HIST 359 - The Mughal Empire and the World

This seminar explores the Mughal Empire in South Asia from its founding in 1526 by Turkic warrior elites to its dissolution in 1857 following the Indian Rebellion. Focusing on one of the early modern world’s most influential empires, the course engages primary sources - court chronicles, visual materials, administrative texts, travel accounts - alongside critical historiography. Students examine Mughal governance, imperial ideologies, religious policies, military expansion, economic networks, artistic productions, and interactions with the wider world. Situating Mughal transformations within global contexts and eventual colonial pressure, the seminar emphasizes historical debate and original research culminating in a substantial final paper.