Person1542 – 1605

Akbar

Also called: Akbar the Great, Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar

Third Mughal emperor (r. 1556–1605), who united northern India and built the empire’s framework with the mansabdari system and religious tolerance

He was born at Umerkot in Sindh while his father Humayun was fleeing from the Sur dynasty. For the first years after his accession at thirteen, his guardian Bairam Khan ran the state. Said to have been unable to read, he nonetheless loved learning and the arts, gathered scholars, painters and musicians at court and had the Mahabharata translated into Persian. His confidant Abu’l Fazl recorded his reign in the Akbarnama, and he is buried at Sikandra near Agra.

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1556 – 1605The Reign of Akbarmonarch
The Mughal emperor Akbar united northern India and organised officials and army through the mansabdari system. By abolishing the jizya on non-Muslims and drawing Hindus into his service, he gave the empire its framework.

Themes this person appears in

Islamic Empires and the Atlantic World1500 – 1800
Three centuries in which the Ottomans of Suleiman I, the Mughals of Akbar and the Safavids of Abbas I flourished and then faltered, while across the Atlantic the slave trade and colonies transformed the Americas, leading to American independence