[Sca-cooks] Moghul Food

Katherine Throckmorton kthrockmorton at lycos.com
Wed Jun 7 17:05:11 PDT 2006



> 
> When was this culture? 

Depends on *where* you are talking about.  In Central Asia (modern Uzbekistan and Tajikistan) Moghul culture, which is in many ways a medly of Persian (although frequently Persian at one remove) and Mongol culture starts in the 14th century.  If one is speaking about the Moghul Empire, that starts in the early 16th century, after Babur conquers parts of what is now Afganistan, Pakistan and India.  Usually when people are talking about "the Moghuls" they are talking about the 16th century and later.

>Did it really cover Persia/Afghanistan, and I
> assume, parts of northwestern India? 

It didn't cover Persia, but the court culture had a strong Persian influence.  The precise boundaries of Mughal territory shifted around a fair amount, both during and after the SCA period. A decent summary of the territory involved is, Afganistan, and ever-increasing chunks of modern Pakistan, India and Bangaladesh.  These two maps may prove useful. 
http://www.india-history.com/medival-india/mughal-empire.html
http://www.india-history.com/medival-india/mughal-empire.html


>What effects did they have upon
> medieval Europe? Other than sitting astride some trade routes, so
> therefor either enhancing of inhibiting trade from the East?

Mainly trade and trade goods, which is no little thing considering that many of the exploratory voyages of the 15th and 16th centuries were aimed at finding a direct route to India.  India was an important link in the spice trade.  India was also important in the gem and pearl trade, the Bay of Bengal was (and is) a important source of pearls, and during the SCA period all of the diamonds came from India.  India was also a major supplier of cotton fabric.  During the 16th century the Moghuls were not the only players in this trade, they had competition from the Deccani Sultanates and the Vijayanagara Empire but they did manage to control a lot of it.
A number of Europeans came to trade and to "convert the heathen", in the 16th century there was a substantial Portugese presence in Goa and environs.  There were also several Europeans who took service in Akbar's court in various capacitites.  
Finally, there is the fact that the SCA actually does a much better job of imitating the social structure of the Moghul court than any European model ;)

Katherine/Asma

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