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In the early medieval era, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism put down roots on India's southern and western coasts.^[41] Muslim armies from Central Asia intermittently overran India's northern plains,^[42] eventually establishing the Delhi Sultanate, and drawing northern India into the cosmopolitan networks of medieval Islam.^[43] In the 15th century, the Vijayanagara Empire created a long-lasting composite Hindu culture in south India.^[44] In the Punjab, Sikhism emerged, rejecting institutionalised religion.^[45] The Mughal Empire, in 1526, ushered in two centuries of relative peace,^[46] leaving a legacy of luminous architecture.^[h][47] Gradually expanding rule of the British East India Company followed, turning India into a colonial economy, but also consolidating its sovereignty.^[48] British Crown rule began in 1858. The rights promised to Indians were granted slowly,^[49][50] but technological changes were introduced, and ideas of education, modernity and the public life took root.^[51] A pioneering and influential nationalist movement emerged, which was noted for nonviolent resistance and became the major factor in ending British rule.^[52] In 1947 the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two independent dominions, a Hindu-majority Dominion of India and a Muslim-majority Dominion of Pakistan, amid large-scale loss of life and an unprecedented migration.^[53]