timur's title after marrying a Chinggisid princess. Court and revenue papers more often named the realm Hindustan.
Convention dates the empire from Babur's 1526 First Battle of Panipat victory over Delhi's Ibrahim Lodi, aided by Safavid and Ottoman help and firearms that offset smaller numbers. Imperial structure is sometimes dated to Akbar around 1600 and lasted until about 1720 after Aurangzeb, when geography peaked; by 1760 power shrank to Old Delhi's environs, and the British Raj dissolved the house after 1857. At its height the realm reached from the Indus basin and northern Afghanistan to Assam and Bangladesh and south onto the Deccan uplands.
Akbar (1556–1605), consolidating under regent Bairam Khan, extended control north of the Godavari, built a loyal elite, taxed agriculture in regulated silver—often more than half a cultivator's output—and experimented with Din-i Ilahi. Relative seventeenth-century peace and European Ocean demand enriched the court; Shah Jahan's age (1628–1658) crowned architecture from the Taj Mahal to Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri even as court costs outran revenue. Humayun's Persian exile (after Sher Shah Suri's rise) had already deepened Safavid cultural ties before his 1555 return and 1556 death.
Aurangzeb (1658–1707) seized power from brother Dara Shikoh, imprisoned recovered Shah Jahan until 1666, pushed Islamicising policies including restored jizya, compiled the Fatawa 'Alamgiri, and executed Sikh guru Tegh Bahadur—while some historians note he also hired more Hindus than predecessors and funded non-Muslim institutions. Deccan wars after 1682 annexed Bijapur and Golconda yet drained the treasury. After Bahadur Shah I, 1719 alone saw four emperors under Sayyid brothers' sway; Nader Shah's 1739 sack of Delhi shattered remaining prestige as Marathas took central tracts, though many still ceremonially acknowledged the emperor as India's sovereign.
Source: Mughal Empire
