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The Hulbert Taft, Jr. Library

Foundations: Islamic Empires: Mughal Empire

MUGHAL EMPIRE, 1526-1857

   

Taj Mahal. Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. Accessed Feb 22, 2021.
https://quest.eb.com/search/139_1852869/1/139_1852869/cite.

UNESCO World Heritage Site: The Taj Mahal

 

ALTERNATE SPELLING: Moghul, Mogul

Secondary Sources

Secondary Sources will have more specific information about your topic.

  • Secondary source books are written by scholars and present a new interpretation or thesis based upon a synthesis of primary sources, scholarly journal articles, and other secondary sources.
  • Sometimes there will be an entire book, sometimes you may have to assemble information from multiple monographs.
  • Secondary sources will usually have a bibliography of materials for further study, including primary sources, journal articles (which are also secondary sources), and books. 

 

RESERVE BOOKS

To ensure equitable access, all reserve materials are to be used only in the library for the duration of the project.

  • DURING CLASS TIME IN THE LIBRARY:

    • Books on reserve will be available to you in the Library Reading Room Your group may take these books to your workspace on the Library main floor.

    • Please return all your books to a library staff member either at the Circulation Desk or in the Reading Room before you leave the library at the end of class..

  • OUTSIDE OF CLASS TIME, you may come to the Circulation Desk and sign out up to 2 books at a time for use in the library only. When you return those books, you may sign out up to 2 additional books. (Note: the limit to the number of books is to ensure equitable availability of materials among the 5 sections of US History.)

 

TO CITE A BOOK OR eBOOK, CLICK HERE.

 

General (more than one empire)

  • Cities of destiny / edited by Arnold Toynbee. G140 .T69 1967 (Oversize book)
  • A history of Islamic societies / Ira M. Lapidus. DS35.63 .L37 2014
  • In the shadow of the gods: the emperor in world history / Dominic Lieven. D107 .L54 2022
  • Islam: a short history / Karen Armstrong. BP50 . A69 2000
  • Islam in the Indian Ocean world: a brief history with documents / Omar H. Ali. BP 64 .A32 A45 2016 Contains Primary Sources
  • The Oxford history of Islam / edited by John L. Esposito. BP50 .O95 1999
  • Religious transformations in the early modern world: a brief history with documents / Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks. BR252 .W54 2009  Contains Primary Sources
  • The venture of Islam: conscience and history in a world civilization, vol. 3: The Gunpowder empires and modern times / Marshall G.S. Hodgson. DS 36.85 .H63 v.3  (also an online ebook)

Mughal Empire

  • The Mughal Empire / John F. Richards. DS461 .R53 2000 (also an online ebook)
  • Paintings from Mughal India. ND 1337 .I5 F34. Contains Primary Sources

India History generally

  • Concise history of modern India / Barbara D. Metcalf and Thomas R. Metcalf. DS461 .M47 2012
  • Cultural history of India / edited by A. L. Basham. DS423 .C86
  • Historic India / Lucille Schulberg and the Editors of Time-Life Books. DS423 .S33
  • The history of India / John McLeod. DS 463 .M224 2015 (also an online ebook)
  • The history of India / Ed. by Kenneth Pletcher (an online ebook)
  • India: a history / John Keay. DS451 .K365 2000
  • India: Art and Culture, 1300-1600 / Stuart Cary Welch. N7301 .W45 1985 (oversize) Contains Primary Sources
  • India before Europe / Catherine B. Asher and Cynthia Talbot. DS452 .A84 2006
  • A new history of India / Stanley Wolpert (an online ebook)
  • The rise of Islam and the Bengal frontier, 1204-1760 / Richard M. Eaton. (an online ebook)

Contains Primary Sources means this source contains primary source materials

If you have any questions,

see Mr. Padgett or Ms. Taylor

OR email us at 

spadgett@taftschool.org  

  taylorp@taftschool.org

We're here to help!

Primary Sources

Primary Sources

Sources created by those who lived it

Any document, image, or artifact created at the time of the topic being researched is a primary source.

Examples include: eyewitness accounts, memoirs, household and day-to-day objects, textiles and clothing, coins, works of art and architecture.

See the Images page for information on finding images of artifacts, buildings, coinage, etc. from your empire.

Please note: primary source documents and images are a reflection of the time and culture in which they were created and may contain language or images that are considered offensive today.

 

TO CITE PRIMARY SOURCES, CLICK HERE.

 

Primary Sources in Books / eBooks
  • Daily Life through World History in Primary Documents / Ed. by Lawrence Morris (an online ebook)
  • Great Buildings / Philip Wilkinson. NA200 .W54 2012 (oversize book)
  • Living Architecture: Islamic India / Andreas Volwahsen. NA1502 .V613. 
  • Paintings from Mughal India / Toby Falk and Simon Digby. ND 1337 .I5 F34.  
  • Religious Transformations in the Early Modern World: A Brief History with Documents / Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks. BR252 .W54 2009
  • Sources of Indian Tradition: From the Beginning to 1800 / edited by Ainslie T. Embree. DS423 .S64 1988 vol. 1. Part IV: "Islam in Medieval India"; Chapters 13 -14. Look for writings throughout these chapters by Abu Fazl (Mughal) and al-Dawanni (Mughal)
 
Primary Sources on the Internet
  • Internet Indian History Sourcebook Part of the Internet History Sourcebooks Project created by Paul Halsall of Fordham University containing collections of primary full-texts and other useful materials organized by era and by region/culture.
  • The Memoirs of Babur (Selections) Babur was the founder of the Mughal Empire and first Emperor of the Mughal dynasty. His memoirs are essentially the first autobiography in Islamic literature and detail his "observations of the world in which he lived...physical and human geography, the flora and fauna, nomads in their pastures and urban environments..."
  • Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, Travels in India, Book II: "Political and historical description of the Empire of the Great Mogul"  Tavernier was a 17th-century French gem merchant recounts his six voyages to Persia and India between 1630 and 1668. He was the discoverer or purchaser of the priceless stone from India that is known as the Hope Diamond. In Book II, he writes of his time in the court of the Great Mugol, Shah Jahan.
  • Resources for the Study of Indian History including the Mughal empire. This reference is based on research ranging over a wide range of primary sources, providing excerpts of relevant passages in English translation. Many of these texts were written by authors who accompanied the invaders and recorded what they saw in Arabic, Persian or Turkish. The source of these excerpts are the translations made by Sir H. M. Elliot, and edited and published in 24 volumes by John Dowson in 1867.  
  • The Taj Mahal Virtual tour of the mausoleum of the Mughal Empress Mumtaz Mahal, considered one of the "Wonders of the World."

On the arts of Mughal India:

 
 
Primary Sources in Databases

NoodleTools Tips for Citing Books / eBooks

 

PLEASE NOTE: Do not copy and paste complete citations from electronic sources. NoodleTools cannot generate footnotes from copied and pasted citations.

 

To cite a book, first choose the NoodleTools option that best describes where you found it:

  • Database = an electronic book found in a Taft Subscription Database such as ACLS Humantities E-Book.
    • Choose Book.
    • You must provide the permanent URL for your source. Look for any of the following on the page: permalink, persistent link, stable link, durable link, "Get link",Cite, or Citable Link.
    • Choose the name of the database, using the pull-down menu under My library's databases.
    • Complete information about the book (author, title, publication place, publisher, and publication date).
  • Website = an electronic book found on the Internet using a search engine like Google.
    • Choose Book.
    • Copy and paste the URL for the book from your browser address bar. 
    • Enter author, title, publication place, publisher, and publication date. If there's an ISBN, search that number to get the information about the book.
  • Print or In Hand = a book in the Reserve collection behind the main desk or found upstairs in the Main collection.
    • Choose Book.
    • Using information in the book, enter author, title, publication place, publisher, and publication date.

Note: Print and electronic books can also be cited in NoodleTools using the ISBN (International Standard Book Number) . For a print book, look for the ISBN and associated barcode on the back cover or on the back side of the title page. If you don't find it, a library staff member can help. Books published before 1967 won't have an ISBN.

International Standard Book Number - Wikipedia

NoodleTools Tips for Citing Primary Sources

PLEASE NOTE: Do not copy and paste complete citations from electronic sources. NoodleTools cannot generate footnotes from copied and pasted citations.

 

TO CITE A PRIMARY SOURCE, first choose the NoodleTools option that best describes where you found it:

  • Database = a document found in a Taft Subscription Database such as {DATABASE NAME}
    • You must provide the permanent URL for your source. Look for any of the following on the page: permalink, persistent link, stable link, durable link, "Get link",Cite, or Citable Link.
  • Website = a document found on the Websites page of the course guide, found through a web directory like SweetSearch or a search engine such as Google. 
  • Print or In Hand = a document found in a book in the library. For example: in a reference book or a secondary source.

Next determine what kind of primary source you are citing:

  • Look at the list of options in NoodleTools. Is it a newspaper article, a speech, a letter, or another item listed? If so, choose that item type.
  • If you are not sure, you can use "Anthology / Collection" which enables you to cite a source found within another source.