Historical map of the Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire, (Persian language: مغل بادشاۿ) was an empire that at its greatest territorial extent ruled parts
of Afghanistan, Balochistan and most of the Indian Subcontinent between 1526 and 1857. The empire was founded by the Mongol leader Babur in 1526, when he defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the last of the Afghan Lodi Sultans at the First Battle of Panipat, where they used gunpowder for the first time in India. The Mughal Empire is known as a “gunpowder empire.” The word “Mughal” is the Indo-Aryan version of “Mongol.” Babur was a descendant of Chingis Khan. The Mughals retained aspects of Mongol culture well into the sixteenth century, such as the arrangement of tents around the royal camp during military maneuvers. The religion of Mughals was Islam.