Questions about Foreign relations of the Mughal Empire
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What was the strategic importance of Qandhar in the foreign relations of the Mughal Empire?
Qandhar controlled the approach to Kabul and allowed oversight of the Afghan and Baluch tribes in the surrounding territory, making it the best natural check against invasion from the northwest. For the Mughals, holding it was essential for defending Kabul and the frontier; for the Persians, it was useful but not vital. The two empires contested the fort repeatedly, with Mughals launching three failed attempts to retake it after 1649.
What ships did the Mughal Empire use for the Hajj pilgrimage?
The Rahimi, commissioned by Mariam-uz-Zamani, wife of Emperor Akbar, was homeported at Surat and regularly sailed to Jeddah on the Red Sea, carrying pilgrims and merchandise for the vendors of the holy city. Aurangzeb owned an even larger vessel, the Ganj-i-Sawai, built primarily to carry pilgrims from India to Hejaz on the annual Hajj.
How did William Hawkins and Thomas Roe establish early British relations with the Mughal Empire?
William Hawkins, captain of the Hector, arrived at Surat on the 24th of August 1608 and traveled to Agra, where Emperor Jahangir appointed him Mansabdar, or military governor of Mughal territories. Thomas Roe was sent separately as a royal envoy by King James and resided at the Agra court for three years, though he eventually fell from Jahangir's favor after a report of his drinking reached the emperor.
What happened during Shah Jahan's Mughal Balkh campaign against the Uzbeks?
Prince Aurangzeb led the Mughals to victory over Abdul Aziz's Uzbek force of 120,000 near Balkh in 1647, but an unfriendly local population, a brutal winter, and supply shortages forced the Mughals to abandon the city the same year they captured it. Historian Satish Chandra concluded that the campaign's real achievement was keeping the Uzbeks divided rather than recovering the Mughal ancestral homeland of Samarqand and Fargana, noting the Oxus River was hardly a defensible frontier.
What was the Ottoman device and how did it shape Mughal military power?
The Ottoman device was Babur's term for the tactic of deploying matchlocks and cannon in open field battle rather than only during sieges. He adopted it in 1513 from Ottoman military experts dispatched by Selim I, including Ustad Ali Quli and Mustafa Rumi, and named the technique after the Ottomans' use of field artillery at the Battle of Chaldiran. Ottoman support also extended to the Battle of Khanwa in 1527.
How did the Mughal Empire protect its trade with the Sultanate of Aceh?
When the VOC moved to disrupt trade through Aceh, Aurangzeb threatened Dutch commercial interests in Gujarat with retaliation, and the VOC backed down. Aurangzeb then issued a firman guaranteeing Indian sailors free passage through the waters of Aceh, Perak, and Kedah. Aurangzeb had exchanged diplomatic gifts with the Sultan of Aceh in 1641, when Sultanah Safiatuddin, daughter of Iskandar Muda, presented him with eight elephants.