Akbar and the Mughal Empire

Babur's grandson comes to the throne at thirteen and in half a century extends the Mughal dominions over nearly all northern India. He abolishes the poll tax on non-Muslims, takes Rajput princes into his service, marries into Hindu houses, and stages debates at court between Muslim divines, Brahmins, Jains, Zoroastrians and visiting Jesuits. Under him the land tax is assessed by harvest and quality of soil, not by the collector's whim. Akbar himself could not read, but he assembled a great library and kept a workshop of miniature painters.