4. Mughal Empire

In 1526, Babur, a Timurid descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan from Fergana Valley (modern-day Uzbekistan), swept across the Khyber Pass and founded the Mughal Empire, covering modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. The Mughals were descended from Central Asian Turks (with significant Mongol admixture). However, his son Humayun was defeated by the Pashtun warrior Sher Shah Suri who was from Bihar state of India, in the year 1540, and Humayun was forced to retreat to Kabul. After Sher Shah died, his son Islam Shah Suri became the ruler, on whose death his prime minister, Hemu ascended the throne and ruled North India from Delhi for one month. He was defeated by Emperor Akbar's forces in the Second Battle of Panipat on 6 November 1556.

Akbar the Great, was both a capable ruler and an early proponent of religious and ethnic tolerance and favored an early form of multiculturalism. He declared "Amari" or non-killing of animals in the holy days of Jainism and rolled back the jizya tax imposed upon non-Islamic mainly Hindu people. The Mughal dynasty ruled most of the South Asia by 1600. The Mughal emperors married local royalty and allied themselves with local maharajas. For a short time in the late 16th century, Lahore was the capital of the empire. The architectural legacy of the Mughals in Lahore includes the Shalimar Gardens built by the fifth Emperor Shahjahan, and the Badshahi Mosque built by the sixth Emperor, Aurangzeb, who is regarded as the last Great Mughal Emperor as he expanded the domain to its zenith. After his demise, different regions of modern Pakistan began asserting independence. The empire went into a slow decline after 1707 and its last sovereign, ruling around Delhi region.

Post Mughal era - Durrani Empire - Maratha Empire

In 1758 the Maratha Empire's general Raghunath Rao marched onwards, attacked and conquered Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Kashmir and drove out Timur Shah Durrani, the son and viceroy of Ahmad Shah Abdali. Lahore, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Peshawar, Kashmir and other subahs on the south eastern side of Afghanistan's border were under the Maratha rule for the most part.[80] From Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Kashmir, the Marathas were driven out only after four years.

Durrani reconquest

In 1761, following the victory at the Third battle of Panipat between the Durrani and the Maratha Empire, Ahmad Shah Abdali captured remnants of the Maratha Empire in Punjab and Kashmir regions and had re-consolidated control over them.

The Sikh Empire

The Sikh Empire (1799–1849) was formed on the foundations of the Punjabi Army by Maharaja Ranjit Singh who was proclaimed "Sarkar-i-Khalsa", and was referred to as the "Maharaja of Lahore". It consisted of a collection of autonomous Punjabi Misls, which were governed by Misldars, mainly in the Punjab region. The empire extended from the Khyber Pass in the west, to Kashmir in the north, to Multan in the south and Kapurthala in the east. The main geographical footprint of the empire was the Punjab region. The formation of the empire was a watershed and represented formidable consolidation of Sikh military power and resurgence of local culture, which had been dominated for hundreds of years by Indo-Afghan and Indo-Mughal hybrid cultures.

The foundations of the Sikh Empire, during the time of the Punjabi Army, could be defined as early as 1707, starting from the death of Aurangzeb. The fall of the Mughal Empire provided opportunities for the Punjabi army to lead expeditions against the Mughals and Pashtuns. This led to a growth of the army, which was split into different Punjabi armies and then semi-independent "misls". Each of these component armies were known as a misl, each controlling different areas and cities. However, in the period from 1762–1799, Sikh rulers of their misls appeared to be coming into their own. The formal start of the Sikh Empire began with the disbandment of the Punjab Army by the time of coronation of Ranjit Singh in 1801, creating a unified political state. All the misl leaders who were affiliated with the Army were nobility with usually long and prestigious family histories in Punjab's history.

British rule

British colonization, conquest, and cultural heritage

The entire territory of modern Pakistan was occupied by the East India Company, later coming under the rule of Queen Victoria of the British Empire, through a series of wars, the main ones being the Battle of Miani (1843) in Sindh, the gruelling Anglo-Sikh Wars (1845–1849) and the Anglo-Afghan Wars (1839–1919), to remain a part of British empire until the independence in 1947.

The physical presence of the British was minimal; they employed "Divide and Rule" political strategy to remain in power. The administrative units of British India under the tenancy or the sovereignty of either the East India Company or the British Crown lasted between 1612 and 1947.