Pashmina (, ) refers to, depending on the source, a term for cashmere wool of the Changthangi cashmere goat, for fine Indian cashmere wool or a synonym for cashmere wool. The word pashm means "wool" in Persian, but in Kashmir, pashm referred to the raw unspun wool of domesticated Changthangi goats. In common parlance today, pashmina may refer either to the material or to the variant of the Kashmir shawl that is made from it. Both cashmere and pashmina come from the same goat but typical cashmere ranges from 12 to 21 microns in diameter, whereas pashmina can also refer to a cashmere and silk blend (70 % / 30 %) that has a typical fiber range from 12 to 16 microns. History Samples of wool fibres discovered from corroded copper artifacts from Harappa dating back to the Indus valley civilization are extremely fine and resemble Pashmina and Shatoosh. The material gained prominence through its use in the Kashmir shawl. In Mughal times, this was used as an indicator of rank and nobility. In 1526, Babur (1483–1530) founded the Mughal Empire in India, and established the practice of giving khilat (or "robes of honor", typically made of expensive fabric) to members of their durbar to indicate high service, great achievement, or royal favor. In his time, the Mughal khilat was a set of clothes, which could include a turban, long coat, gown, fitted jacket, sash, shawl, trousers, shirt, and scarf. One or all of these could be made of pashmina and embroidered in gold cloth. In 1568, Kashmir was conquered by Babur's grandson Akbar. In Akbar's time, a pair of pashmina shawls were an expected part of khil'at ceremonies. From the 16th to the early 20th centuries, the Safavid, Zand, and Qajar emperors of Iran also wore pashmina and gifted Kashmir shawls as khilat within their political and religious practices. Pashmina blankets were also vital additions to a wealthy woman's dowry in India, Pakistan and Nepal. In nineteenth-century English writing, despite the fact that shawls were worn by men, Kashmiri shawls became coded as women's luxuries. They acquired the status of heirlooms, worn by a girl on her marriage and coming-of-age, and as heirlooms that women would inherit rather than purchase. Since English law restricted women's abilities to inherit land, the Kashmir shawl served as an item of high exchange value that a woman could carry. In France, the pashmina