Jahangir was the emperor of a large part of northern India during the seventeenth century.
He was the father of Shah Jehan, who built the Taj Mahal. The emperor’s original name was Salim, but he called himself Jahangir, which means “Conqueror of the World”. He also gave himself titles meaning ”Possessor of the Planets’ and “King of Increasing Fortune”.
Actually, the treasury of Jahangir’s empire did not increase during his reign. The emperor spent much of his empire’s money on his own amusement. Jahangir had a harem of 5,000 wives and a collection of 12,000 elephants.
He owned more than 2 million carats of pearls. 1 million carats of emeralds, 375,000 carats of rubies, and almost 300,000 carats of diamonds. He probably owned more precious gems than any other single man in history!
Jahangir also liked to fish, but he never kept the fish he caught. Instead, he put a string of pearls through the mouth of his catch and then tossed it back into the water.
