Shah Jahan: Did you mean...?

A tomb is an enclosed space for the repository of the remains of the dead. Traditionally tombs have been located in caves, underground, or in structures designed specifically for the purpose of containing the remains of deceased...

A 19th-century illustration showing a seated Queen Mumtaz Mahal (1593-1631), wife of Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1658), emperor of the Mughal Empire. Shah Jahan famously built the Taj Mahal for Mumtaz Mahal.

The story of the Mughal Empire is a fascinating one. It has most of the historical elements that one might expect out of an empire: powerful male rulers, wars of succession, magnificent buildings, conflicts...

The Pahlavi Crown, first worn by Reza Shah Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, at his coronation in April 1926. The design reminds of the rulers of the Sassanid dynasty (3rd-7th centuries CE). Made of gold and silver on a red velvet backing...

East of the Zagros Mountains, a high plateau stretches off towards India. While Egypt was rising up against the Hyksos, a wave of pastoral tribes from north of the Caspian Sea was drifting down into this area and across into...

Timur (1336-1405), also known as Tamerlane, Temür, or Timur Leng, was the founder of the Timurid Empire (1370-1507), which had its heartlands in modern-day Uzbekistan and capital at Samarkand. A Muslim Turkic...

The 1857-8 Sepoy Mutiny (aka Sepoy Rebellion, Indian Mutiny, The Uprising or First Indian War of Independence) was a failed rebellion against the rule of the British East India Company (EIC) in India. Initially a mutiny of the Indian...

Suleiman the Magnificent (aka Süleyman I or Suleiman I, r. 1520-1566) was the tenth and longest-reigning sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Hailed as a skilled military commander, a just ruler, and a divinely anointed monarch...

The three Anglo-Maratha Wars (1775-1819) were fought between the Maratha Confederacy of India (aka the Mahrattas, 1674-1818) and the British East India Company (EIC). The Maratha Hindu princes were rarely unified, and so the...

The Seventh Crusade (1248-1254 CE) was led by the French king Louis IX (r. 1226-1270 CE) who intended to conquer Egypt and take over Jerusalem, both then controlled by the Muslim Ayyubid Dynasty. Despite the initial success of...