Akbar was the ruler of the Mughal empire.
Abu ` l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad ( 15 October 1542 -- 27 October 1605 ) , popularly known as Akbar I ( [ əkbər ] , literally `` the great '' ) and later Akbar the Great , was the third Mughal emperor , who reigned from 1556 to 1605 . Thus , the foundations for a multicultural empire under Mughal rule was laid during his reign . The Mughal emperors were a branch of the Timurid dynasty . From the early 16th century to the early 18th they built and ruled the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent , mainly corresponding to the modern countries of Bangladesh , India and Pakistan .