Lesson Y8-U06-L02

Y8-U06-L02 Mughal India A Rich and Powerful Empire Quiz: KS3 History, Unit 12

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson Y8-U06-L02, Mughal India A Rich and Powerful Empire: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 History (National Curriculum), Unit 12: Year 8: Meanwhile Elsewhere, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. What is a 'Mughal'?

    • A Chinese family of emperors who ruled from Beijing and Nanjing
    • A merchant from the Dutch Republic who traded silk and porcelain
    • An Aztec ruler who governed the city of Tenochtitlan on a lake
    • A Muslim dynasty that ruled most of India from 1526 to the 1700s

  2. What does 'tolerance' mean?

    • Accepting that only one religion is allowed in the empire and the court
    • Letting soldiers choose which laws they will obey in the army
    • Putting up with taxes that are unfair without ever complaining to the ruler
    • Allowing people to follow different religions and customs without punishing them

  3. What is a 'mausoleum'?

    • A palace where an emperor held audiences with his nobles
    • A large, grand building built to hold a tomb
    • A garden with fountains and water channels for guests
    • A school where scholars studied the laws of the empire

  4. Who founded the Mughal Empire in 1526?

    • Suleiman
    • Shah Jahan
    • Akbar
    • Babur

  5. From which cities did the Mughal emperors rule?

    • Beijing and Nanjing
    • Agra and later Delhi
    • Cusco and Tenochtitlan
    • Istanbul and Cairo

  6. What religion did the Mughal rulers follow?

    • Islam, although most of their subjects were Hindu
    • Christianity, although most of their subjects were Buddhist
    • Buddhism, although most of their subjects were Christian
    • Hinduism, although most of their subjects were Muslim

  7. What three things made up the basis of Mughal power?

    • Silk farms, stone castles, and marriages to European royalty
    • Slave labour, railways, and a national printing press for the empire
    • Wealth from trade, a huge army, and organised rule
    • Gold mines, a large navy, and support from the Pope in Rome

  8. What was the 'mansabdari' system in the Mughal Empire?

    • A system of schools that taught the children of nobles to read and write
    • A system of courts that judged religious disputes between Hindus and Muslims
    • A system of officials and tax collectors that kept money flowing to the emperor
    • A system of canals that carried goods from the coast to the cities

  9. Which goods made the Mughal Empire rich through trade?

    • Sugar, tobacco and rum shipped from the Caribbean colonies of Britain
    • Porcelain, tea and silver coins shipped from the ports of southern China
    • Timber, iron and coal brought in from the forests and mines of Scandinavia
    • Fine cotton, silk, spices, indigo dye and precious gems

  10. What did the Mughal army include?

    • Steam-powered tanks that were built in the imperial workshops
    • Ships of the royal navy that patrolled the Indian Ocean
    • Hundreds of thousands of soldiers, war elephants and early cannon
    • A few hundred men with bows and wooden shields only

  11. How old was Akbar when he came to the throne?

    • 13
    • 23
    • 3
    • 30

  12. Which special tax did Akbar end?

    • A tax on the marriages of Hindu princesses
    • A tax on salt used in every household
    • A tax on the sale of silk and cotton cloth
    • The special tax on non-Muslims

  13. Which of these shows Akbar's religious tolerance?

    • He forced every subject to convert to Islam within one year
    • He ordered that only Christians could hold positions at his court
    • He banned all religions except Islam from the empire and closed all temples
    • He invited thinkers of many faiths to debate at his court and married Hindu princesses

  14. What is a 'charbagh'?

    • A small room in a palace where the emperor met his advisers
    • A formal garden split into four by water channels
    • A tall tower built from white marble for the royal guards
    • A cloth woven from silk and gold thread for the emperor

  15. What are Mughal 'miniature paintings'?

    • Small statues carved from ivory and sold in the markets of Delhi
    • Huge murals painted on the walls of the Taj Mahal
    • Painted maps of the trade routes that linked India to Europe
    • Tiny, detailed paintings in books showing court life, battles and animals

  16. Why was the Taj Mahal built?

    • As a tomb for Mumtaz Mahal, the beloved wife of Shah Jahan, who died in 1631
    • As a fort to defend the city of Agra from invading armies that had marched south from the Himalayas
    • As a church for the Portuguese traders who lived in Agra and who asked the emperor for land to build it
    • As a palace for Akbar and his court to hold grand feasts and to receive foreign ambassadors each spring

  17. Roughly how long did it take to build the Taj Mahal?

    • About two years, from 1632 to 1634
    • Over 20 years, from about 1632 to 1653
    • About five years, from 1640 to 1645
    • About 200 years, from 1632 to 1832

  18. Which statement shows how Mughal art blended different traditions?

    • It copied Chinese painting exactly, with no changes at all
    • It rejected all older styles and used only plain white walls
    • It used only European designs that were brought by merchants
    • It blended Islamic, Persian and Indian (Hindu) ideas into a new style

  19. Why did the Mughals pour their wealth into art and buildings?

    • To give the poor a place to live in the cities after floods
    • To hide their money from the tax collectors and the soldiers
    • To display the empire's power and good taste, and to amaze visitors
    • To pay for the wars against the Ottoman Empire in Europe

  20. Which statement best explains why Akbar's rule was successful?

    • He divided the empire between his sons, who ruled in separate cities
    • He gave every province the right to form its own separate army and laws
    • He ruled by fear alone, and the empire stayed together through punishment
    • He held a multi-religious empire together through tolerance, not just force

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