The Mughal Empire: The History of the Modern Dynasty that Ruled Much of India Before the British
Written by Charles River Editors
Narrated by KC Wayman
()
About this audiobook
In the late 15th century, Western Europe entered the Renaissance, which is often credited with the origins of modern, scientific thought. The Age of Exploration also began around that time, and 1517 is when the Reformation began. Meanwhile, the Islamic world was also quickly evolving around the same time, with the Ottoman Empire expanding into Eastern Europe and wiping the Orthodox Christian Byzantine Empire off the face of the map. And while the Ottomans were establishing themselves as the premier Islamic power with the help of early gunpowder weapons, hundreds of miles away in Central Asia, another “gunpowder empire” was forming.
The Mughals, a group with Turkish and Mongolian roots, also used gunpowder weapons to sweep into northern India, topple the existing Islamic dynasty in Delhi, and eventually subject most of India to their rule. The term “gunpowder empire” was originally coined by Russian scholar V. V. Bartold and popularized by American historians William McNeil and Marshall Hodgson in the mid-20th century to describe the Islamic Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires, which they claimed came to power through gunpowder. Although that core thesis has been challenged by historians in recent years, who argue that gunpowder weapons were a feature or result of the rise of these empires, not the cause for them, the term is still used (Streusand 2011, 3).
To be fair, the Mughals rose through a combination of political acumen and battlefield brutality, and they held onto their empire for hundreds of years in much the same way. In the process, the Mughals developed a state that was unique in many ways, adopting elements of Islamic culture and meshing them with native Indian culture and even Western European culture. When the British conquered India in the mid-19th century, they had the benefit of inheriting the Mughal system, which, despite many problems, proved to be a suitable template for rule over a land as vast and diverse as India.
More audiobooks from Charles River Editors
The East India Company: The History of the British Empire's Most Famous Mercantile Company Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rape of Nanking: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gnosticism: The History and Legacy of the Mysterious Ancient Religion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ur: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Sumerian Capital Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mossad: The History and Legacy of Israel’s National Intelligence Agency Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Project MK-Ultra: The History of the CIA’s Controversial Human Experimentation Program Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mysteries of the South: Ghosts, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena in Dixie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Arnold Rothstein and Meyer Lansky: The Lives and Legacies of the Gangsters Who Reformed Organized Crime in America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNineveh: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Assyrian Capital Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5J. Robert Oppenheimer: The Life and Legacy of the Father of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Legends of the West: Deadwood, South Dakota Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Denisovans: The History of the Extinct Archaic Humans Who Spread Across Asia during the Paleolithic Era Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Madame de Pompadour: The Life and Legacy of French King Louis XV’s Chief Mistress Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life and Trial of Lizzie Borden: The History of 19th Century America's Most Famous Murder Case Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cambrian Period: The History and Legacy of the Start of Complex Life on Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Culper Ring: The History and Legacy of the Revolutionary War's Most Famous Spy Ring Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Battle of the Somme: The History and Legacy of World War I’s Biggest Battle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Battle of Hamburger Hill: The History and Legacy of One of the Vietnam War's Most Controversial Battles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mysterious Midwest: Mysteries, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena in America's Heartland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung: The Pioneering Lives and Works of History’s Most Influential Psychologists Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to The Mughal Empire
Related audiobooks
The Delhi Sultanate: The History and Legacy of the Medieval Islamic Dynasty in India Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Islamic Empires of India: The History of the Muslim Dynasties that Ruled India Before the British Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Indus Valley Civilization and Maurya Empire: The History and Legacy of Ancient India’s Most Influential Powers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Great Mughals and Their India Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHarun al-Rashid: The Life and Legacy of the Abbasid Caliph during the Islamic Golden Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lakhmids: The History of the Ancient Arab Kingdom that Fought in the Roman-Persian Wars Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mamluks: The History and Legacy of the Medieval Slave Soldiers Who Established a Dynasty in Egypt Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Concise History of Modern India Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Janissaries: The History and Legacy of the Ottoman Empire’s Elite Infantry Units Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Empires of India: The History of the Dynasties that Ruled India Before the British Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Cumans: The History of the Medieval Turkic Nomads Who Fought the Mongols and Rus’ in Eastern Europe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silk Road: The History and Legacy of the Trade Routes that Connected Europe and Asia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Moors of Andalusia: The History of the Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The Rise of Islam in the Balkans: The History of the Ottoman Empire’s Islamization Efforts in Eastern Europe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Battle of Chaldiran: The History and Legacy of the Ottoman Empire’s Decisive Victory Over the Safavid Dynasty in Anatolia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Avars: The History and Legacy of the Eurasian Nomads in Central Europe during the Middle Ages Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5History of the Ottoman Empire Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Assyrian Empire’s Capitals: The History and Legacy of Nineveh, Assur, and Nimrud Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cyrus the Great: The Life and Legacy of the King Who Founded the Achaemenid Persian Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Moors: The History of the Muslims Who Lived in North Africa and Europe during the Middle Ages Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ottoman Empire: An Enthralling Guide to One of the Mightiest and Longest-Lasting Dynasties in World History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCambodia Through the Ages: A Comprehensive Guide to the Kingdom’s History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Kublai Khan: The Life and Legacy of the Legendary Mongolian Emperor of China Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Asian History For You
The Gulag Archipelago Volume 3: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ancient Aliens®: The Official Companion Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Legends of the Samurai Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Code of the Samurai: A Modern Translation of the Bushido Shoshinshu of Taira Shigesuke Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shogun: The Life and Times of Tokugawa Ieyasu: Japan's Greatest Ruler Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke, a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In the Ruins of Empire: The Japanese Surrender and the Battle for Postwar Asia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chernobyl 01:23:40: The Incredible True Story of the World's Worst Nuclear Disaster Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Japan's Infamous Unit 731: Firsthand Accounts of Japan's Wartime Human Experimentation Program Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of Yokai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When Hitler Took Cocaine and Lenin Lost His Brain: History's Unknown Chapters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghosts of the Tsunami: Death and Life in Japan's Disaster Zone Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Midnight in Chernobyl: The Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5North Korea Confidential: Private Markets, Fashion Trends, Prison Camps, Dissenters and Defectors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No Beast So Fierce: The Terrifying True Story of the Champawat Tiger, the Deadliest Animal in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Spy Who Knew Too Much: An Ex-CIA Officer’s Quest Through a Legacy of Betrayal Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fortune's Bazaar: The Making of Hong Kong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cold War: A New History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter: From the Battle for Moscow to Hitler's Bunker Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beijing Rules: How China Weaponized Its Economy to Confront the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Krakatoa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hard Road Out: One Woman’s Escape From North Korea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Red Roulette: An Insider's Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption, and Vengeance in Today's China Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Main Enemy: The Inside Story of the CIA's Final Showdown with the KGB Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Mughal Empire
0 ratings0 reviews