|Persian: Solt.anat Mog.uli Hend; Urdu: Mug.ali-h Sult.anat; ,
was an imperial power which ruled most of the Indian
subcontinent from the early 16th to the mid-19th centuries. At
the height of its power, around 1700, it controlled most of the
subcontinent and parts of what is now Afghanistan. Its
population at that time has been estimated as between 110 and
130 million, over a territory of over 4 million km² (1.5 million
mi²). Following 1725 it declined rapidly. Its decline has been
variously explained as caused by wars of succession, agrarian
crises fuelling local revolts, the growth of religious
intolerance and British colonialism. The last Emperor, Bahadur
Shah II, whose rule was restricted to the city of Delhi, was
imprisoned and exiled by the British after the Indian Rebellion
of 1857.| |The classic period of the Empire starts with the
accession of Akbar the Great in 1556 and ends with the death of
Aurangzeb in 1707, although the Empire continued for another 150
years. During this period, the Empire was