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List of emperors of the Mughal Empire

The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled over the empire from its inception in 1526 to its dissolution in 1857. They were the supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. They ruled parts of India from 1526, and by 1707, ruled most of the subcontinent. Afterwards, they declined rapidly, but nominally ruled territories until the 1857 rebellion.

Not to be confused with Mongol emperors.

Shahenshah of Hindustan

Babur (as the successor to Sultan of Delhi)

21 April 1526; 497 years ago

21 September 1857; 166 years ago

The Mughals were a branch of the Timurid dynasty of Persianized Turco-Mongol origin from Central Asia. Their founder Babur (r. 1526–1530), a Timurid prince from the Fergana Valley (modern-day Uzbekistan), was a direct descendant of both Timur and Genghis Khan.


Many of the later Mughal emperors had significant Indian Rajput and Persian ancestry through marriage alliances as emperors were born to Rajput and Persian princesses.[1][2][3]


During the reign of Aurangzeb, the empire, as the world's largest economy and manufacturing power, worth over 25% of global GDP,[4] controlled nearly all of the Indian subcontinent, extending from Dhaka in the east to Kabul in the west and from Kashmir in the north to the Kaveri River in the south.[5]


Its population at the time has been estimated as between 110 and 150 million (a quarter of the world's population), over a territory of more than 4 million square kilometres (1.5 million square miles).[6] Mughal power rapidly dwindled during the 18th century and the last emperor, Bahadur Shah II, was deposed in 1857, with the establishment of the British Raj.[7]

Mughal (disambiguation)

Timurid family tree

Mughal Empire

Mughal-Mongol genealogy

; Pusalker, A. D.; Majumdar, A. K., eds. (1973). The History and Culture of the Indian People. Vol. VII: The Mughal Empire. Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.

Majumdar, Ramesh Chandra

Aurangzeb, as he was according to Mughal Records

British India