Mughal Empire
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The Mughal empire ruled most of the Indian subcontinent between 1526 and 1857, founded when Babur, a descendant of Timur and of Genghis Khan, defeated Ibrahim Lodi at the first battle of Panipat. Humayun lost the throne to the Afghan Sher Shah Suri and regained it shortly before his death, and his son Akbar, who took power at thirteen, built the state that lasted: he abolished the pilgrimage tax and the jizya, married Rajput princesses, created a linking system of ranks called mansabdars paid in revenue assignments, and fixed the revenue on a measurement of the land. His grandson Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal at Agra for his wife Mumtaz Mahal and moved the capital to the new city of Shahjahanabad, now old Delhi. Aurangzeb, the last of the great emperors, expanded into the Deccan but taxed non-Muslims again and spent the treasury on war, and after him the Marathas, Sikhs and Europeans took territory. The empire was famed for miniature painting, for the domed tomb and for textiles exported to Europe and Asia. The revolt of 1857, which began as a sepoy mutiny, was suppressed and the last emperor exiled, ending Mughal rule. European traders were confined to coastal factories until the eighteenth century.