Shah Alam II: Did you mean...?

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 during his lifetime...

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 capturing Damietta...

Hafez of Shiraz (also given as Hafiz, l. 1315-1390) is considered the greatest of the Persian poets and among the most famous and admired writers in world literature. He is among the most often translated poets in the present day and his...

The urdubegis were a group of female warriors in the Mughal Empire, who protected the zenana, the harem of the emperor. Although the origins of female bodyguards go back to the beginning of Indian civilizations, the urdubegis were a Mughal...

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.

A map illustrating the British Raj around 1930, a period of direct British rule over the Indian subcontinent that began in 1858. Following the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, also known as the First War of Independence, the British Parliament passed...

Wazir Khan Mosque, Lahore, Pakistan, built between 1634 and 1641 under the reign of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and named after the renowned physician and later Viceroy of Punjab Hakim Ilmud Din Ansari, who was given the title "Wazir Khan"...

A silk scroll painting by Shen Du depicting a giraffe given in tribute by King Saif Al-Din Hamzah Shah of Bengal to the Yongle Emperor (r. 1403-1424 CE) of China's Ming Dynasty. The tribute was one of the many collected by Admiral Zheng He...

Zal Consults the Magi, Folio 73v from the Shahnameh (The Persian Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmasp. Painting attributed to Sultan Muhammad, Tabriz, Iran, c. 1530–35. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

A 1632 portrait of Jahanara Begum (1614-81), daughter of Queen Mumtaz Mahal (1593-1631) and Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1658), emperor of the Mughal Empire. (British Library, London)