Bengal was loosely associated with the Delhi Sultanate, established in 1206, and paid a tribute in War elephants in order to maintain autonomy. In 1341 Bengal became independent from Delhi, and Dhaka was established as the seat of the governors of independent Bengal. Turks ruled Bengal for several decades before the conquest of Dacca by forces of the Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great (1556-1605) in 1576. Bengal remained a Mughal Province until the beginning of the decline of the Mughal Empire in the eighteenth century.