Definition
The Delhi Sultanate was a Muslim-ruled state, centered on the city of Delhi, that dominated much of northern India from the early thirteenth to the early sixteenth century CE. It was not a single dynasty but a sequence of five ruling houses that held the throne in turn.
The sultanate emerged out of Central Asian conquests of the Indian subcontinent and established lasting Muslim political power in a region where most people followed Hinduism and other faiths.
Why it matters
How it works
The sultanate was governed by a sultan supported by a military and administrative elite, drawing on Persian models of statecraft. It collected revenue from agriculture, often assigning land rights to officials and commanders in exchange for service and soldiers.
Its power was real but never fully secure. Succession disputes were frequent, distant provinces were hard to control, and rival regional states constantly tested its borders. Weakened by internal strife and a devastating invasion at the end of the fourteenth century, the sultanate finally fell to the founders of the Mughal Empire in 1526 CE.