Gujarat Sultanate

A breakaway province that became the richest maritime state in India. Zafar Khan, the Delhi governor, declared independence in 1407 as Timur's invasion left the sultanate prostrate, and his successors ruled Gujarat for a hundred and sixty years. The kingdom's wealth came from the sea rather than the land: Cambay was the great emporium of the western Indian Ocean, exporting cotton textiles to East Africa, Arabia and Southeast Asia and importing horses and bullion, and the sultans taxed that trade heavily. Mahmud Begada, who ruled for over half a century from 1458, expanded the state, took the pirate fortress of Junagadh, and founded Champaner as a new capital. Ahmedabad, founded in 1411, became one of the largest cities in the world. Its architecture is the sultanate's most visible legacy, fusing Jain and Hindu carving conventions with Islamic form - the stone lattice screens of the Sidi Saiyyed mosque are the best-known example. Portuguese arrival changed the strategic picture entirely, and Sultan Bahadur Shah first allied with them, ceding Diu in 1535, and then died in 1537 in a botched encounter aboard a Portuguese ship. Akbar annexed the kingdom in 1573, taking control of India's most lucrative ports. Surat then served the Mughals as their principal harbour. Ahmedabad's Jama Masjid was completed in 1424. Champaner and its hill fort of Pavagadh are a World Heritage site. The sultans minted a silver coinage widely accepted across the Indian Ocean. Diu remained Portuguese until 1961, four centuries after it was ceded. Cambay silted up and lost its harbour, which is why Surat replaced it.

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