16.1 Political Affairs

. Political Affairs - : The Mughal Empire This was the period when the Mughal empire was at the peak of its power. The Europeans were quite aware of the wealth and power of the Mughals, and English poets even wrote about the fabulous “wealth of India”. Travellers from all parts of Europe visited India regularly during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The journals of their travels present a detailed contemporary account of the empire and society in India. By , Akbar had achieved his imperial dream and extended the frontiers of the Mughal empire through his conquests in Rajasthan and Gujarat. Gujarat was conquered in , and this gave the Mughal empire valuable access to the port of Surat, which was the gateway to west Asia and Europe. Besides trade, the ships carrying pilgrims to Mecca left from Surat. The importance of Surat to the Mughals can be appreciated from the fact that Surat had two governors, one the governor of the city, and the other, the governor of the castle which had been built on the river Tapti to protect the city. The governor of the city was in charge of civilian affairs and collecting the revenues from customs duties. British factory at Surat Akbar had also tried to extend his empire in the east beyond Bihar by conquering Bengal. But Bengal was not really integrated into the empire until nearly three decades later, when it became one of the provinces ( subah ) under Jahangir. Under Akbar, the revenue system of the empire had been revamped by Todar Mal so that a unified system of governance and revenue collection could function throughout the empire. At his death, therefore, Akbar left a powerful, economically prosperous and well- administered empire. The Dutch, followed by the English, arrived in Surat in the early years of the 1600s to begin their trading activities. The Mughal governor permitted them to trade, and to set up their “factories” (as the business premises of the European traders which also functioned as warehouses were termed), but they were not allowed to have any territorial authority over