Timur Ruby
The Timur Ruby (also ''Khiraj-i-alam'', "Tribute to the World") is an unfaceted, polished red spinel set in a necklace. It is named after the ruler Timur,Morgan, Diane (2008). ''Fire and Blood: Rubies in Myth, Magic, and History.'' Greenwood Publishing Group, founder of the Timurid Empire and purportedly one of its former owners. It was believed to be a ruby until 1851. It is inscribed with the titles of five of its previous owners: Jahangir (who also had the name of his father Akbar the Great inscribed), Shah Jahan, Farrukhsiyar, Nader Shah and Ahmad Shah Durrani.Ball V. (1894)A Description of Two Large Spinel Rubies, with Persian Characters Engraved upon Them.'' Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy'' Vol. 3, (1893–1896), pp. 380–400 Since 1612, the owners of the Timur ruby have also owned the Koh-i-Noor diamond. It has been in the possessions of the Safavid, Mughal, Sikh and British empires, and is currently part of the Royal Collection. History Origins Spinels ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the English overseas possessions, overseas possessions and trading posts established by Kingdom of England, England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, and colonisation attempts by Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland during the 17th century. At its height in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it became the List of largest empires, largest empire in history and, for a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, of the world population at the time, and by 1920, it covered , of the Earth's total land area. As a result, Westminster system, its constitutional, Common law, legal, English language, linguistic, and Culture of the United Kingdom, cultural legacy is widespread. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days, which was List of monarchs in Britain by length of reign, longer than those of any of her predecessors, constituted the Victorian era. It was a period of industrial, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. In 1876, the British parliament voted to grant her the additional title of Empress of India. Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (the fourth son of King George III), and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. After the deaths of her father and grandfather in 1820, she was Kensington System, raised under close supervision by her mother and her Comptrol ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Great Exhibition
The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition that took place in Hyde Park, London, from 1 May to 15 October 1851. It was the first in a series of world's fairs, exhibitions of culture and industry that became popular in the 19th century. The event was organised by Henry Cole and Prince Albert, husband of Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom. Famous people of the time attended the Great Exhibition, including Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Michael Faraday (who assisted with the planning and judging of exhibits), Samuel Colt, members of the Orléanist royal family and the writers Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll, George Eliot, Alfred Tennyson, and William Makepeace Thackeray. The future Arts and Crafts proponent William Morris, then a teenager, later said he refused to a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Punjab
Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and northwestern India. Pakistan's major cities in Punjab are Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Multan, Sialkot, and Bahawalpur, while India’s are Ludhiana, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Patiala, Mohali, and Bathinda. Punjab grew out of the settlements along the five rivers, which served as an important route to the Near East as early as the ancient Indus Valley civilization, dating back to , followed by migrations of the Indo-Aryan peoples. Agriculture has been the chief economic feature of the Punjab and formed the foundation of Punjabi culture. The Punjab emerged as an important agricultural region, especially following the Green Revolution during the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, and has been described as the " breadbask ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South Asia and Southeast Asia), and later with East Asia. The company gained Company rule in India, control of large parts of the Indian subcontinent and British Hong Kong, Hong Kong. At its peak, the company was the largest corporation in the world by various measures and had its own armed forces in the form of the company's three presidency armies, totalling about 260,000 soldiers, twice the size of the British Army at certain times. Originally Chartered company, chartered as the "Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East-Indies," the company rose to account for half of the world's trade during the mid-1700s and early 1800s, particularly in basic commodities including cotton, silk, indigo dye, sugar, salt, spices, Potass ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Duleep Singh
Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh (6 September 1838 – 22 October 1893), also spelled Dalip Singh, and later in life nicknamed the "Black Prince of Perthshire", was the last ''Maharaja'' of the Sikh Empire. He was Maharaja Ranjit Singh's youngest son, the only child of Maharani Jind Kaur. He was placed in power in September 1843, at the age of five, with his mother ruling on his behalf, and after their defeat in the Anglo-Sikh War, under a British Resident. He was subsequently deposed by the British Crown, and thereafter exiled to Britain at age 15 where he was befriended by Queen Victoria, who is reported to have written of the Punjabi Maharaja: "Those eyes and those teeth are too beautiful".Eton, the Raj and modern India By Alastair Lawson; 9 March 2005; BBC News. The Queen was godmother to several of his children. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sher Singh
Sher Singh (4 December 1807 – 15 September 1843) was the fourth Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. He was elder of the twins of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh Empire and Maharani Mehtab Kaur. His reign began on 18 January 1840 following his assault on Lahore which ended the brief regency of Maharani Chand Kaur. Syad Muhammad Latif, Lahore: Its History, Architectural Remains and Antiquities: With an Account of Its Modern Institutions, Inhabitants, Their Trade, Customs, Printed at the New Imperial Press, 1892 He was assassinated on 15 September 1843 by Ajit Singh Sandhawalia, a relative. His short-reign only lasted for two-years. An experienced military-man, Sher Singh had the backing of the Sikh Army. Birth Sher Singh was the son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Maharani Mehtab Kaur, he had a younger twin brother Tara Singh (1807–1859). He was the second son of Ranjit Singh. Early life In 1820, Maharaja Ranjit Singh granted him the privilege of being seated in the Da ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ranjit Singh
Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839) was the founder and first maharaja of the Sikh Empire, in the northwest Indian subcontinent, ruling from 1801 until his death in 1839. Born to Maha Singh, the leader of the Sukerchakia Misl, Ranjit Singh survived smallpox in infancy but lost sight in his left eye. At the age of ten years old, he fought his first battle alongside his father. After his father died around Ranjit's early teenage years, he became leader of the Misl. Ranjit was the most prominent of the Sikh leaders who opposed Zaman Shah, the ruler of Durrani Empire, during his third invasion. After Zaman Shah's retreat in 1799, he captured Lahore from the Sikh triumvirate which had been ruling it since 1765. At the age of 21, he was formally crowned at Lahore. Before his rise, the Punjab had been fragmented into a number of warring Sikh (known as misls), Muslim and Hindu states. A large part of Punjab was under direct Durrani control. By 1813, Ranjit Sin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shah Shujah Durrani
Shah Shuja Durrani (Pashto/ Persian: ; November 1785 – 5 April 1842) was the ruler of the Durrani Empire from 1803 to 1809. He then ruled from 1839 until his death in 1842. A son of Timur Shah Durrani, Shuja was of the Saddozai line of the Abdali clan of Pashtuns. He became the fifth King of the Durrani Empire. Life First reign Shuja was the governor of Herat and Peshawar from 1798 to 1801. He proclaimed himself King of Afghanistan in October 1801 (after the deposition of his brother Zaman Shah), but only properly ascended to the throne on July 13, 1803. In Afghanistan, a blind man by tradition cannot be Emir, and so Shuja's step-brother Mahmud Shah had Zaman blinded, however not killed. After coming to power in 1803, Shuja ended the blood feud with the powerful Barakzai family and also forgave them. To create an alliance with them, he married their sister Wafa Begum. In 1809, Shuja allied Afghanistan with British India, as a means of defending against an invasion of Afg ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Peacock Throne
The Peacock Throne ( Hindustani: ''Mayūrāsana'', Sanskrit: मयूरासन, Urdu: تخت طاؤس, , ''Takht-i Tāvūs'') was the imperial throne of Hindustan. The throne is named after the dancing peacocks at its rear and was the seat of the Mughal emperors of India from 1635 to 1739. It was commissioned in the early 17th century by Emperor Shah Jahan and was located in the Diwan-i-Khas (Hall of Private Audiences, or Ministers' Room) in the Red Fort of Delhi. The original throne was taken as a war trophy by Nader Shah, Shah of Iran in 1739 after his invasion of India. Its replacement disappeared during or soon after the Indian Rebellion of 1857. History Shah Jahan ruled in what is now considered the Golden Age of the vast Mughal Empire, which covered almost all of the Indian subcontinent. He ruled from the newly constructed capital of Shahjahanabad. The emperor was the focus around which everything else revolved, giving audiences and receiving petitioners. The rul ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Akbar
Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expand and consolidate Mughal domains in the Indian subcontinent. He is generally considered one of the greatest emperors in Indian history and led a successful campaign to unify the various kingdoms of '' Hindūstān'' or India proper. Quote: "Akbar, The greatest Mughal emperor of India." Akbar gradually enlarged the Mughal Empire to include much of the Indian subcontinent through Mughal military, political, cultural, and economic dominance. To unify the vast Mughal state, Akbar established a centralised system of administration and adopted a policy of conciliating conquered rulers through marriage and diplomacy. To preserve peace and order in a religiously and culturally diverse empire, he adopted policies that won him the support of his no ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |