NEW HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY BOOK CLASS : - 4 - 5 BY SOWMYADITYA MAITRA CONTENTS HISTORY (pages: - 3 - 8) Akbar The Great(pages: - 3 - 5) Indian Villages and Local Self - Governments(pages: - 6 - 8) GEOGRAPHY(pages: - 9 - 14) The Northern Mountains(pages: - 9 - 11) Forest and Wildlife in India(pages: - 12 - 13) About Akbar the Great Akbar the Great, Muslim emperor of India, established a sprawling kingdom through military conquests but is known for his policy of religious tolerance. Who Was Akbar the Great? Enthroned at age 14, Akbar the Great began his military conquests under the tutelage of a regent before claiming imperial power and expanding the Mughal Empire. Known as much for his inclusive leadership style as for his war mongering, Akbar ushered in an era of religious tolerance and appreciation for the arts. Early Life The conditions of Akbar's birth in Umarkot , Sindh, India on October 15, 1542, gave no indication that he would be a great leader. Though Akbar was a direct descendent of Ghengis Khan , and his grandfather Babur was the first emperor of the Mughal dynasty, his father, Humayun , had been driven from the throne by Sher Shah Suri. He was impoverished and in exile when Akbar was born. Humayun managed to regain power in 1555, but ruled only a few months before he died, leaving Akbar to succeed him at just 14 years old. The kingdom Akbar inherited was little more than a collection of frail fiefs. Under the regency of Bairam Khan, however, Akbar achieved relative stability in the region. Most notably, Khan won control of northern India from the Afghans and successfully led the army against the Hindu king Hemu at the Second Battle of Panipat . In spite of this loyal service, when Akbar came of age in March of 1560, he dismissed Bairam Khan and took full control of the government. Administration In 1574 Akbar revised his tax system, separating revenue collection from military administration. Each subah , or governor, was responsible for maintaining order in his region, while a separate tax collector collected property taxes and sent them to More About Akbar Religion Akbar was religiously curious. He regularly participated in the festivals of other faiths, and in 1575 in Fatehpur Sikri — a walled city that Akbar had designed in the Persian style — he built a temple ( ibadat - khana ) where he frequently hosted scholars from other religions, including Hindus, Zoroastrians, Christians, yogis, and Muslims of other sects. He allowed the Jesuits to construct a church at Agra and di scouraged the slaughter of cattle out of respect for Hindu custom. Not everyone appreciated these forays into multiculturalism, however, an d m any called him a heretic. In 1579, a mazhar , or declaration, was issued that granted Akbar the authority to interpret religious law, superseding the authority of the mullahs. This became known as the “Infallibility Decree,” and it furthered Akbar’s ability to create an interreligious and mu lti cultural state. In 1582 he established a new cult, the Din - i - Ilahi (“divine faith”), which combined elements of many religions, including Islam, Hinduism and Zoroastrianism. The faith centered around Akbar as a prophet or spiritual leader, but it did not procure many converts and died with Akbar. Patronage of the Arts Unlike his father, Humayun , and grandfather Babur, Akbar was not a poet or diarist, and many have speculated that he was illiterate. Nonetheless, he appreciated the arts, culture and intellectual discourse, and cultivated them throughout the empire. Akbar is kn own for ushering in the Mughal style of architecture, which combined elements of Islamic, Persian and Hindu design, and sponsored som e o f the best and brightest minds of the era — including poets, musicians, artists, philosophers and engineers — in his courts at Delhi, Agra and Fatehpur Sikri Some of Akbar's more well - known courtiers are his navaratna , or "nine gems." They served to both advise and entertain Akbar, and included Abul Fazl , Akbar's biographer, who chronicled his reign in the three - volume book " Akbarnama "; Abul Faizi , a poet and scholar as well as Abul Fazl's brother; Miyan Tansen , a singer and musician; Raja Birbal , the court jester; Raja Todar Mal, Akbar's minister of finance; Raja Man Singh, a celebrated lieutenant; Abdul Rahim Khan - I - Khana , a poet; and Fagir Aziao - Din and Mullah Do Piaza , who were both advisors. Death and Son Akbar died in 1605. Some sources say Akbar became fatally ill with dysentery, while others cite a possible poisoning, likely tra ced to Akbar's son Jahangir. Many favored Jahangir’s eldest son, Khusrau , to succeed Akbar as emperor, but Jahangir forcefully ascended days after Akbar's death. Some Images of Akbar Indian Villages and Local Self - Governments Scholars of Indian local self - government maintain that autonomous local governance units have existed in India throughout its long history. Mahabharat ,Kautilya’s Arthashastra (4 th century B.C.) and pre - Buddhist Jatakas provide valuable information about life and social - political cultural institutions in ancient India. Village assemblies ( Panchayats ) enjoyed a measure of autonomy and played a very crucial role in the village life. “The political and economic structure was built up from these village communities which were the basic units of self governing villages” (Nehru 1959: 66). The details about the nature of their functions and structural composition are not very well documented. It seems that these Panchayats supervised almost all the affairs of the village, decided disputes and collected taxes. They were conservative bodies, often ‘dilatory, unenterprizing and far from impartial’ but they gave dignity and order to village life, and their deliberations had the great weight of religion and custom - “In the Panchayat is God” (Tinker 1968: 19). These bodies were “only rarely representative of the village as a whole,” they “might be drawn from the members of the founding families, or from the Brahman and Superior Cultivators. The menials and the landless men had almost no say in their affairs” (Tinker 1968: 19). Pictures of Indian Villages Pictures of Local Self - Government The Northern Mountains Due to their height, width and direction, these mountains intercept the summer monsoon winds coming from the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, and cause precipitation in the form of rain and snow. In the absence of these mountains , a major part of the Indian Subcontinent would have been a hot and dry desert. About 40 to 50 million years ago: The two large landmasses, India and Eurasia, driven by plate movement, collided. As a result, the sediments accumulated in Tethys Sea (brought by rivers) were compressed, squeezed and series of folds were formed , one behind the other, giving birth to folded mountains of the Himalayas More About Northern Mountains The Himalayan Mountains form the northern mountain region of India. They are the highest mountain ranges in the world. These mountain ranges start from Pamir Knot in the west and extend up to Purvanchal in the east. Prominent Features → Highest peaks, Deep valleys & Gorges, Glaciers etc. The Northern Mountain Ranges in India are the Himalayan Mountain Ranges. The Himalayas stand on the north of India. The Himalayas are the highest mountains in the world and extend west - east between the Indus and the Brahmaputra in an arcuate form. Pictures of The Northern Mountains Forest and Wildlife in India Forestry in India is a significant rural industry and a major environmental resource. India is one of the ten most forest - rich countries of the world. Together, India and these other 9 countries account for 67 percent of total forest area of the world. India's forest cover grew at 0.20% annually over 1990 – 2000, and has grown at the rate of 0.7% per year over 2000 – 2010, after decades where forest degradation was a matter of serious concern. As of 2010, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates India's forest cover to be about 68 million hectares , or 22% of the country's area .. The 2013 Forest Survey of India states its forest cover increased to 69.8 million hectares by 2012, per satellite measurements; this represents an increase of 5,871 square kilometers of forest cover in 2 years. However, the gains were primarily in northern, central and southern Indian states, while north eastern states witnessed a net loss in forest cover over 2010 to 2012. In 2018, the total forest and tree cover in India increased to 24.39% or 8,02,088 km 2 It increased further to 24.56 percent or 807,276 square kilometres in 2019. Unless India makes major, rapid and sustained effort to expand electricity generation and power plants, the rural and urban poor in India will continue to meet their energy needs through unsustainable destruction of forests and fuel wood consumption India's dependence on fuel - wood and forestry products as a primary energy source is not only environmentally unsustainable, it is a primary cause of India's near - permanent haze and air pollution ] Forestry in India is more than just about wood and fuel. India has a thriving non - wood forest products industry, which produces latex, gums, resins, essential oils, flavours, fragrances and aroma chemicals, incense sticks, handicrafts , thatching materials and medicinal plants. About 60% of non - wood forest products production is consumed locally. About 50% of the total revenue from the forestry industry in India is in non - wood forest products category. Pictures of Forest and Wildlife