Sher Shah Suri Drives Out Humayun

May 17, 1540

The Afghan warrior Sher Shah Suri crushed the Mughal emperor Humayun at Kannauj and drove him into exile in Persia. For fifteen years the Suri dynasty would hold Hindustan, building the Grand Trunk Road and a model administration the returning Mughals would quietly inherit and expand. His Grand Trunk Road remains one of South Asia's most important road systems, and his revenue reforms were adopted wholesale by the returning Mughals.