South Asia

===Modern era===
[[File:Emperor Shah Jahan and Prince Alamgir (Aurangzeb) in Mughal Court, 1650.jpg|thumb|Emperor [[Shah Jahan]] and his son Prince [[Aurangzeb]] in Mughal Court, 1650]]

The [[modern era|modern history period]] of South Asia, that is 16th-century onwards, witnessed the establishment of the Mughal empire, with Sunni Islam theology. The first ruler was Babur had Turco-Mongol roots and his realm included the northwest and [[Indo-Gangetic Plain]] regions of South Asia. The southern and northeastern regions of South Asia were largely under Hindu kings such as those of Vijayanagara Empire and [[Ahom kingdom]],<ref>{{cite book|first=Guptajit|last=Pathak|title=Assam's history and its graphics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MdjO3XVk0MAC&pg=PA124|year=2008|publisher=Mittal|isbn=978-81-8324-251-6|page=124}}</ref> with some regions such as parts of modern [[Telangana]] and [[Andhra Pradesh]] under local Sultanates namely [[Deccan sultanates]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bosworth |first1=Clifford Edmund |author-link=Clifford Edmund Bosworth |year=2014 |orig-year=First published 1996 |title=The New Islamic Dynasties |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SaMkDQAAQBAJ |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |pages=179–180 |isbn=978-0-7486-9648-2}}</ref>{{sfn|Maddison|2003|pp=259–261}}

The Mughal Empire continued its wars of expansion after Babur's death. With the fall of the Rajput kingdoms and Vijayanagara, its boundaries encompassed almost the entirety of the Indian subcontinent.<ref name="borocz">{{cite book|first=József|last=Böröcz|author-link=József Böröcz|title=The European Union and Global Social Change|page=21|publisher=[[Routledge]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d0SPAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA21|access-date=26 June 2017|isbn=978-1-135-25580-0|date=10 September 2009}}</ref> The Mughal Empire was marked by a period of artistic exchanges and a Central Asian and South Asian architecture synthesis, with remarkable buildings such as the [[Taj Mahal]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Catherine Blanshard Asher|title=Architecture of Mughal India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ctLNvx68hIC|year=1992|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-26728-1|pages=1–2|access-date=27 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160518184418/https://books.google.com/books?id=3ctLNvx68hIC|archive-date=18 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Maddison|2003|pp=259–261}}<ref name="harrison">{{cite book|title=Developing cultures: case studies|author=[[Lawrence Harrison (academic)|Lawrence E. Harrison]], [[Peter L. Berger]]|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2006|page=158|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RB0oAQAAIAAJ|isbn=978-0-415-95279-8|access-date=28 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328092359/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=RB0oAQAAIAAJ|archive-date=28 March 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

However, this time also marked an extended period of [[Religious violence in India#Mughal Empire|religious persecution]].<ref>{{cite book|first=John F.|last=Richards|author-link=John F. Richards|title=The Mughal Empire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HHyVh29gy4QC|year=1995|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-56603-2|pages=97–101|access-date=27 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160529043831/https://books.google.com/books?id=HHyVh29gy4QC|archive-date=29 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Two of the religious leaders of [[Sikhism]], [[Guru Arjan]] and [[Guru Tegh Bahadur]] were arrested under orders of the Mughal emperors after their revolts and were executed when they refused to convert to Islam.<ref>Pashaura Singh (2005), [http://www.global.ucsb.edu/punjab/journal_12_1/3_singh.pdf Understanding the Martyrdom of Guru Arjan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303175032/http://www.global.ucsb.edu/punjab/journal_12_1/3_singh.pdf |date=3 March 2016 }}, Journal of Punjab Studies, 12(1), pages 29–62; Quote (p. 29): "most of the Sikh scholars have vehemently presented this event as the first of the long series of religious persecutions that Sikhs suffered at the hands of Mughal authorities.";<br />{{cite book| first=Pashaura| last=Singh| title=Life and Work of Guru Arjan: History, Memory, and Biography in the Sikh Tradition| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FbPXAAAAMAAJ| year=2006| publisher=Oxford University Press| isbn=978-0-19-567921-2| pages=23, 217–218| access-date=27 December 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170330183644/https://books.google.com/books?id=fBPXAAAAMAAJ| archive-date=30 March 2017| url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Chris |last=Seiple |title=The Routledge handbook of religion and security|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|year=2013|isbn=978-0-415-66744-9|page=96}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first1=Pashaura|last1=Singh|first2=Louis|last2=Fenech|title=The Oxford handbook of Sikh studies|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford, UK|year=2014|isbn=978-0-19-969930-8|pages=236–238, 442–445}}</ref> Religious taxes on non-Muslims called ''jizya'' were imposed. Buddhist, Hindu and Sikh temples were desecrated. However, not all Muslim rulers persecuted non-Muslims. [[Akbar]], a Mughal ruler for example, sought religious tolerance and abolished jizya.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Annemarie|last1=Schimmel|author-link1=Annemarie Schimmel|first2=Burzine K.|last2=Waghmar|title=The Empire of the Great Mughals: History, Art and Culture|url=https://archive.org/details/empireofgreatmug00anne|url-access=registration|year=2004|publisher=Reaktion|isbn=978-1-86189-185-3|pages=[https://archive.org/details/empireofgreatmug00anne/page/35 35], 115–121|access-date=27 December 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Matthew |last=White |author-link= |date=2011 |title=The Great Big Book of Horrible Things |publisher=W. W. Norton |page=234 |isbn=978-0-393-08192-3 |quote=The Mughals traditionally had been tolerant of Hinduism ... Aurangzeb, however ... prohibited Hindus from riding horses or litters. He reintroduced the head tax non-Muslims had to pay. Aurangzeb relentlessly destroyed Hindu temples all across India.|title-link=The Great Big Book of Horrible Things }}</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/stream/oxfordhistoryofi00smituoft#page/436/mode/2up/search/aurangzeb The Oxford History of India] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160326090422/https://archive.org/stream/oxfordhistoryofi00smituoft#page/436/mode/2up/search/aurangzeb |date=26 March 2016 }}, Oxford University Press, page 437</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=John|last=Bowman|title=Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cYoHOqC7Yx4C |year=2005|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-50004-3|pages=282–284}}</ref>

[[File:British Indian Empire 1909 Imperial Gazetteer of India.jpg|thumb|left|British Indian Empire in 1909. [[British India]] is shaded pink, the [[princely state]]s yellow.]]

After the death of Aurangzeb and the collapse of the Mughal Empire, which marks the beginning of modern India, in the early 18th century, it provided opportunities for the [[Maratha Empire|Marathas]], [[Sikh Empire|Sikhs]], [[Mysore Kingdom|Mysoreans]] and [[Nawabs of Bengal]] to exercise control over large regions of the Indian subcontinent.<ref>{{cite book|title=A History of State and Religion in India|first1=Ian|last1=Copland|first2=Ian|last2=Mabbett|first3= Asim|last3= Roy|first4=Kate|last4=Brittlebank|first5=Adam|last5=Bowles|page=161|display-authors=3|publisher=Routledge|year=2012}}</ref><ref>''History of Mysore Under Hyder Ali and Tippoo Sultan'' by Joseph Michaud p. 143</ref> By the mid-18th century, India was a major [[proto-industrialization|proto-industrializing]] region.<ref name="voss">{{cite book |last=Roy |first=Tirthankar |author-link=Tirthankar Roy |editor1=Lex Heerma van Voss |editor2=Els Hiemstra-Kuperus |editor3=Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk |year=2010 |chapter=The Long Globalization and Textile Producers in India |title=The Ashgate Companion to the History of Textile Workers, 1650–2000 |publisher=[[Ashgate Publishing]] |page=255 |isbn=978-0-7546-6428-4 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f95ljbhfjxIC&pg=PA255}}</ref>{{sfn|Maddison|2003|pp=259–261}}

Maritime trading between South Asia and European merchants began after the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama returned to Europe. British, French, Portuguese colonial interests struck treaties with these rulers and established their trading ports. In northwest South Asia, a large region was consolidated into the Sikh Empire by [[Ranjit Singh]].<ref>{{cite book |author=J. S. Grewal |author-link=J. S. Grewal |year=1990 |title=The Sikhs of the Punjab |publisher=Cambridge University Press |series=The New Cambridge History of India |volume=II.3 |pages=99,103 |isbn=978-0-521-26884-4 |quote=In 1799, a process of unification was started by Ranjit Singh virtually to establish an empire ... Before his death in 1839 Rajit Singh's authority over all the conquered and subordinated territories between the river Satlej and the mountain ranges of Ladakh, Karakoram, Hindukush and Sulaiman was recognized.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Patwant|last=Singh|title=Empire of the Sikhs: The Life and Times of Maharaja Ranjit Singh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vr4VAQAAIAAJ |year=2008|publisher=Peter Owen|isbn=978-0-7206-1323-0|pages=113–124}}</ref> After the defeat of the [[Nawab of Bengal]] and [[Tipu Sultan]] and his French allies, the [[British Empire]] expanded their control to the Hindu Kush region. By the 19th century, [[Company rule in India|British traders]] had conquered much of South Asia using [[Divide and rule|divide-and-rule]] tactics, with the region experiencing significant [[De-industrialisation of India|de-industrialisation]] in its first few decades of British rule.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last1=Sullivan |first1=Dylan |last2=Hickel |first2=Jason |title=How British colonialism killed 100 million Indians in 40 years |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/12/2/how-british-colonial-policy-killed-100-million-indians |access-date=2023-09-01 |publisher=Al Jazeera |type=Opinion |language=en}}</ref> Control of the region was [[British Raj|transferred]] to the British government after the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]], with the British cracking down to some extent afterwards.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Indian Uprising of 1857 and its aftermath |url=https://www.lhistoire.fr/english-version/the-indian-uprising-of-1857-and-its-aftermath |access-date=2023-09-01 |website=www.lhistoire.fr |language=fr}}</ref> An increase of famines and extreme poverty characterised the colonial period, though railways built with British technology eventually provided crucial famine relief by increasing food distribution throughout India.{{sfn|Metcalf|Metcalf|2006|p=97}}<ref name=":1" /> Introduction of Western political thought inspired a growing Indian intellectual movement. By the 20th century, the British rule begin to be challenged by the [[Indian National Congress]] under the leadership of [[Mahatma Gandhi]] to seek full independence from the British rule.<ref name="D Demy 2017 p. 644">{{cite book | last=D | first=J.M.S.P. | last2=Demy | first2=T.J. | title=War and Religion: An Encyclopedia of Faith and Conflict [3 volumes] | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing | year=2017 | isbn=979-8-216-16317-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hRnOEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT644| page=644}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=McLane |first=John R. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt13x1cv8 |title=Indian Nationalism and the Early Congress |date=1977 |publisher=Princeton University Press|jstor=j.ctt13x1cv8 }}</ref>

Britain, under pressure from Indian freedom fighters, increasingly gave self-rule to British India. By the 1940s, two rival camps emerged among independence activists: those who [[Muslim nationalism in South Asia|favored a separate nation]] for Indian Muslims, and those who [[Composite nationalism|wanted a united India]]. As [[World War II]] raged, over 2 million Indians fought for Britain.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC – History – British History in depth: Britain, the Commonwealth and the End of Empire |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/endofempire_overview_01.shtml |access-date=2023-09-01 |publisher=BBC |language=en-GB}}</ref> After the war, the process of independence took place and Britain granted independence to the vast majority of South Asians in 1947,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tharoor |first=Shashi |title=The Partition: The British game of 'divide and rule' |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2017/8/10/the-partition-the-british-game-of-divide-and-rule |access-date=2023-09-01 |publisher=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref> though this coincided with the [[partition of India]] into a Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority Pakistan, which resulted in significant violence and hardened religious divides in the region for some months.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Dalrymple |first=William |date=2015-06-22 |title=The Mutual Genocide of Indian Partition |language=en-US |magazine=The New Yorker |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple |access-date=2023-09-01 |issn=0028-792X}}</ref>