The Delhi Sultanate as Empire

Abstract

This chapter studies the Delhi Sultanate, a term that refers to a period in Indian history (1210s–1550s) when five regimes ruled over large parts of the Indian subcontinent from their capital in Delhi. These were politically turbulent centuries when the scale and influence of the Sultanate varied widely. The chapter reviews the structural shifts in the making of the various regimes that comprised the Sultanate, its geopolitical location, threatened by the Chinggisids and the Timurids, and its constant endeavor to craft its varied territories and culturally diverse population into a stable empire. It considers the changing complexion of its ruling elites, the complex modes in which its history was narrated, and reflects why, despite its frequently attenuated political influence, the Delhi Sultanate was recalled as an empire in its own time and in the present day, a reflection that also inflects interpretations of empire and their modern location.