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How did Akbar bring Bengal under Mughal control?

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Akbar A painting titled *Akbar Hunting* from a folio of *Akbarnama* (“History of Akbar”), late 16th century; in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

Akbar brought Bengal under Mughal control through a series of military campaigns against the region's Afghan rulers, who had remained independent from Delhi since the 14th century.12

Following his conquest of Gujarat in 1573, Akbar turned his attention to Bengal, a wealthy region vital for international trade. In 1575, the Afghan sultan Dāʾūd Khan was forced to submit to Mughal authority after his forces were scattered by Akbar’s army, led by Munʿim Khan, at the Battle of Tukaroi.231

When Dāʾūd Khan subsequently rebelled, he was defeated and killed in 1576, leading to the formal annexation of Bengal into the empire. While the region was brought under Mughal control by July 1576, some local resistance persisted for several years until the gains were further consolidated in the east by Man Singh, the governor of Bihar, who later annexed Orissa.23