Akbar

Akbar inherited the throne at thirteen in 1556, his father Humayun freshly dead, and ruled first through the regent Bairam Khan. He spent decades pushing Mughal borders across the subcontinent through military campaigns, then held the realm together with a centralised administration and a policy of conciliation: he abolished the tax on non-Muslims, appointed Hindus to high civil and military posts, and sealed alliances through marriage and diplomacy. Under his rule the economy tripled, and his courts at Delhi, Agra, and Fatehpur Sikri became magnets for poets, architects, holy men, and artisans - forging a distinct Indo-Persian synthesis in painting, architecture, and learning. Disillusioned with orthodox Islam, he promulgated Din-i Ilahi, a syncretic creed blending Islam, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity. He reigned until 1605, when his son Salim succeeded him as Jahangir.