TIMELINE : 1700 TO 1729
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TIMELINE : 1700 TO 1729 |
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The World in 2000 | Africa | Central America And The Caribbean | North America | South America | Antarctica
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Timeline | Differences | Politics | Science and Technology | Society | Notes | Summary | Home
1640 to 1669 | 1670 to 1699 | 1700 to 1729 | 1730 to 1759 | 1760 to 1789 | 1790 to 1819
1820 to 1849 | 1850 to 1879 | 1880 to 1909 | 1910 to 1939 | 1940 to 1969 | 1970 to 2000
Mughal Emperor Shah Buland Iqbal [Dara Shikoh] dies unexpectedly at the age of eighty-five. With only one candidate for the throne who is at all legitimate, the Hindu and Jain bankers who might normally finance their favourite candidates to the throne cannot really fund anyone other than Sultan Sipir Shikoh himself, and the succession passes off remarkably peacefully. Sultan Sipir Shikoh, the only surviving son of Emperor Shah Buland Iqbal, ascends to the throne at the age of fifty-six.
With Russia preparing for a war with Sweden and the other members of the Holy League signing the Treaty of Karlowitz with the Ottoman Empire Turkey in 1699, the Russian government signs the Constantinople Peace Treaty with the Ottoman Empire, ending this Russo-Turkish War.
The Great Northern War begins between Sweden and the Ottoman Empire on one side and Russia and Denmark-Norway on the other. Poland does not enter the war [unlike the case in the real world], King Augustus II instead being persuaded by his wife and the bad harvest of 1699 to continue his internal reform projects rather than risk the possibility of external conquest [again unlike the real world].
After years of problems, the Scottish Darién Scheme finally fails, with the few survivors returning home. [The Scheme lasts a little longer here than in the real world, but is fundamentally very similar.]
A very powerful earthquake strikes Cascadia, in North America, sending tsunami as far as Yapon [Japan].
[At this point in the real world, the Mughal Empire had a gross domestic product making up almost a quarter of that of the world as a whole. In this world this percentage is even larger.]
The Mughal Durbar proposes the same reforms of the Mansabdari system to Sultan Sipir Shikoh as they unsuccessfully did to his father. Sultan Sipir Shikoh is more amenable to these new ideas than Emperor Shah Buland Iqbal, and accepts them. However, resistance to them among the Mughal government means that their implementation is slow.
The last Spanish Habsburg king, Charles II, dies, having bequeathed all of his possessions to Philip, duc d'Anjou, a grandson of the French King Louis XIV. Philip becomes Philip V of Spain.
The War of the Spanish Succession begins as the other European powers, led by the Holy Roman Empire (also ruled by the Habsburgs, and having their own claim on the throne) work to stop French expansionism, acquire new territories, or to protect existing ones. The war spreads from Europe to North America.
With the permission of the Holy Roman Emperor, the Kingdom of Prussia is declared.
After a great deal of resistance from the Polish nobility, Augustus II reforms the Polish political system and establishes a hereditary monarchy there [as he failed to do in the real world]. This helps to prevent the Russian Empire from strengthening its influence over Poland. Historians refer to the period before this as the First Polish-Lithuanian Republic.
As part of the War of the Spanish Succession the English capture and burn Spanish-held St. Augustine in Florida, including its main fortress. [Unlike the case in the real world, where they could not take the fort.] England also remains in control of Florida.
Farid Khan Astarabadi, a member of the Jadid Mu'tazili movement, introduces a unified curriculum for Mughal Muslim education, the Dars-i-Faridiya, intended to help prepare scholars for the Imperial Examinations by covering all of the subjects it demands (grammar, rhetoric, philosophy, logic, scholasticism, tafsir (commentary on the Quran), fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), hadith, mathematics, history and natural sciences). Originally introduced in Chandigarh alone its success means that it soon spreads across the Empire.
A rebellion against the government breaks out in the Sultanate of Brunei.
In addition to preparing people for the Imperial Examinations, the Dars-i-Faridiya provides good mental discipline, and its general adoption causes a widespread interest in intellectual and philosophical matters.
Peter the Great of Russia founds the city of St. Petersburg on the Baltic coast, on marshland re-conquered from Sweden and formerly occupied by the Swedish settlement of Nyen.
The Sultanate of Sulu sends aid to the Sultan of Brunei, and the Bruneian rebellion is crushed. In gratitude the Sultan of Brunei grants North Borneo to the Sultanate of Sulu.
An uprising in Sinhale attempts to overthrow the Kingdom there and invite in the forces of the Kanyakumari Pact to remove the Mughals and revert control of the island to its native rulers. The uprising is quickly crushed by the Mughals, before the Pact could have reacted even had it been planning to.
Englishman Edmond Halley publishes his belief that the comet sightings of 1456, 1531, 1607, and 1682 were of the same comet, which he predicts will return in 1758. [This is the comet that becomes known as Halley's Comet.]
James Stuart, the Duke of York, dies. [This is somewhat later than in the real world, where as King James II he died in 1701.]
Seeking an end to the increasing influence of Persian Muslims in the Mughal Empire, Sultan Sipir Shikoh appoints mainly Indian-born Muslims and Hindus, including many Rajputs, to the important posts of the Empire. This leads to a cooling of relations between the Mughal and Persian Empires.
After a decade of warfare and anarchy, the Kingdom of Lan Xang [real-world Laos] is broken up into three vassal kingdoms; one of these, Luang Phrabang, is a vassal of Ayutthaya alone, while the other two, Viang Chan and Champasak, are vassals of both Ayutthaya and Dai Ngu [Vietnam]. [This occurs two years earlier than in the real world.]
With the permission of the Mughal Emperor Sultan Sipir Shikoh, and despite the objections of the Muslim scribes, the first copy of the Koran is printed in Delhi. Sultan Sipir Shikoh wishes to spread knowledge of Islam as widely as possible, regardless of any objections.
Edgar, Duke of Cambridge and son of James, the Duke of York, has a daughter, who he names Catherine. As she grows up she becomes a devout Protestant.
With help from the Durbar, Sultan Sipir Shikoh does his best to control and balance the finances of the Mughal Empire to the extent of limiting his own spending while at the same time cutting out fraud, bribery, nepotism and so on.
Emperor Iyasu I of Abyssinia is assassinated and is succeeded by his son, who becomes Emperor Tekle Haymanot I. However, because of having ordered the assassination, Tekle Haymanot is very unpopular, and the involvement of his mother and the acceptance of his position by other members of the royal family does irreparable harm to the image of the Abyssinian monarchy, the Solomonic Dynasty.
[Due to the different history here, Marthanda Varma, the founder of modern Travancore in the real world is not born. This causes major changes in the political history and geography of southern India.]
With the finances of the Mughal Empire becoming more and more precarious with time, unrest begins to occur as the tax burden on the common people becomes heavier and heavier.
Sultan Sipir Shikoh eliminates the system of nazars or gifts to the court introduced by Nur Jahan.
At this point (when Aurangzeb died in the real world) the Indian sub-continent is significantly richer, more populous and more culturally diverse and tolerant than it was at this point in the real world. At the same time, the Sikh religion is considerably less militarised than in the real world.
Without Aurangzeb attempting to conquer all of India, although there are still wars on the sub-continent, the Mughal Empire and other Indian nations remain more outward-looking, leading to more trade and exploration, and with more Europeans and others coming to India to seek their fortunes. Because the Mughal Empire does not collapse there is much less need for European governments to intervene in Indian politics to protect their interests.
From now until the present day the world as a whole is richer than the real world at the same time, due to the effects of the two parallel European and Indian industrial revolutions. India as a whole is also very much richer and more populous as it avoids exploitation by the European colonial powers.
Thanjavur uses a variety of diplomatic pretexts to absorb two of the neighbouring Poligar-run states.
Emperor Tekle Haymanot I of Abyssinia is assassinated by some of his late father's courtiers. He is succeeded by his uncle Tewoflos.
To prevent further desertions to the Indian nations, the European East India Companies begin only sending out employees who they believe to be loyal, or who they believe have no interest in 'turning native'. Some of these are sent simply because of their racism. Others because they are older than the normal run of employees (who have been sent out as teenagers and with no real ties to their homelands); many of these go to India with their families.
The lack of a connection to India or outright hostility to it that these new employees bring does not help relations between India and Europe. It also does not prevent some of the company employees deserting to Indian nations regardless of the opinions of their employers. And it certainly does not prevent people making their way to India to seek their fortunes as individuals rather than company employees.
Many Europeans begin to become assimilated into Indian society.
As part of the Great Northern War, the armies of Sweden are soundly defeated by the Russians under Peter the Great at the Battle of Poltava. Russia emerges as a major European power. King Charles XII of Sweden flees into exile in the Ottoman Empire.
Seeking a solution to the financial problems of the Mughal Empire, Sultan Sipir Shikoh, advised by his Durbar and supported by some of the most powerful of the Mansabdars, enacts some major changes to the Mughal system:
The introduction of the new hereditary system does not affect the behaviour of many of the Mansabdars, who continue their spendthrift ways. However, others now begin to save and invest their money, wishing to have more to pass on to their heirs.
Other high ranking Mansabdars responsible for tax revenues become some of the first Mughal industrialists, using technology and modern methods in new and better ways to obtain the money they need. These ideas begin to spread across India, and India begins to industrialise quite as much as Europe.
The first privately-owned Karkhanas (industrial concerns) begin operation during this time. Some of them are purchased from the Mughal government while others are entirely new facilities. Because of the way these are set up they do not at this point directly compete with the largely Hindu merchant houses of the Empire.
Emperor Sultan Sipir Shikoh encourages the craftsmen in the state-owned Karkhanas and raises their status by visiting them and observing the work taking place their, as his great-great-grandfather Akbar once did.
In time there is a blurring of the line between the positions traditionally occupied by Mughal Muslims (in government and administration) and Hindus (in trade, commerce and banking).
With a hereditary nobility in place, fairly deliberately created by European immigrants to the Mughal Empire, along with Indian nobility who see the advantages of it, there is now a counterbalance to the power of the Emperor which helps to act as a check on any arbitrary behaviour on his part, in addition to the symbolic Kabir Manshir [Great Charter].
With the introduction of these new ideas and institutions there are mutterings that even accounting for the high level of tolerance the Mughal Empire has, Sultan Sipir Shikoh goes too far. That he has been 'corrupted' by European ways, or is under the control of the European members of the Durbar. However, this never goes beyond mutterings into real unrest.
Other rumours speculate that he is not the real Sultan Sipir Shikoh but instead an impostor, the real Sultan Sipir Shikoh having died or been replaced by someone else while he was in Europe. Someone who does not have the best interests of the Mughal Empire at heart. Although this rumour is quickly dismissed by the fact that too many people who knew him before verify his identity now, it still remains in circulation.
In addition a number of problems arising when children inherit a position and property show that simply handing everything down to the next generation is not a good idea under all circumstances.
Mughal caravans and ships increase their level of trade with other nations around the Mughal Empire, particularly the Persian and Ottoman Empires, Arabia, Oman, East Africa, and South-East Asia, with but some trade also going to China and Europe. In addition, Indian sailors begin to serve as crew on European ships [as they probably did in the real world], leading to their learning the routes to Europe, European ship building techniques, and how to get there safely. Because of this Indian ships also begin to travel the world and trade directly with Europe.
As their needs for trade and resources grows, the states of the Dakshina Nad quickly find they cannot acquire these by land, being hemmed in by the Mughal Empire. Instead, trading missions begins to be sent out by sea to seek out resources and land around the Indian Ocean, and beyond.
As time goes by cultural influences from both the Mughal Empire and Dakshina Nad, already significant, become greater and greater across south-east Asia.
The New House of Wisdom (named after the Bayt al-Hikma, the library and translation institute in Abbassid-era Baghdad that is considered to have been a major intellectual centre of the Islamic Golden Age) is founded in Delhi as a university teaching both religious and secular subjects.
With the widespread adoption of the Dars-i-Faridiya curriculum, a new element of the Mughal government is set up to control education, and maintain standards.
The Chinese government sends a resident commissioner (Amban) to Lhasa in Tibet.
The last known incident of using plague corpses for biological warfare occurs when Russian forces attack the Swedes by flinging plague-infected corpses over the walls of the city of Reval (Tallinn).
In the secret Treaty of Hue, the governments of Ayutthaya and the Nguyen Lords of Dai Ngu divide up Cambodia and the vassal territories of Lan Xang [Laos] between them. Ayutthaya is to gain Luang Phrabang and Viang Chan in the north of Laos, while the Nguyen Lords will gain Champasak in the south, as well as the poor and restless state of Cambodia.
Work finally ends on the Palace of Versailles, which has been in progress since 1661.
[With the influx of European people and ideas, such as inheritance, private finances and property, and non-absolute government as embodied in the Kabir Manshur (Great Charter), the Mughal Empire is able to learn and adapt enough to eliminate, or at least reduce, the financial and other problems it suffered in the real world.]
With Mughal Mansabdars wishing to invest their private capital and build up their money, the first banks run on Islamic principles are opened in the Mughal Empire. These are distinct from the existing Hindu- and Jain-run banks in the Empire, and are set up because some of the more devout Muslim Mansabdars disapprove of the methods of the Hindu, Jain and European-style banks in India, and wish to put their money into something they feel comfortable with. Many Europeans with experience of banking in Europe contribute to these, particularly a number of Dutch émigrés.
Englishman Thomas Newcomen completes the first commercial steam engine, which replaces a team of five hundred horses.
Udham Singh Nalwa becomes the first Sikh to be selected as a member of the Mughal Durbar.
The capital of the Russian Empire moves from Moscow to the newly-built city of St. Petersburg.
[The future Frederick the Great of Prussia is not born in this world; instead a different son is born to Frederick William I of Prussia. With no Frederick the Great, Prussia remains a reasonably competent German state for longer, rather than becoming a power in the eighteenth century.]
The Mughal Bank, a central bank for the Mughal Empire, is founded in Delhi. It is intended at least partly to assist in the funding of government-backed trading companies.
The last execution for witchcraft in takes place in England. [This is slightly earlier than in the real world.]
As Sultan Sipir Shikoh gets older and frailer, the members of his Durbar, wishing to avoid the succession wars of the previous century, and remembering the role of Hindu and Jain bankers in them by their financing their favourite candidates and thus enabling them to afford to fight, meet with the bankers and after lengthy negotiations settle on a mutually agreeable successor to the throne, his son Ummid Akhtar.
The War of the Spanish Succession ends with the Treaties of Utrecht and Rastatt. Philip remains King of Spain, but is no longer in the French line of succession. This ends French hegemony over continental Europe. Spain loses its European holdings in the Netherlands and Italy. Britain takes control of Gibraltar and Minorca, as well as various French territories in North America and is also confirmed in its possession of Spanish Florida [this last unlike the case in the real world]. France takes control of some of the area nominally claimed by the British Hudson's Bay Company.
King Charles XII of Sweden returns from exile in the Ottoman Empire to continue the Great Northern War.
Using the excuse of harassment of their colonists in the Mekong Delta, the Nguyen Lords invade Cambodia. Impoverished and poor, the Cambodians can do little to resist this.
[With the Stuarts remaining on the throne of Great Britain, the German state of Hanover does not become linked to Britain by its royalty.]
As the War of the Spanish Succession ends, what becomes known as the Golden Age of Piracy begins as many privateers, now unemployed due to the new peace, seek plunder in the seas of the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, and the West Coast of Africa.
Mughal philosopher and scientist Fazlollah Khan Puladeen discovers how to store the electrical charger generated by an electrostatic generator [the Leyden Jar, in the real world invented in 1745].
Adnan Heshmat becomes the first Christian is selected as a member of the Mughal Durbar.
King Louis XIV of France dies of old age. His five-year-old great-grandson succeeds to the throne as King Louis XV. This precipitates a dynastic struggle as his grandson Felipe V of Spain (who is also uncle of the new child King Louis XV) seeks the throne of France for himself, as well as putting his children in line to inherit much of Italy.
Tsar Peter the Great sends an Archimandrite, Ilarion Lezhaisky, along with various staff members, to take over the operation of the Russian Orthodox Church in Beijing. This is the first Spiritual Mission of the Russian Orthodox Church in Beijing.
A short war is fought between the Ayutthaya Kingdom [Thailand] and the Nguyen Lords [the Vietnamese rulers of South Vietnam] for control of Cambodia.
With more contact between India and Europe, and India being richer and more stable than in the real world, synergy between Indian and European thinkers begins driving the advance of science and technology at a faster rate than in the real world. This is helped by the spread of ideas from India that were not adopted or ignored in the real world, such as those of the Kerala School of mathematics. This leads to the Industrial Revolution beginning perhaps a generation earlier than in the real world.
As the Mughal Empire becomes more and more powerful and prosperous, most of the Dakshina Nad states follow the Mughal trend and introduce, with the help of European émigrés, the institutions that have done the Mughals so much good, including inheritance, banking, overseas trade and so on.
A son is born to King Charles III of England. He is named Robert.
Conservative elements of the Mughal nobility, very unhappy at the reforms of Sultan Sipir Shikoh, attempt to mount a coup against him. This fails, although several of his more loyal advisors are killed in the process. Most of the coup leaders are captured and executed, though some flee into the South Indian states or overseas.
After they suffer internal unrest, the Kingdom of Mysore conquers two of the neighbouring Poligar-run states.
A son, named Leopold Christopher, is born to Charles VI, the Holy Roman Emperor. [Leopold Christopher replaces Maria Theresa of the real world. The birth of a surviving male heir to Charles VI means that there is no War of the Austrian Succession.]
Mughal Emperor Sultan Sipir Shikoh dies at the age of seventy-three. In a remarkably peaceful succession, he is succeeded by his son, who becomes Emperor Ummid Akhtar.
Britain, the Netherlands, and France form the Triple Alliance to oppose Spanish ambitions in France and Italy.
Spain invades Sardinia and Sicily, claiming traditional ownership of the islands.
Englishman James Puckle invents the first revolver cannon, a tripod-mounted, single-barrelled flintlock weapon using a revolving cylinder capable of firing bullets at three times the rate of a standard flintlock weapon. This becomes known as the Puckle Gun. [This is slightly earlier than in the real world. Given that it was invented at least partly to use against the Ottomans, with the additional knowledge of the powerful Mughal Empire in this world James Puckle is inspired to invent it slightly earlier.] However, the Puckle Gun inspires little interest among the English government and fades into obscurity.
A Mughal Mansabdar who is running a mining concern imports the first Newcomen-type steam engine from England into the Mughal Empire to help with pumping water from his mines. It is a great success.
With the British government showing little interest in the Puckle Gun, James Lubbock, one of Puckle's assistants, steals the design and departs for India with the intention of making his fortune by selling it to some appropriate party there.
Merchants from the Dakshina Nad establish a harbour and supply station on the island of Malagasia [Madagascar] as a mid-point on voyages to west Africa and Europe.
Abdul Jalil Rahmat Shah becomes the new Sultan of Johor. However, the son of Sultan Abdul Jalil IV, Raja Sulaiman is dissatisfied with this.
Austria joins the Triple Alliance, which is renamed the Quadruple Alliance. The new alliance demands Spanish withdrawal from Sardinia and Sicily, and when these are refused, what becomes known as the War of the Quadruple Alliance begins. [This is all much as in the real world.]
Over time other steam engines are imported into the Mughal Empire and find usage in many areas.
Merchants from the Mughal Empire establish a harbour and supply station on the island of Malagasia [Madagascar].
The Mughal Empire attempts to send Islamic missionaries to the islands of Yapon [Japan]. Yapon refuses them admission.
Spain suffers numerous defeats against the forces of the Quadruple Alliance.
Europeans in India begin to become known as White Mughals [in homage to the book that inspired this timeline].
A daughter is born to King Charles III of England. She is named Henrietta.
The leaders of the remaining Poligar-ruled states of southern India meet in the central city of Kadapa (Cuddapah). After long negotiations they decide that they have more in common with one another than anyone else. As such they form a coalition to defend against annexations such as those which occurred in 1708 and 1716. This becomes known as the Poligar Coalition. The capital of the new Coalition is declared to be Kadapa.
Spain ends the War of the Quadruple Alliance, signing the Treaty of the Hague which ends the war, leaving Britain in possession of Gibraltar.
Arriving in India, James Lubbock is able to interest the government of the Maratha Kingdom in the Puckle Gun, and begins building it there.
Having passed the Mughal Imperial Examinations becomes a pre-requisite for the inheritance of any kind of position in the Empire.
The Kalmyk people living to the north of the Caspian Sea become increasingly influenced and under the control of Russia.
The Great Northern War ends with Sweden being soundly defeated, losing all of its overseas holdings and falling from Great Power status. Russia gains the former Swedish territories in the Baltic.
Bahadur Nadeem Iqbal, a Mughal scholar and historian, leaves the Mughal Empire to begin a grand tour of Russia and Europe, travelling north out of the Empire and into Russia.
Merchants from the Dakshina Nad establish a number of harbours and supply stations on the western coast of Marege [Australia]. They name this new land Pudhiya Dakshina Nad (New South Land). Many of the Indians who go to Marege quickly come to consider the natives to be not unlike an entire race of Sadhus [Hindu holy men]. [This interpretation of the Aborigines is based on a journal entry by Captain James Cook, who stated that 'They may appear to some to be the most wretched people on earth, but in reality they are far happier than we Europeans. The live in a tranquillity which is not disturbed by the inequality of condition: the earth and the sea of their own accord furnish them with all things necessary for life ... they seemed to set no value on anything we gave them, nor would they ever part with anything of their own.' This could certainly be interpreted as a kind of holiness by different eyes.]
The first working elephant in Europe, along with her mahout, arrives in England from India. She begins employment pulling canal boats.
Other working elephants soon begin to be used elsewhere in Europe.
The first locally-built steam engine is constructed for a Mansabdar in the Mughal Empire, using a design copied from that of Thomas Newcomen.
Merchants from the Mughal Empire establish a harbour and supply station on the north west coast of Marege [Australia]. This becomes known as Koshiki (the Dry Land).
The Bugis people, originally from the island of Sulawesi, having become a powerful court faction in the Sultanate of Johor, take advantage of factional struggles in the court to de-throne Sultan Abdul Jalil Rahmat Shah and replace him with Raja Sulaiman. Raja Sulaiman is a weak ruler and a puppet of the Bugis.
Persian warlord Nadir Shah topples the Persian Emperor Safavid Shah Soltan Hosein, killing him and much of his family, and takes the throne for himself. [This is not exactly how things occurred in the real world, but is similar sequence of events.]
Bahadur Nadeem Iqbal reaches Moscow after taking a leisurely trip through the great cities of Central Asia. He begins a scholarly study of the Russian Orthodox Church. Becoming interested in the reforms of the Patriarch Nikon he begins the critical evaluation of the sources and of the essence of the reforms.
Tsar Peter the Great, wishing to expand Russian influence in the Caspian and South Caucasus regions and to prevent the Ottoman Empire from gaining territorial gains in the region, begins the Russo-Persian War. He takes advantage of the unrest in the Persian Empire to, with the aid of Georgia and Armenia, invade Persia across the Caspian Sea. The newly built Caspian Flotilla plays a vital role in this. [This slightly later than in the real world.]
Sailors returning from Marege bring tales of a strange race of Sadhus living there. A slow trickle of pilgrims going to Marege to talk to and learn from the natives begins.
Because of their being seen as a race of Sadhus, because of the great range of skin colours already existing within India, and because of previous contacts with these places, the Indian colonists of Marege [Australia] do not discriminate against the natives as much as the Europeans in the real world. Maregian natives come to be considered, as a race, much more holy than the Indians, rather than as a lesser race as they are by the Europeans [and as they were in the real world], and thus get a great deal more respect than they did from Europeans in the real world.
However, traders from outside do begin to encroach in the lands of the natives of Marege [as they did in the real world]. The natives of Marege also begin to be decimated by the diseases inadvertently brought by traders from outside [again as in the real world]. Taking advantage of this, some traders take control of more native lands. Others help the natives so that, in general, both sides remain neutral to one another.
As time passes Marege becomes known unofficially as Sadhu Nad [the Land of Sadhus].
Again because of their coming from a more racially diverse land, Indian traders and colonists do not discriminate against Africans as much as their European counterparts.
Large numbers of refugees from the old Safavid dynasty and government flee Persia. Some go to the Ottoman Empire, the states of the Dakshina Nad, or into Oman, but most go to the Mughal Empire.
With less European activity in Africa and the Mughals being more tolerant, there is less missionary activity in Africa, particularly eastern Africa, and what missionary activity there is also includes Muslim missionaries. Because of this the traditional beliefs of Africa and other less developed parts of the world survive more than they have done in the real world.
Bahadur Nadeem Iqbal discovers during his researches that the rites that were rejected and condemned by the Nikonian reforms were genuine customs of the Orthodox Church, whereas those which replaced them, based on Greek usage, had been altered over time. This was exactly the reverse of the justification used by Nikon for his reforms. He reports this discovery in a letter to a friend in the Mughal Empire.
The Ottoman Empire takes advantage of the unrest in Persia to invade its western regions. What becomes known as the Perseo-Ottoman War begins.
Threatened on two fronts, the Persian Empire has little choice but to end the Russo-Persian War by surrendering significant northern territory to Russia.
Traders from the Dakshina Nad found a settlement in the east of southern Africa in what becomes known as Giâhrarazi (the Forest Coast). Many of the traders who do this are assisted by expatriate Europeans from various nations.
Emperor Peter the Great of Russia dies. He is succeeded by his wife, who becomes Empress Catherine I.
Some border raids take place between Afghan forces and those of the Persian Empire. [These are much less extreme than the invasion and sacking of Isfahan that took place in the real world.]
The Perseo-Ottoman War ends with the Persian Empire losing significant areas in the west of the empire to the Ottoman Empire.
Austria pledges to assist Spain in recovering Gibraltar, reversing its previous alignment with Britain against Spain.
With his regime established, Persian Emperor Nadir Shah sends forces to probe the defences of the Mughal Empire. Finding them too strong, he turns his attention elsewhere. [Unlike the case in the real world, where he successfully pillaged the weakened Mughal Empire.]
Bahadur Nadeem Iqbal travels on, into Europe and North Africa, then to Mecca where he participates in the Hajj.
Mughal traders also found a settlement in Giâhrarazi. As with the Dakshina Nad merchants, many of the traders who do this are assisted by expatriate Europeans from various nations. They open relations with the native people there, the Xhosa, trading mainly for food, which they exchange for Indian goods.
Seeking to avoid traders from the Dakshina Nad, Mughal traders found a settlement in the west of southern Africa at the best harbour on the coast of what becomes known as Ghobararazi (the Land of Fog) [in the real world Walvis Bay in Namibia]. The settlement itself becomes known as Ummidabad, named after the current Mughal Emperor Ummid Akhtar. As with the Giâhrarazi settlements, many of the traders who do this are assisted by expatriate Europeans from various nations.
Spain begins the Second Anglo-Spanish War, besieging Gibraltar but failing to take it.
Representatives of Persian leader Nadir Shah attempt to negotiate a treaty with the Dakshina Nad, allying the two groups against the Mughal Empire. However, based on the current political situation, the Dakshina Nad declines these overtures.
The number of European émigrés in the Mughal Empire becomes so great that it leads to tension and unrest as the thrusting Europeans begin taking positions and jobs seen to be for Mughal citizens, even though the Europeans may become Mughal citizens themselves.
Catherine, granddaughter of James, the Duke of York, marries Prince Frederick of Denmark, the second son of King Frederick IV of Denmark and a member of the Danish House of Oldenburg [see also here]. This strengthens the links between Britain and Denmark that began with Anne of Denmark becoming the wife of King James I of England.
Persian Emperor Nadir Shah invades the Ottoman Empire, soundly defeating them and extending the Persian Empire to the Mediterranean Sea. However, the Ottomans retain control of many of the cities in the region, including Jerusalem.
At the urging of their leadership, the Sikh communities across India begin expanding their Gurdwaras to provide schools, hospitals and so on in addition to their traditional food and shelter, for anyone who needs it. Education begins to spread through all the religions and castes of India, usually based on the Dars-i-Faridiya curriculum.
A dynastic succession struggle begins in the Imamate of Oman, as the ulema there fails to agree on a new Imam. Civil war breaks out. [This is similar to the succession struggle that occurred in 1719 in the real world.]
The first Dutch merchants, following the Indian nations doing so, begin trading and exploring along the northern coast of the continent of Marege [Australia].
The Second Anglo-Spanish War ends with a truce agreed by both sides.
Dutch traders begin harassing Indian merchants in south African waters, attempting to drive them from what they consider to be 'their' area. Several Indian and Dutch ships are damaged or sunk in the course of this harassment.
Indian merchants elsewhere also begin to suffer harassment from the merchants of the Netherlands and other European nations.
A side effect of the expansion of the functions of the Sikh Gurdwaras is to, over time, encourage other religions to do similar good works, to the extent that by the present day many of the social services of the nations of the world are religiously based.
Nadir Shah continues to press the Ottoman Empire, pushing them south into Egypt. However, many Ottoman cities hold out against the Persian invaders.
Taking advantage of the invasion of Nadir Shah the European powers attack the Ottomans from the north and west, pressing them towards the Bosporus from both directions.
Seeing the education of all castes as an attack on the caste system itself (which it is), Hindu mobs attack Sikh Gurdwaras across India. Many Sikhs are killed, but teaching continues, as does the violence.
As the Persians move to intervene in the Omani Civil War, the Mughal Empire and the Dakshina Nad, not wishing to have their trade links with Europe disrupted any further, send forces to end the Omani Civil War. This persuades the Persian navy to remain in port.
Dutch traders establish a settlement in the northern tip of Marege [Australia], in the region they name Nova Holland [New Holland].
As part of the Treaty of Seville signed by Spain, Britain and France which ends the Second Anglo-Spanish War, the British government agrees not to trade with any Spanish colonies.
The death of their overall Khan leaves the Kazakh people leaderless. With no clear choice of successor, the three Hordes of the Kazakh people, the Great, Middle and Lesser Hordes, cannot agree on the next Khan of all Kazakhs, so the Kazakhs as a whole remain leaderless and divided. [This is similar to what happened in the real world.]
Because of the Hindu attacks on them, the Sikh community in the Mughal Empire becomes increasingly militarised, as they look to their own protection. [This not quite in the same way as in the real world, but with a similar overall effect.]
As their foreign trade becomes more and more important, the nations of the Dakshina Nad begin building the strength of their navies.
The Kalmyk people begin taking advantage of the divisions among the Kazakh people to raid and invade the Kazakh lands.
1640 to 1669 | 1670 to 1699 | 1700 to 1729 | 1730 to 1759 | 1760 to 1789 | 1790 to 1819
1820 to 1849 | 1850 to 1879 | 1880 to 1909 | 1910 to 1939 | 1940 to 1969 | 1970 to 2000
The World in 2000 | Africa | Central America And The Caribbean | North America | South America | Antarctica
Central Asia | Eastern And South-Eastern Asia | South Asia | Europe | The Middle East | Oceania
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Copyright © Tony Jones, 2007.
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