Delhi Sultanate Founded
The Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526) was the first major Islamic state in the Indian subcontinent, founded by the Mamluk general Qutb ud-Din Aibak following the Ghurid defeat of the last Rajput confederacy at the Second Battle of Tarain (1192). Over five dynasties — Mamluk, Khalji, Tughlaq, Sayyid, and Lodi — the sultanate extended its authority across much of the subcontinent, at its peak under Alauddin Khalji (r. 1296–1316) controlling territory from Punjab to the Deccan. Khalji repelled two Mongol invasions of India, protecting the subcontinent from the destruction that had devastated West and Central Asia. The sultanate introduced Persian as the language of administration and high culture, stimulated the growth of Urdu as a vernacular lingua franca, and enabled the long-term synthesis of Islamic and Hindu cultural traditions that would define North Indian civilisation through the Mughal period and beyond.
- Year: 1206 CE
- Category: Empire
