Bahmani Sultanate in the context of "Maharashtra"

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 more than three centuries. The sultanate was established in 1206 in the former Ghurid territories in India. The sultanate's history is generally divided into five periods: Mamluk (1206–1290), Khalji (1290–1320), Tughlaq (1320–1414), Sayyid (1414–1451), and Lodi (1451–1526). It covered large swaths of territory in modern-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, as well as some parts of southern Nepal.

The foundation of the Sultanate was established by the Ghurid conqueror Muhammad Ghori, who routed the Rajput Confederacy, led by Ajmer ruler Prithviraj Chauhan, in 1192 near Tarain in a reversal of an earlier battle. As a successor to the Ghurid dynasty, the Delhi Sultanate was originally one of several principalities ruled by the Turkic slave-generals of Muhammad Ghori, including Taj al-Din Yildiz, Qutb ud-Din Aibak, Bahauddin Tughril and Nasir ad-Din Qabacha, that had inherited and divided the Ghurid territories amongst themselves. Khalji and Tughlaq rule ushered a new wave of rapid and continual Muslim conquests deep into South India. The sultanate finally reached the peak of its geographical reach during the Tughlaq dynasty, occupying most of the Indian subcontinent under Muhammad bin Tughluq. A major political transformation occurred across North India, triggered by the Central Asian king Timur's devastating raid on Delhi in 1398, followed soon afterwards by the re-emergence of rival Hindu powers such as Vijayanagara Empire and Kingdom of Mewar asserting independence, and new Muslim sultanates such as the Bengal and Bahmani Sultanates breaking off. In 1526, Timurid ruler Babur invaded northern India and conquered the Sultanate, leading to its succession by the Mughal Empire.

The Muslim conquests on the Indian subcontinent mainly took place between the 13th and the 18th centuries, establishing the Indo-Muslim period. Earlier Muslim conquests on the Indian subcontinent include the invasions which started in the northwestern Indian subcontinent (modern-day Pakistan), especially the Umayyad campaigns in India. Later during the 8th century, Mahmud of Ghazni, sultan of the Ghaznavid Empire, invaded vast parts of Punjab and Gujarat during the 11th century. After the capture of Lahore and the end of the Ghaznavids, the Ghurid ruler Muhammad of Ghor laid the foundation of Muslim rule in India in 1192. In 1202, Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji led the Muslim conquest of Bengal, marking the easternmost expansion of Islam at the time.

The Ghurid Empire soon evolved into the Delhi Sultanate in 1206, ruled by Qutb ud-Din Aibak, the founder of the Mamluk dynasty. With the Delhi Sultanate established, Islam was spread across most parts of the Indian subcontinent. In the 14th century, the Khalji dynasty under Alauddin Khalji, extended Muslim rule southwards to Gujarat, Rajasthan, and the Deccan. The successor Tughlaq dynasty temporarily expanded its territorial reach to Tamil Nadu. The disintegration of the Delhi Sultanate, capped by Timur's invasion in 1398, caused several Muslim sultanates and dynasties to emerge across the Indian subcontinent, such as the Gujarat Sultanate, Malwa Sultanate, Bahmani Sultanate, Jaunpur Sultanate, Madurai Sultanate, and the Bengal Sultanate. Some of these, however, were followed by Hindu reconquests and resistance from the native powers and states, such as the Telugu Nayakas, Vijayanagara, and Rajput states under the Kingdom of Mewar.

The Deccan sultanates is a historiographical term referring to five late medieval to early modern Persianate Muslim kingdoms on the Deccan Plateau between the Krishna River and the Vindhya Range. They emerged after the disintegration of the Bahmani Sultanate and were ruled by various dynasties: Ahmadnagar, Berar, Bidar, Bijapur, and Golconda. Ahmadnagar was the first to declare independence, in 1490; followed by Bijapur and Berar in the same year. Bidar became independent in c. 1492, and Golconda in 1512.

Although the five sultanates were all ruled by Muslims, their founders were of diverse origins: the Nizam Shahi dynasty, the ruling family of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, was founded by Malik Hasan Bahri, a Marathi Muslim of Brahmin origin; the Berar Sultanate by a Kannadiga Muslim of Brahmin origin; the Bidar Sultanate by a Georgian slave; the Bijapur Sultanate by a foreigner who may have been a Georgian slave purchased by Mahmud Gawan; and the Golconda Sultanate by a slave of Iranian Turkmen origin.

The Muslim period in the Indian subcontinent or Indo-Muslim period is conventionally said to have started in 640 with the conquest of Makran by the Rashidun Caliphate and was continued in 712–714, after the conquest of Sindh and Multan by the Umayyad Caliphate under the military command of Muhammad ibn al-Qasim. It began in the Indian subcontinent in the course of a gradual conquest. The perfunctory rule by the Ghaznavids in Punjab was followed by Ghurids, and Sultan Muhammad of Ghor (r. 1173–1206) is generally credited with laying the foundation of Muslim rule in Northern India. Muslim rule in the Indian subcontinent also led to major developments in architecture, including the introduction of Persian-influenced designs, arches, domes, and decorative calligraphy. These styles shaped many of the region’s most iconic structures and contributed to the formation of Indo-Islamic architecture.

From the late 12th century onwards, Muslim empires dominated the subcontinent, most notably the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire. Various other Muslim kingdoms ruled most of South Asia from the mid-14th to late 18th centuries, including the Bahmani, Bengal, Gujarat, Malwa, Kashmir, Multan, Mysore, Carnatic and Deccan Sultanates. Though the Muslim dynasties in India were diverse in origin, they were linked together by the Persianate culture and Islam.

The history of southern India covers a span of over four thousand years, during which the region saw the rise and fall of a number of dynasties and empires.

The period of known history of southern India begins with the Iron Age (c. 1200 BCE – 200 BCE), Sangam period (c. 600 BCE – 300 CE) and Medieval southern India until the 15th century CE. Dynasties of Chera, Chola, Pandyan, Pallava, Travancore, Cochin, Zamorin, Kolathunadu, Chalukya, Satavahana, Rashtrakuta, Western Ganga, Kakatiya, Hoysala, Seuna, Bhonsle, Gaekwad, Scindia, Holkar, Patwardhan, Sangama, Saluva, Tuluva, Aravidu and Bahmani were at their peak during various periods of history.