The Delhi Sultanate or the Sultanate of Delhi was a late medieval empire primarily based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent, for 320 years (1206–1526). Following the invasion of South Asia by the Ghurid dynasty, five dynasties ruled over the Delhi Sultanate sequentially: the Mamluk dynasty (1206–1290), the Khalji dynasty (1290–1320), the Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1414), the Sayyid dynasty (1414–1451), and the Lodi dynasty (1451–1526). It covered large swaths of territory in modern-day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh as well as some parts of southern Nepal.
The Qutub Minar complex are monuments and buildings from the Mamluk Sultanate at Mehrauli in Delhi, India. Construction of the Qutub Minar "victory tower" in the complex, named after the religious figure Sufi Saint Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, was begun by Qutub-ud-din Aibak, who later became the first Sultan of Delhi of the Mamluk dynasty. It was continued by his successor Iltutmish, and finally completed much later by Firoz Shah Tughlaq, a Sultan of Delhi from the Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1412) in 1368 AD. The Qubbat-ul-Islam Mosque, later corrupted into Quwwat-ul Islam, stands next to the Qutb Minar.
Sultan Firuz Shah Tughlaq was a Muslim ruler from the Tughlaq dynasty, who reigned over the Sultanate of Delhi from 1351 to 1388. He succeeded his uncle Muhammad bin Tughlaq following the latter's death at Thatta in Sindh, where Muhammad bin Tughlaq had gone in pursuit of Taghi the rebellious Muslim governor of Gujarat. For the first time in the history of the Sultanate, a situation was confronted wherein nobody was ready to accept the reins of power. With much difficulty, the camp followers convinced Firoz to accept the responsibility. In fact, Khwaja Jahan, the Wazir of Muhammad bin Tughlaq had placed a small boy on the throne claiming him to be the son of Muhammad bin Tughlaq, who meekly surrendered afterwards. Due to widespread unrest, his realm was much smaller than Muhammad's. Tughlaq was forced by rebellions to concede virtual independence to Bengal and other provinces. He established Sharia across his realm.
The Qutb Minar, also spelled Qutub Minar and Qutab Minar, is a minaret and "victory tower" that forms part of the Qutb complex, which lies at the site of Delhi's oldest fortified city, Lal Kot, founded by the Tomar Rajputs. It consists of 399 steps It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Mehrauli area of South Delhi, India. It is one of the most visited tourist spots in the city, mostly built between 1199 and 1220.
Humayun's tomb is the tomb of Mughal emperor, Mirza Nasir al-Din Muhammad commonly known as Humayun situated in Delhi, India. The tomb was commissioned by Humayun's first wife and chief consort, Empress Bega Begum under her patronage in 1558, and designed by Mirak Mirza Ghiyas and his son, Sayyid Muhammad, Persian architects chosen by her. It was the first garden-tomb on the Indian subcontinent, and is located in Nizamuddin East, Delhi, close to the Dina-panah Citadel, also known as Purana Qila, that Humayun found in 1538. It was also the first structure to use red sandstone at such a scale. The tomb was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993, and since then has undergone extensive restoration work, which is complete. Besides the main tomb enclosure of Humayun, several smaller monuments dot the pathway leading up to it, from the main entrance in the West, including one that even pre-dates the main tomb itself, by twenty years; it is the tomb complex of Isa Khan Niazi, an Afghan noble in Sher Shah Suri's court of the Suri dynasty, who fought against the Mughals, constructed in 1547 CE.
Qutb ud-Din Aibak, was a general of the Ghurid emperor Muhammad Ghori. He was in charge of the Ghurid territories in northern India, and after Muhammad Ghori's assassination in 1206, he established the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526), and started the Mamluk dynasty, which would rule the Sultanate until 1290.
The Mamluk dynasty was a dynasty which ruled Delhi Sultanate from 1206 to 1290. It was the first of five largely unrelated dynasties to rule the Delhi Sultanate until 1526. Before the establishment of the Mamluk dynasty, Qutb al-Din Aibak's tenure as a Ghurid dynasty administrator lasted from 1192 to 1206, a period during which he led forays into the Gangetic plain and established control over some of the new areas.
The Tughlaq dynasty was the third dynasty to rule over the Delhi sultanate in medieval India. Its reign started in 1320 in Delhi when Ghazi Malik assumed the throne under the title of Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq. The dynasty ended in 1413.
Tughluqabad Fort is a ruined fort in Delhi, India. It was constructed by Ghiyasuddin Tughluq, the founder of the Tughlaq dynasty, of the Delhi Sultanate in 1321 as he established the third historic city of Delhi, but it was later abandoned in 1327. It lends its name to the nearby Tughluqabad residential-commercial area as well as the Tughluqabad Institutional Area. Ghiyasuddin Tughluq also built the Qutub-Badarpur Road, which connected the new city to the Grand Trunk Road. The road is now known as Mehrauli-Badarpur Road. The entry fee for the Fort is Rs. 20 for Indians. Also, nearby is Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range and Okhla Industrial Area.
Hauz Khas Complex in Hauz Khas, South Delhi houses a water tank, an Islamic seminary, a mosque, a tomb, and pavilions built around an urbanized village with medieval history traced to the 13th century of Delhi Sultanate reign. It was part of Siri, the second medieval city of India of the Delhi Sultanate of Alauddin Khalji Dynasty (1296–1316). The etymology of the name Hauz Khas in Persian is derived from the words ‘Hauz’: "water tank" and ‘Khas’:"royal"- the "Royal tank". The large water tank or reservoir was first built by Allauddin Khilji to supply water to the inhabitants of Siri. The tank was de–silted during the reign of Firuz Shah Tughlaq (1351–88). Several buildings and tombs were built overlooking the water tank or lake. Firuz Shah's tomb pivots the L–shaped building complex which overlooks the tank.
Indo-Islamic architecture is the architecture of the Indian subcontinent produced by and for Islamic patrons and purposes. Despite an initial Arab presence in Sindh, the development of Indo-Islamic architecture began in earnest with the establishment of Delhi as the capital of the Ghurid dynasty in 1193. Succeeding the Ghurids was the Delhi Sultanate, a series of Central Asian dynasties that consolidated much of North India, and later the Mughal Empire by the 15th century. Both of these dynasties introduced Islamic architecture and art styles from West Asia into the Indian subcontinent.
Delhi has been an important political centre of India as the capital of several empires. The recorded history of Delhi begins with the 8th century Tomar Rajputs kingdom. It is considered to be a city built, destroyed and rebuilt several times, as outsiders who successfully invaded the Indian subcontinent would ransack the existing capital city in Delhi, and those who came to conquer and stay would be so impressed by the city's strategic location as to make it their capital and rebuild it in their own way.
The Qutub Shahi Tombs are located in the Ibrahim Bagh, close to the famous Golconda Fort in Hyderabad, India. They contain the tombs and mosques built by the various kings of the Qutub Shahi dynasty. The galleries of the smaller tombs are of a single storey while the larger ones are two storied. In the centre of each tomb is a sarcophagus which overlies the actual burial vault in a crypt below. The domes were originally overlaid with blue and green tiles, of which only a few pieces now remain.
Kotla Mubarakpur, a medieval famous urban village, is a market place with residential colony in South central part of New Delhi. Kotla Mubarakpur classified by the Delhi Development Authority (D.D.A.) as an Urban Village which is dominated by Baisla gotra of Gurjars, it is situated within touching distance of South Extension. Defence Colony lies to its east. Nearest Delhi Metro stations are South Extension, Dilli Haat - INA and Lajpat Nagar. Its history can be traced to the prominent tomb of Muizud Din Mubarak Shah, son of Khizr Khan of the Sayyid dynasty of the fifteenth century Delhi Sultanate rule in India, and its adjoining mosque. There are several other tombs of Lodi Dynasty period such as the Darya Khan's tomb, Kale Khan ka Gumbad, Bare Khan ka Gumbad, Chote Khan Ka Gumbad and Bhure Khan ka Gumbad, and also a Baoli.
Jahanpanah was the fourth medieval city of Delhi established in 1326–1327 by Muhammad bin Tughlaq (1325–51), of the Delhi Sultanate. To address the constant threat of the Mongols, Tughlaq built the fortified city of Jahanpanah subsuming the Adilabad fort that had been built in the 14th century and also all the establishments lying between Qila Rai Pithora and Siri Fort. Neither the city nor the fort has survived. Many reasons have been offered for such a situation. One of which is stated as the idiosyncratic rule of Mohammed bin Tughlaq when inexplicably he shifted the capital to Daulatabad in the Deccan and came back to Delhi soon after.
Mehrauli Archaeological Park is an archaeological area spread over 200 acre in the Mehrauli neighbourhood of the South Delhi district of Delhi, India, adjacent to the Qutub Minar and the Qutb complex. It consists of over 100 historically significant monuments. It is the only area in Delhi known for 1,000 years of continuous occupation, and includes the ruins of Lal Kot built by Tomar Rajputs in 1060 CE, making it the oldest extant fort of Delhi, and architectural relics of subsequent period, rule of Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, Lodhi dynasty of Delhi Sultanate, Mughal Empire, and the British Raj.
Tughlaq Tombs in the Indian subcontinent are mostly simple, monotonous and heavy structures in Indo-Islamic architecture built during the Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1413). They look more like fortresses with walls surrounding them and have restrained decoration and embellishment compared to both earlier and later Indian Islamic tombs. Their architecture lacks the influence from Hindu temple architecture and craftsmanship which was later found in Lodi and Mughal architecture. But Hindu influence on Tughlaq buildings was not totally absent. Features of Hindu influences on Tughlaq architecture include the flat lintel instead of pointed arch, pillars, windows with balconies and eaves and railings.
Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra is a historical mosque in the city of Ajmer in Rajasthan, India. It is one of the oldest mosques in India, and the oldest surviving monument in Ajmer.
The Khalji dynasty was the first Muslim dynasty to rule Bengal. The dynasty, which hailed from the Garmsir region of present-day Afghanistan, was founded in 1204 by Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji, a Muslim Turko-Afghan general of the Ghurid Empire. The Khaljis initially pledged allegiance to Sultan Muhammad of Ghor until his death in 1206, though their rule in Bengal was mostly independent. Under the rule of Iwaz Khalji, Bengal experienced major developments such as its first naval force, flood defence systems and linkage with the Grand Trunk Road. The dynasty was based in the city of Lakhnauti in northern Bengal, later expanding eastwards and southwards. Nasiruddin Mahmud, the son of Mamluk sultan Iltutmish of Delhi managed to conquer Bengal in 1227; although the Khaljis briefly reasserted their independence, they surrendered to the Mamluks in 1231, who replaced them with a series of regional governors.
Turkic peoples have historically been associated as one of the non-indigenous peoples to have ruled areas of India and the Indian subcontinent. Although modern day Turks in India are very small in number, and are likely recent immigrants from Turkey. In the 1961 census, 58 people stated that their mother tongue was Turkish. According to the 2001 census, 126 residents of India stated their place of birth as Turkey. In a state visit during early 2010, Prime Minister Abdullah Gül of Turkey met Turkish expatriates living in India and handed out Hindi-Turkish dictionaries to Turkish students in New Delhi.
