The Mughals, descended from the Mongol Chengiz Khan and the Turk Timur, founded an empire in India that lasted from 1526 to 1857. Babur established it in 1526 after defeating Ibrahim Lodi in the battle of Panipat. The six "Great Mughals" were Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. The empire declined after Aurangzeb's death in 1707 and formally ended when power passed to the British crown after the revolt of 1857. At its height it stretched from Afghanistan to Bengal and from Kashmir to the Tamil region.
1. Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur (1526–1530)
- Babur inherited the throne of Samarkand (now in Uzbekistan) as a boy of eleven. Pressed by the Uzbeks, the Safavids of Iran (Shia Islam) and the Ottomans (Sunni Islam), he turned towards India.
- Between 1519 and 1524 he invaded Bhera, Sialkot and Lahore. Daulat Khan Lodi and Rana Sanga, ruler of Mewar, sent him an embassy with a plea to invade India.
- Gun powder was first invented by the Chinese. In India there is no instance of artillery being used in war before Babur.