The Empire that Made India: 500 Years of the Mughals

The year 2026 marks half a millennium since the foundation of the Mughal Empire (1526-1857), the last great precolonial power, which governed most parts of the Indian sub-continent. In its heyday, the Mughal dynasty ruled over a population of more than 100 million subjects. The Mughal Empire has remained at the centre of major debates in Indian historiography on issues as diverse as the nature of political and administrative institutions, fiscal and economic systems, literary and artistic cultures as well as inter-religious cohabitation prior to colonial rule. The international conference commemorating the 500-year anniversary of the empire’s foundation critically engages with various historiographical approaches while proposing potential avenues for future research.