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141-411: This numerically small, widely dispersed people have migrated to the region from South Asia , particularly from India . As in other countries, they tend to keep apart from the rest of the population, which regards them as dishonorable yet clever. The Nawar have traditionally provided musical entertainment at weddings and celebrations. The participation of Nawar women in such activities is lucrative, yet at

282-558: A Cold War episode resulting in East Pakistan 's secession, was the most recent instance of a new nation being formed in the region. South Asia has a total area of 5.2 million sq.km (2 million sq.mi), which is 10% of the Asian continent. The population of South Asia is estimated to be 2.04 billion or about one-fourth of the world's population, making it both the most populous and the most densely populated geographical region in

423-695: A "centralized structure in the Persian tradition whose task was to mobilize human and material resources for the ongoing armed struggle against both Mongol and Hindu monarchies ". The monarch was not the Sultan of the Hindus or of, say, the people of Haryana, rather in the eyes of the Sultanate's chroniclers, the Muslims constituted what in more recent times would be termed a "Staatsvolk". For many Muslim observers,

564-606: A colonial economy, but also consolidating its sovereignty . British Crown rule began in 1858. The rights promised to Indians were granted slowly, but technological changes were introduced, and modern ideas of education and the public life took root. In 1947 the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two independent dominions , a Hindu-majority Dominion of India and a Muslim-majority Dominion of Pakistan , amid large-scale loss of life and an unprecedented migration. The 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War ,

705-604: A description on the use of water wheels in the Delhi Sultanate. According to historians Arnold Pacey and Irfan Habib , the spinning wheel was introduced to India from Iran during the Delhi Sultanate. Smith and Cothren suggested that it was invented in India during the latter half of the first millennium, but Pacey and Habib said these early references to cotton spinning do not identify a wheel, but more likely refer to hand spinning . The earliest unambiguous reference to

846-530: A discriminatory tax on non-Muslims, although even then it is difficult to see how such a measure could have been enforced outside the principal centres of Muslim authority. The Delhi Sultanate also continued the governmental conventions of the previous Hindu polities, claiming paramountcy of some of its subjects rather than exclusive supreme control. Accordingly, it did not interfere with the autonomy and military of certain conquered Hindu rulers and freely included Hindu vassals and officials. The economic policy of

987-696: A full 5-year term in office. India has grown significantly, having slashed its rate of extreme poverty to below 20% and surpassed Pakistan's GDP per capita in the 2010s due to economic liberalisation from the 1980s onward. Bangladesh, having struggled greatly for decades due to conflict with and economic exploitation by Pakistan, is now one of the fastest-growing countries in the region, beating India in terms of GDP per capita . Afghanistan has gone through several invasions and Islamist regimes, with many of its refugees having gone to Pakistan and other parts of South Asia and bringing back cultural influences such as cricket . Religious nationalism has grown across

1128-458: A handful of his slaves and family. In 1298, between 15,000 and 30,000 Mongols near Delhi, who had recently converted to Islam, were slaughtered in a single day, due to a mutiny during an invasion of Gujarat. He is also known for his cruelty against kingdoms he defeated in battle. After Ala ud-Din died in 1316 by assassination through his nobles, his general Malik Kafur, who was born to a Hindu family but converted to Islam, assumed de facto power and

1269-708: A land mass which extends from the Himalayas into a portion of the basin under the Indian Ocean, including parts of South China and Eastern Indonesia , as well as Kunlun and Karakoram ranges, and extending up to but not including Ladakh , Kohistan , the Hindu Kush range, and Balochistan . It may be noted that geophysically the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet is situated at the outside

1410-611: A large part of the region between the 4th and 7th centuries, a period that saw the construction of major temples, monasteries and universities such as the Nalanda . During this era, and through the 10th century, numerous cave monasteries and temples such as the Ajanta Caves , Badami cave temples , and Ellora Caves were built in South Asia. Islam came as a political power in the fringe of South Asia in 8th century CE when

1551-727: A principality for himself by expanding the Islamic world, and thus laid the foundation for the Muslim kingdom that became the Delhi Sultanate . Some historians chronicle the Delhi Sultanate from 1192 due to the presence and geographical claims of Mu'izz al-Din in South Asia by that time. The Delhi Sultanate covered varying parts of South Asia and was ruled by a series of dynasties: Mamluk, Khalji, Tughlaq, Sayyid, and Lodi dynasties. Muhammad bin Tughlaq came to power in 1325, launched

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1692-460: A scholar of political science at Carleton University , the terms South Asia, Southwest Asia, and Central Asia are distinct, but the confusion and disagreements have arisen due to the geopolitical movement to enlarge these regions into Greater South Asia, Greater Southwest Asia , and Greater Central Asia . The frontier of Greater South Asia, states Cutler, between 2001 and 2006 has been geopolitically extended to eastern Iran and western Afghanistan in

1833-521: A spinning wheel in India is dated to 1350. The worm gear roller cotton gin was invented in the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries; Habib states that the development may likely occurred in peninsular India, before becoming more widespread across India during the Mughal era. The incorporation of the crank handle in the cotton gin may have appeared sometime during the late Delhi Sultanate or the early Mughal Empire. India and China have connections throughout

1974-538: A systematic war of expansion into northern India in 1173. He sought to carve out a principality for himself and expand the Islamic world. Muhammad of Ghor created a Sunni Islamic kingdom of his own extending east of the Indus river, and he thus laid the foundation for the Muslim kingdom called the Delhi Sultanate. Some historians chronicle the Delhi Sultanate from 1192 due to the presence and geographical claims of Muhammad Ghori in South Asia by that time. Muhammad Ghori

2115-431: A town near Delhi named Tughlaqabad . His son Juna Khan and general Ainul Mulk Multani conquered Warangal in south India. According to some historians such as Vincent Smith , he was killed by his son Juna Khan, who then assumed power in 1325. Juna Khan renamed himself as Muhammad bin Tughlaq and ruled for 26 years. During his rule, the Delhi Sultanate reached its peak in terms of geographical reach, covering most of

2256-601: A war of expansion and the Delhi Sultanate reached it largest geographical reach over the South Asian region during his 26-year rule. A Sunni Sultan, Muhammad bin Tughlaq persecuted non-Muslims such as Hindus, as well as non-Sunni Muslims such as Shia and Mahdi sects. Revolts against the Delhi Sultanate sprang up in many parts of South Asia during the 14th century. In the northeast, the Bengal Sultanate became independent in 1346 CE. It remained in power through

2397-471: Is also part of a longer trend predating the spread of Islam . Like other settled , agrarian societies in history, those in the Indian subcontinent have been attacked by nomadic tribes throughout its long history. In evaluating the impact of Islam on the subcontinent, one must note that the northwestern subcontinent was a frequent target of tribes raiding from Central Asia in the pre-Islamic era. In that sense,

2538-483: Is no clear boundary – geographical, geopolitical, socio-cultural, economical, or historical – between South Asia and other parts of Asia, especially Southeast Asia and West Asia. The common definition of South Asia is largely inherited from the administrative boundaries of the Indian Empire, with several exceptions. The current territories of Bangladesh , India , and Pakistan which were the core territories of

2679-649: Is sedentary. The Nawar in Palestine are also known as Ghajars (gypsies) . A small community in east Jerusalem lives in Bab Huta neighborhood, in the Old City of Jerusalem . Jordan's Dom community numbers around 70,000 according to estimates in 2015. The Dom language (Domari) in the Middle East is known as Nawari. Domari shows Turkic, Kurdish and Arabic influence. South Asia South Asia

2820-814: Is surrounded by three water bodies – the Bay of Bengal , the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea  – and has acutely varied climate zones. The tip of the Indian Peninsula had the highest quality pearls. Most of this region is resting on the Indian Plate , the northerly portion of the Indo-Australian Plate , separated from the rest of the Eurasian Plate . The Indian Plate includes most of South Asia, forming

2961-567: Is the southern subregion of Asia , which is defined in both geographical and ethnic - cultural terms. With a population of 2.04 billion living in South Asia, it contains a quarter (25%) of the world's population. As commonly conceptualised, the modern states of South Asia include Bangladesh , Bhutan , India , the Maldives , Nepal , Pakistan , and Sri Lanka , with Afghanistan also often included, which may otherwise be classified as part of Central Asia . South Asia borders East Asia to

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3102-737: The British Empire from 1857 to 1947 also form the core territories of South Asia. The mountain countries of Nepal and Bhutan , two independent countries that were not under the British Raj but were protectorates of the Empire, and the island countries of Sri Lanka and the Maldives are generally included. By various definitions based on substantially different reasons, the British Indian Ocean Territory and

3243-698: The Ganges and Indus river basins (where up to 60% of non-monsoon irrigation comes from the glaciers ) may be faced with severe water scarcity due to both climate and socioeconomic reasons. By 2030, major Indian cities such as Mumbai , Kolkata , Cuttack , and Kochi are expected to end up with much of their territory below the tide level. In Mumbai alone, failing to adapt to this would result in damages of US$ 112–162 billion by 2050, which would nearly triple by 2070. Sea level rise in Bangladesh will displace 0.9–2.1 million people by 2050 and may force

3384-634: The Himalayas and Kuen Lun mountain ranges and east of the Indus River and the Iranian Plateau , extending southward into the Indian Ocean between the Arabian Sea (to the southwest) and the Bay of Bengal (to the southeast). The climate of this vast region varies considerably from area to area from tropical monsoon in the south to temperate in the north. The variety is influenced by not only

3525-524: The Hindu Kush region of South Asia for several years and then later moved into the Indus valley region. Later, the Maurya Empire extended over much of South Asia in the 3rd century BCE. Buddhism spread beyond south Asia, through northwest into Central Asia. The Bamiyan Buddhas of Afghanistan and the edicts of Aśoka suggest that the Buddhist monks spread Buddhism (Dharma) in eastern provinces of

3666-724: The Indian subcontinent and is bounded by the Indian Ocean in the south, and the Himalayas , Karakoram , and Pamir Mountains in the north. Settled life emerged on the Indian subcontinent in the western margins of the Indus River Basin 9,000 years ago, evolving gradually into the Indus Valley Civilisation of the third millennium BCE. By 1200  BCE , an archaic form of Sanskrit , an Indo-European language , had diffused into India from

3807-597: The Kuru -Pañcāla union was the most influential. The first recorded state-level society in South Asia existed around 1000 BCE. In this period, states Samuel, emerged the Brahmana and Aranyaka layers of Vedic texts, which merged into the earliest Upanishads. These texts began to ask the meaning of a ritual, adding increasing levels of philosophical and metaphysical speculation, or "Hindu synthesis" . Increasing urbanisation of South Asia between 800 and 400 BCE, and possibly

3948-778: The Mature Harappan period, from 2600 to 1900 BCE. According to anthropologist Possehl , the Indus Valley civilisation provides a logical, if somewhat arbitrary, starting point for South Asian religions, but these links from the Indus religion to later-day South Asian traditions are subject to scholarly dispute. The Vedic period, named after the Vedic religion of the Indo-Aryans , lasted from c.  1900 to 500 BCE. The Indo-Aryans were Indo-European -speaking pastoralists who migrated into north-western India after

4089-592: The Partition of India into a Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority Pakistan, which resulted in significant displacement and violence and harder religious divides in the region. In 1947, the newly independent India and Pakistan had to decide how to deal with the hundreds of princely states that controlled much of the subcontinent, as well as what to do with the remaining European (non-British) colonies. A combination of referendums, military action, and negotiated accessions took place in rapid succession, leading to

4230-760: The Seleucid Empire , and possibly even farther into West Asia. The Theravada school spread south from India in the 3rd century BCE, to Sri Lanka, later to Southeast Asia. Buddhism, by the last centuries of the 1st millennium BCE, was prominent in the Himalayan region, Gandhara, Hindu Kush region, and Bactria. From about 500 BCE through about 300 CE, the Vedic-Brahmanic synthesis or "Hindu synthesis" continued. Classical Hindu and Sramanic (particularly Buddhist) ideas spread within South Asia, as well as outside South Asia. The Gupta Empire ruled over

4371-494: The Tibet Autonomous Region may be included as well. Myanmar (Burma), a former British colony and now largely considered a part of Southeast Asia, is also sometimes included. Afghanistan is also included by some sources. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), a contiguous block of countries, started in 1985 with seven countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,

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4512-662: The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific for the region excludes Afghanistan from South Asia. Population Information Network (POPIN) excludes Maldives which is included as a member Pacific POPIN subregional network. The United Nations Statistics Division's scheme of subregions , for statistical purpose, includes Iran along with all eight members of the SAARC as part of Southern Asia . The boundaries of South Asia vary based on how

4653-655: The 16th century after the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama returned to Europe. British, French, and Portuguese colonial interests struck treaties with these rulers and established their trading ports. In northwestern South Asia, a large region was consolidated into the Sikh Empire by Ranjit Singh . After the defeat of the Nawab of Bengal and Tipu Sultan and his French allies , British traders went on to dominate much of South Asia through divide-and-rule tactics by

4794-401: The 1940s, two rival camps had emerged among independence activists: those who favored a separate nation for Indian Muslims, and those who wanted a united India . As World War II raged, over 2 million Indians fought for Britain; by the end of the war, Britain was greatly weakened, and thus decided to grant independence to the vast majority of South Asians in 1947, though this coincided with

4935-536: The Arab general Muhammad bin Qasim conquered Sindh , and Multan in southern Punjab, in modern-day Pakistan. By 962 CE, Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms in South Asia were under a wave of raids from Muslim armies from Central Asia. Among them was Mahmud of Ghazni , who raided and plundered kingdoms in north India from east of the Indus river to west of Yamuna river seventeen times between 997 and 1030. Mahmud of Ghazni raided

5076-603: The Central Asian steppes and raising many of them to become loyal army slaves called Mamluks . Soon, Turks were migrating to Muslim lands and becoming Islamicized . Many of the Turkic Mamluk slaves eventually rose to become rulers and conquered large parts of the Muslim world , establishing Mamluk Sultanates from Egypt to present-day Afghanistan , before turning their attention to the Indian subcontinent. It

5217-659: The Deccan region also marked campaigns of destruction and desecration temples, for example, the Svayambhu Shiva Temple and the Thousand Pillar Temple in Warangal . Revolts against Muhammad bin Tughlaq began in 1327, continued over his reign, and over time the geographical reach of the Sultanate shrunk. The Vijayanagara Empire originated in southern India as a direct response to attacks from

5358-940: The Delhi Sultanate into southern India with the help of Indian slave generals such as Malik Kafur and Khusro Khan . They collected much war booty (anwatan) from those they defeated. His commanders collected war spoils and paid ghanima (Arabic: الْغَنيمَة, a tax on spoils of war), which helped strengthen the Khalji rule. Among the spoils was the Warangal loot that included the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond. Ala ud-Din Khalji changed tax policies, raising agriculture taxes from 20% to 50% (payable in grain and agricultural produce), eliminating payments and commissions on taxes collected by local chiefs, banning socialization among his officials as well as inter-marriage between noble families to help prevent any opposition forming against him, and he cut salaries of officials, poets, scholars. These tax policies and spending controls strengthened his treasury to pay

5499-796: The Delhi Sultanate was characterized by greater government involvement in the economy relative to the Classical Hindu dynasties, and increased penalties for private businesses that broke government regulations. Alauddin Khalji replaced the private markets with four centralized government-run markets, appointed a "market controller", and implemented strict price controls on all kinds of goods, "from caps to socks ; from combs to pins ; from vegetables to soups , from sweetmeats to chapatis " (according to Ziauddin Barani [c. 1357] ). The price controls were inflexible even during droughts. Capitalist investors were completely banned from participating in

5640-472: The Delhi Sultanate was responsible for making India more multicultural and cosmopolitan. The establishment of the Delhi Sultanate in India has been compared to the expansion of the Mongol Empire and called "part of a larger trend occurring throughout much of Eurasia, in which nomadic people migrated from the steppes of Inner Asia and became politically dominant". According to Angus Maddison , between

5781-513: The Delhi Sultanate were left in a state of anarchy, chaos, and pestilence. Nasir ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughlaq, who had fled to Gujarat during Timur's invasion, returned and nominally ruled as the last ruler of the Tughlaq dynasty, as a puppet of the various factions at the court. The Sayyid dynasty was founded by Khizr Khan and it ruled the Delhi Sultanate from 1415 to 1451. Members of the dynasty derived their title, Sayyid , or

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5922-471: The Delhi Sultanate, and liberated south India from the Delhi Sultanate's rule. In the 1330s, Muhammad bin Tughlaq ordered an invasion of China, sending part of his forces over the Himalayas . However, they were defeated by the Kangra State . During his reign, state revenues collapsed from his policies such as the base metal coins from 1329 to 1332. Famines, widespread poverty, and rebellion grew across

6063-600: The Delhi Sultanate, the Mongol Empire may have been successful in invading India. The strength of the armies changes according to time. Historians state the Delhi sultanate during the Khalji dynasty maintained 300,000–400,000 horse cavalry and 2500–3000 war elephant as a standing army. Its successor state, the Tughlaq dynasty further expanded into 500,000 horse cavalry in their force. Some historians argue that

6204-595: The Delhi Sultanate. Babur defeated and killed Ibrahim Lodi in the Battle of Panipat in 1526. The death of Ibrahim Lodi ended the Delhi Sultanate, and the Mughal Empire replaced it. The modern history period of South Asia, that is the 16th century onwards, witnessed the establishment of the Mughal Empire, with Sunni Islam theology. The first ruler was Babur had Turco-Mongol roots and his realm included

6345-418: The Delhi Sultanate. He was succeeded by Firuz Shah Tughlaq (1351–1388), who tried to regain the old kingdom, boundary by waging a war with Bengal for 11 months in 1359. However, Bengal did not fall. Firuz Shah ruled for 37 years. His reign was marked with prosperity much of which was due to the wise and capable Grand Vizier, Khan-i-Jahan Maqbul, a South Indian Telugu Muslim. His reign attempted to stabilize

6486-458: The Eurasian plate nearly 55 million years ago, towards the end of Palaeocene. This geological region largely includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Historians Catherine Asher and Cynthia Talbot state that the term "Indian subcontinent" describes a natural physical landmass in South Asia that has been relatively isolated from the rest of Eurasia. The use of

6627-602: 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

6768-766: The Hindu rulers. He also attacked, defeated, executed Taj al-Din Yildiz , who asserted his rights as heir to Mu'izz ad-Din Muhammad Ghori. Iltutmish's rule lasted until 1236. Following his death, the Delhi Sultanate saw a succession of weak rulers, disputing Muslim nobility, assassinations, and short-lived tenures. Power shifted from Rukn ud-Din Firuz to Razia Sultana and others, until Ghiyas ud-Din Balban came to power and ruled from 1266 to 1287. Ghiyasuddin Balban destroyed

6909-527: The Indian Ocean blows towards the center. The monsoons are the second coolest season of the year because of high humidity and cloud covering. But, at the beginning of June, the jetstreams vanish above the Tibetan Plateau , low pressure over the Indus Valley deepens and the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) moves in. The change is violent. Moderately vigorous monsoon depressions form in the Bay of Bengal and make landfall from June to September. South Asian countries are expected to experience more flooding in

7050-577: The Indian subcontinent. Muhammad bin Tughlaq was an intellectual, with extensive knowledge of the Quran, Fiqh , poetry and other fields. He was also deeply suspicious of his kinsmen and wazirs (ministers), extremely severe with his opponents, and took decisions that caused economic upheaval. For example, he ordered the minting of coins from base metals with face value of silver coins – a decision that failed because ordinary people minted counterfeit coins from base metal they had in their houses and used them to pay taxes and jizya . Muhammad bin Tughlaq chose

7191-527: The Indian subcontinent. India previously already had highly sophisticated agriculture, food crops, textiles, medicine, minerals, and metals. Water wheels also previously existed in India, as described by various Chinese monks and Arab travellers and writers in their books. During the Delhi Sultanate, various mechanical devices were introduced from the Islamic world to India, such as geared water-raising wheels and other machines with gears, pulleys , cams , and cranks . Later, Mughal emperor Babur provided

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7332-422: The Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka – and admitted Afghanistan as an eighth member in 2007. China and Myanmar have also applied for the status of full members of SAARC. The South Asia Free Trade Agreement admitted Afghanistan in 2011. The World Bank and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) recognises the eight SAARC countries as South Asia, The Hirschman–Herfindahl index of

7473-403: The Mamluk dynasty. Aibak reigned as the Sultan of Delhi for four years, from 1206 to 1210. Aibak was praised by the contemporary and later accounts for his generosity and due to this was called with the sobriquet of Lakhbaksh . (giver of lakhs) After Aibak died, Aram Shah assumed power in 1210, but he was assassinated in 1211 by Aibak's son-in-law, Shams ud-Din Iltutmish . Iltutmish's power

7614-404: The Mughal Empire, which marks the beginning of modern India, in the early 18th century, provided opportunities for the Marathas , Sikhs , Mysoreans , and Nawabs of Bengal to exercise control over large regions of the Indian subcontinent. By the mid-18th century, India was a major proto-industrializing region. Maritime trading between South Asia and European merchants began at the turn of

7755-401: The Mughal emperors after their revolts and were executed when they refused to convert to Islam. Religious taxes on non-Muslims called jizya were imposed. Buddhist, Hindu, and Sikh temples were desecrated. However, not all Muslim rulers persecuted non-Muslims. Akbar , a Mughal ruler for example, sought religious tolerance and abolished jizya. The death of Aurangzeb and the collapse of

7896-419: The Muslim intrusions and later Muslim invasions were not dissimilar to those of the earlier invasions during the 1st millennium. By 962 AD, Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms in South Asia faced a series of raids from Muslim armies from Central Asia. Among them was Mahmud of Ghazni , the son of a Turkic Mamluk military slave, who raided and plundered kingdoms in northern India from east of the Indus river to west of

8037-482: The Rajput kingdoms and Vijayanagara, its boundaries encompassed almost the entirety of the Indian subcontinent. The Mughal Empire was marked by a period of artistic exchanges and a Central Asian and South Asian architecture synthesis, with remarkable buildings such as the Taj Mahal . However, this time also marked an extended period of religious persecution . Two of the religious leaders of Sikhism , Guru Arjan , and Guru Tegh Bahadur were arrested under orders of

8178-498: 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

8319-415: The Turco-Afghani regular units named Wajih , which were composed of elite household cavalry archers who came from slave backgrounds. A major military contribution of the Delhi Sultanate was their successful campaigns repelling the Mongol Empire 's invasions of India , which could have been devastating for the Indian subcontinent, like the Mongol invasions of China , Persia and Europe . Were it not for

8460-481: The Yamuna river seventeen times between 997 and 1030. Mahmud of Ghazni raided the treasuries but retreated each time, only extending Islamic rule into western Punjab. The series of raids on northern and western Indian kingdoms by Muslim warlords continued after Mahmud of Ghazni. The raids did not establish or extend the permanent boundaries of the Islamic kingdoms. In contrast, the Ghurid Sultan Mu'izz ad-Din Muhammad Ghori (commonly known as Muhammad of Ghor) began

8601-402: The altitude but also by factors such as proximity to the seacoast and the seasonal impact of the monsoons . Southern parts are mostly hot in summers and receive rain during monsoon periods. The northern belt of Indo-Gangetic plains also is hot in summer, but cooler in winter. The mountainous north is colder and receives snowfall at higher altitudes of Himalayan ranges. As the Himalayas block

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8742-492: The amirs and chiefs. Ibrahim Lodi was unable to consolidate his power, and after Jalal Khan's death, the governor of Punjab, Daulat Khan Lodi , reached out to the Mughal Babur and invited him to attack the Delhi Sultanate. Babur defeated and killed Ibrahim Lodi in the Battle of Panipat in 1526. The death of Ibrahim Lodi ended the Delhi Sultanate, and the Mughal Empire replaced it. The historian Peter Jackson explains in The New Cambridge History of Islam : "The elite of

8883-410: The area adjustment to Pakistan and western India records lower than 20%–30%. Climate of South Asia is largely characterised by monsoons. South Asia depends critically on monsoon rainfall. Two monsoon systems exist in the region: The warmest period of the year precedes the monsoon season (March to mid June). In the summer the low pressures are centered over the Indus-Gangetic Plain and high wind from

9024-430: The border of the regional structure, while the Pamir Mountains in Tajikistan are situated inside that border. The Indian subcontinent formerly formed part of the supercontinent Gondwana , before rifting away during the Cretaceous period and colliding with the Eurasian Plate about 50–55 million years ago and giving birth to the Himalayan range and the Tibetan plateau . It is the peninsular region south of

9165-483: The broader Indo-Pacific . According to Saul Cohen, early colonial era strategists treated South Asia with East Asia, but in reality, the South Asia region excluding Afghanistan is a distinct geopolitical region separated from other nearby geostrategic realms, one that is geographically diverse. The region is home to a variety of geographical features, such as glaciers , rainforests , valleys , deserts , and grasslands that are typical of much larger continents. It

9306-514: The city of Deogiri in the present-day Indian state of Maharashtra (renaming it Daulatabad ), as the second administrative capital of the Delhi Sultanate. He ordered a forced migration of the Muslim population of Delhi, including his royal family, the nobles, Syeds, Sheikhs and 'Ulema to settle in Daulatabad. The purpose of transferring the entire Muslim elite to Daulatabad was to enrol them in his mission of world conquest. He saw their role as propagandists who would adapt Islamic religious symbolism to

9447-403: The collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization. Linguistic and archaeological data show a cultural change after 1500 BCE, with the linguistic and religious data showing links with Indo-European languages and religion. By about 1200 BCE, the Vedic culture and agrarian lifestyle were established in the northwest and northern Gangetic plain of South Asia. Rudimentary state-forms appeared, of which

9588-513: The concerns of Pakistan and Bangladesh, particularly given the recurring conflicts between India and Pakistan, wherein the dominant placement of "India" as a prefix before the subcontinent might offend some political sentiments. However, in Pakistan, the term "South Asia" is considered too India-centric and was banned until 1989 after the death of Zia ul Haq . This region has also been labelled as "India" (in its classical and pre-modern sense) and " Greater India ". According to Robert M. Cutler –

9729-497: The construction of the Qutb Minar but died before it was completed. It was later completed by his son-in-law, Iltutmish. The Quwwat-ul-Islam (Might of Islam) Mosque was built by Aibak, now a UNESCO world heritage site. The Qutub Minar Complex was expanded by Iltutmish, and later by Ala ud-Din Khalji in the early 14th century. During the Mamluk dynasty, many nobles from Afghanistan and Persia migrated and settled in India, as West Asia came under Mongol siege. The Khalji dynasty

9870-497: The country most likely to be the worst-affected. In the 2017 edition of Germanwatch 's Climate Risk Index , Bangladesh and Pakistan ranked sixth and seventh respectively as the countries most affected by climate change in the period from 1996 to 2015, while India ranked fourth among the list of countries most affected by climate change in 2015. Some research suggests that South Asia as a whole would lose 2% of its GDP to climate change by 2050, while these losses would approach 9% by

10011-479: The descendants of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad , based on the claim that they belonged to his lineage through his daughter Fatima . Abraham Eraly thinks his forebears were likely that Khizr Khan's ancestors were likely descendants of an Arab family who had long ago settled in the region of Multan during the early Tughluq period, but he doubts his Sayyid lineage. A.L. Srivastava shares a similar viewpoint. According to Richard M. Eaton and Simon Digby , Khizr Khan

10152-697: The development of the Hindustani language and Indo-Islamic architecture . It was also one of the few powers to repel attacks by the Mongols (from the Chagatai Khanate ) and saw the enthronement of one of the few female rulers in Islamic history , Razia Sultana , who reigned from 1236 to 1240. Their treatment of Hindus, Buddhists, and other dharmic faiths are generally perceived to be unfavourable, as mass forcible conversions were popular during

10293-684: The early 16th century. The state religion of the sultanate was Islam. In South India , the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire came to power in 1336 and persisted until the middle of the 16th century. It was ultimately defeated and destroyed by an alliance of the Muslim Deccan sultanates at the Battle of Talikota . About 1526, the Punjab governor Dawlat Khan Lodī reached out to the Mughal Babur and invited him to attack

10434-695: The early 19th century. The region experienced significant de-industrialisation in its first few decades of British rule. Control over the subcontinent was then transferred to the British government after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 , with the British cracking down to some extent afterwards. An increase of famines and extreme poverty characterised the colonial period, though railways built with British technology eventually provided crucial famine relief by increasing food distribution throughout India. Millions of South Asians began to migrate throughout

10575-486: The early Delhi sultanate comprised overwhelmingly first-generation immigrants from Iran and Central Asia : Persians , Turks , Ghūrīs , Khalaj from the hot regions ( garmsīr ) of modern Afghanistan ". Medieval scholars such as Isami and Barani suggested that the prehistory of the Delhi Sultanate lay in the Ghaznavid state and that its ruler, Mahmud Ghaznavi, provided the foundation and inspiration integral in

10716-641: The end of the century under the most intense climate change scenario. Ethnolinguistically , Northern South Asia is predominantly Indo-Aryan , along with Iranic populations in Afghanistan and Balochistan , and diverse linguistic communities near the Himalayas. Its borders have been heavily contested (primarily between India and its neighbours Pakistan and China , as well as separatist movements in Northeast India.) This tension in

10857-931: The food supply and reduce famines by commissioning an irrigation canal from the Yamuna river. An educated sultan, Firuz Shah left a memoir. In it he wrote that he banned the practice of torture, such as amputations, tearing out of eyes, sawing people alive, crushing people's bones as punishment, pouring molten lead into throats, setting people on fire, driving nails into hands and feet, among others. He also wrote that he did not tolerate attempts by Rafawiz Shia Muslim and Mahdi sects from proselytizing people into their faith, nor did he tolerate Hindus who tried to rebuild temples that his armies had destroyed. Firuz Shah Tughlaq also lists his accomplishments to include converting Hindus to Sunni Islam by announcing an exemption from taxes and jizya for those who convert, and by lavishing new converts with presents and honours. He also vastly expanded

10998-400: The form of grain were stored in the kingdom's storage. During famines that followed, these granaries ensured sufficient food for the army. Historians note Ala ud-Din Khalji as being a tyrant . Anyone Ala ud-Din suspected of being a threat to this power was killed along with the men, women, and children of that family. He grew to eventually distrust the majority of his nobles and favoured only

11139-413: The future as the monsoon pattern intensifies. Across Asia as a whole, 100-year extremes in vapour transport (directly related to extreme precipitation) would become 2.6 times more frequent under 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) of global warming, yet 3.9 and 7.5 times more frequent under 2 °C (3.6 °F) and 3 °C (5.4 °F). In parts of South Asia, they could become up to 15 times more frequent. At

11280-678: The grandson of Firuz Shah Tughlaq who ruled from Delhi, and Nasir ud-Din Nusrat Shah Tughlaq , another relative of Firuz Shah Tughlaq who ruled from Firozabad , which was a few miles from Delhi. The battle between the two relatives continued until Timur's invasion in 1398. Timur , also known as Tamerlane in Western scholarly literature, was the Turkicized Mongol ruler of the Timurid Empire . He became aware of

11421-413: The growth of Agra continued during the Mughal Empire, after the end of the Delhi Sultanate. Sikandar Lodi died a natural death in 1517, and his second son Ibrahim Lodi assumed power. Ibrahim did not enjoy the support of Afghan and Persian nobles or regional chiefs. Ibrahim attacked and killed his elder brother Jalal Khan, who was installed as the governor of Jaunpur by his father and had the support of

11562-414: The horse trade, animal and slave brokers were forbidden from collecting commissions, and private merchants were eliminated from all animal and slave markets. Bans were instituted against hoarding and regrating , granaries were nationalized and limits were placed on the amount of grain that could be used by cultivators for personal use. Various licensing rules were imposed. Registration of merchants

11703-536: The keep of his growing army; he also introduced price controls on all agricultural produce and goods in the kingdom, as well as controls on where, how, by whom these goods could be sold. Markets called "shahana-i-mandi" were created. Muslim merchants were granted exclusive permits and monopoly in these "mandis" to buy and resell at official prices. No one other than these merchants could buy from farmers or sell in cities. Those found violating these "mandi" rules were severely punished, often by mutilation. Taxes collected in

11844-548: The kingdom. In 1338 his nephew rebelled in Malwa, whom he attacked, caught, flayed alive, and killed ultimately. By 1339, the eastern regions under local Muslim governors and southern parts led by Hindu kings had revolted and declared independence from the Delhi Sultanate. Muhammad bin Tughlaq did not have the resources or support to respond to the shrinking kingdom. The historian Walford chronicled that Delhi and most of India faced severe famines during Muhammad bin Tughlaq's rule in

11985-469: The latter of which resulting in conversion of significant parts of the population to Islam. The death of Firuz Shah Tughlaq created anarchy and disintegration of the kingdom. Firuz Shah's successor, Ghiyath-ud-Din Shah II was young and inexperienced and gave himself up to wine and pleasure. The nobles rose against him killed the Sultan and his vizier, and installed Abu Bakr Shah on the throne. However,

12126-409: The lowest-emission climate change scenarios . Under the high-emission scenario, 40 million people (nearly 2% of the South Asian population) may be driven to internal migration by 2050 due to climate change. India is estimated to have the world's highest social cost of carbon - meaning that it experiences the greatest impact from greenhouse gas emissions . Other estimates describe Bangladesh as

12267-599: The making of the Delhi regime. The Mongol and Hindu monarchies were the great "Others" in these narratives and the Persianate and class-conscious, aristocratic virtues of the ideal state were creatively memorialized in the Ghaznavid state, now the templates for the Delhi Sultanate. Cast within a historical narrative it allowed for a more self-reflective, linear rooting of the Sultanate in the great traditions of Muslim statecraft. Over time, successive Muslim dynasties created

12408-480: The mesolithic sites as evidenced by the rock paintings of Bhimbetka rock shelters dating to a period of 30,000 BCE or older, as well as neolithic times. The Indus Valley civilisation , which spread and flourished in the northwestern part of South Asia from c.  3300 to 1300 BCE in present-day Pakistan , North India , and Afghanistan , was the first major civilisation in South Asia. A sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture developed in

12549-437: The nobility. Khusro Khan's reign lasted only a few months, when Ghazi Malik, later to be called Ghiyath al-Din Tughlaq , defeated and killed him and assumed power in 1320, thus ending the Khalji dynasty and starting the Tughlaq dynasty. The Tughlaq dynasty was a Turko-Mongol or Turkic Muslim dynasty, which lasted from 1320 to 1413. The first ruler was Ghiyath al-Din Tughlaq . Ghiyath al-Din ruled for five years and built

12690-506: The north, the Hindu Kush in the west, and the Arakanese in the east, and which extends southward into the Indian Ocean with the Arabian Sea to the southwest and the Bay of Bengal to the southeast. The terms " Indian subcontinent " and "South Asia" are sometimes used interchangeably. The Indian subcontinent is largely a geological term referring to the land mass that drifted northeastwards from ancient Gondwana , colliding with

12831-557: The north-Asian bitter cold winds, the temperatures are considerably moderate in the plains down below. For the most part, the climate of the region is called the monsoon climate, which keeps the region humid during summer and dry during winter, and favours the cultivation of jute , tea, rice, and various vegetables in this region. South Asia is largely divided into four broad climate zones: Maximum relative humidity of over 80% has been recorded in Khasi and Jaintia Hills and Sri Lanka, while

12972-480: The northeast, Central Asia to the northwest, West Asia to the west and Southeast Asia to the east. Apart from Southeast Asia, Maritime South Asia is the only subregion of Asia that lies partly within the Southern Hemisphere . The British Indian Ocean Territory and two out of 26 atolls of the Maldives in South Asia lie entirely within the Southern Hemisphere . Topographically, it is dominated by

13113-606: The northwest, with the Dravidian languages being supplanted in the northern and western regions. By 400  BCE , stratification and exclusion by caste had emerged within Hinduism , and Buddhism and Jainism had arisen, proclaiming social orders unlinked to heredity. In the early medieval era, Christianity , Islam , Judaism , and Zoroastrianism became established on South Asia's southern and western coasts. Muslim armies from Central Asia intermittently overran

13254-535: The northwestern and Indo-Gangetic Plain regions of South Asia. Several regions of South Asia were largely under Hindu kings such as those of the Vijayanagara Empire and the Kingdom of Mewar . Parts of modern Telangana and Andhra Pradesh were under local Muslim rulers, namely those of the Deccan sultanates. The Mughal Empire continued its wars of expansion after Babur's death. With the fall of

13395-690: The number of slaves in his service and those of Muslim nobles, who were converted to Islam, taught to read and memorize the Quran, and employed in many offices especially in the military, out of which he was able to amass a large army. These slaves were known as the Ghulaman-i-Firuz Shahi formed an elite guard which later became influential in the state. The reign of Firuz Shah Tughlaq was marked by reduction in extreme forms of torture, elimination of favours to select parts of society, but also increased intolerance and persecution of targeted groups,

13536-463: The old Ghulaman-i-Firuz Shahi turned against Abu Bakr, who fled, and on their invitation Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad Shah was installed on the throne. The anamalous institution of the Ghulaman-i-Firuz Shahi became a corrupting influence on the successive Sultans following Firuz Shah. The last rulers of this dynasty both called themselves Sultan from 1394 to 1397: Nasir ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughlaq ,

13677-666: The paper may have arrived in Bengal from a separate route, as 15th-century Chinese traveller Ma Huan remarked that Bengali paper was white and made from "bark of a tree" similar to the Chinese method of papermaking (as opposed to the Middle-Eastern method of using rags and waste material), suggesting a direct route from China for the arrival of paper in Bengal and paper was already very well established and widespread in that part of

13818-621: The period. The rise of the Delhi Sultanate in India was part of a wider trend affecting much of the Asian continent, including the whole of southern and western Asia: the influx of nomadic Turkic peoples from the Central Asian steppes . This can be traced back to the 9th century when the Islamic Caliphate began fragmenting in the Middle East , where Muslim rulers in rival states began enslaving non-Muslim nomadic Turks from

13959-480: The plains of northern India, eventually founding the Delhi Sultanate in the 13th century, and drawing the region into the cosmopolitan networks of medieval Islam . The Islamic Mughal Empire , in 1526, ushered in two centuries of relative peace, leaving a legacy of luminous architecture. Gradually expanding rule of the British East India Company followed, turning most of South Asia into

14100-552: The political integration of the vast majority of India and Pakistan within a few years. India and Pakistan clashed several times in the decades after Independence, with disputes over Kashmir playing a significant role. In 1971, the eastern half of Pakistan seceded with help from India and became the People's Republic of Bangladesh after the traumatic Bangladesh Liberation War . This, along with India and Pakistan gaining nuclear weapons soon afterwards, increased tensions between

14241-777: The power of the Corps of Forty , a council of 40 Turkic slaves who had played a role as kingmakers and had been independent of the Sultan. He was succeeded by 17-year-old Muiz ud-Din Qaiqabad , who appointed Jalal ud-Din Firuz Khalji as the commander of the army. Khalji assassinated Qaiqabad and assumed power in the Khalji Revolution , thus ending the Mamluk dynasty and starting the Khalji dynasty. Qutb al-Din Aibak initiated

14382-468: The power of the Sayyid dynasty faltering, Islam's history on the Indian subcontinent underwent a profound change, according to Schimmel. The previously dominant Sunni sect of Islam became diluted, alternate Muslim sects such as Shia rose, and new competing centres of Islamic culture took roots beyond Delhi. In the course of the late Sayyid dynasty, the Delhi Sultanate shrank until it became a minor power. By

14523-499: The re-emergence of rival Hindu powers such as Vijayanagara and 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 establishment of the Sultanate drew the Indian subcontinent more closely into international and multicultural Islamic social and economic networks, as seen concretely in

14664-590: The region has contributed to difficulties in sharing river waters among Northern South Asian countries; climate change is projected to exacerbate the issue. Dominated by the Indo-Gangetic Plain , the region is home to about half a billion people and is the poorest South Asian subregion. Delhi Sultanate The Delhi Sultanate or the Sultanate of Delhi also known as the Empire of Hindustan

14805-405: The region is defined. South Asia's northern, eastern, and western boundaries vary based on definitions used, while the Indian Ocean is the southern periphery. Most of this region rests on the Indian Plate and is isolated from the rest of Asia by mountain barriers. Much of the region consists of a peninsula in south-central Asia, rather resembling a diamond which is delineated by the Himalayas on

14946-615: The region, with persecution causing millions of Hindus and Christians to flee Pakistan and Bangladesh, and Hindu nationalism having grown in India with the election of the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014. A recent phenomenon has been that of India and China fighting on their border , as well as vying for dominance of South Asia , with China partnering with Pakistan and using its superior economy to attract countries surrounding India, while America and other countries have strengthened ties with India to counter China in

15087-420: The relocation of up to one third of power plants by 2030. Food security will become more uneven, and some South Asian countries could experience significant social impacts from global food price volatility. Infectious diarrhoea mortality and dengue fever incidence is also likely to increase across South Asia. Parts of South Asia would also reach "critical health thresholds" for heat stress under all but

15228-549: The rhetoric of empire, and that the Sufis could by persuasion bring many of the inhabitants of the Deccan to become Muslim. Tughluq cruelly punished the nobles who were unwilling to move to Daulatabad seeing their non-compliance with his order as equivalent to rebellion. According to Ferishta, when the Mongols arrived in Punjab, the Sultan returned the elite to Delhi, although Daulatabad remained an administrative centre. One result of

15369-573: The ruler, then proceeded east to make claims on Bihar . The Muslim governors of Bihar agreed to pay tribute and taxes but operated independently of the Delhi Sultanate. Sikandar Lodi led a campaign of destruction of temples, particularly around Mathura . He also moved his capital and court from Delhi to Agra , an ancient Hindu city that had been destroyed during the plunder and attacks of the early Delhi Sultanate period. Sikandar thus erected buildings with Indo-Islamic architecture in Agra during his rule, and

15510-547: The same time it reinforces the group's low status. Nawar also appear at festivals to work their trade as fortune-tellers, sorcerers, and animal trainers. In Syria today, one may still encounter Nawar encampments in rural areas. Nawar is an Arabic term for several sedentary communities used primarily in Syria , Lebanon , and Palestine . The Nawar in Syria number 100,000 to 250,000 people according to estimations. The vast majority

15651-476: The same time, up to two-thirds of glacier ice in the Hindu Kush region may melt by 2100 under high warming, and these glaciers feed the water basin of over 220 million people. As glacier meltwater flow diminishes after 2050, Hydropower generation would become less predictable and reliable, while agriculture would become more reliant on the intensified monsoon than ever before. Around 2050, people living in

15792-468: The spread of urban diseases, contributed to the rise of ascetic movements and of new ideas which challenged the orthodox Brahmanism . These ideas led to Sramana movements, of which Mahavira ( c.  549 –477 BCE), proponent of Jainism , and Buddha ( c.  563  – c.  483 ), founder of Buddhism , was the most prominent icons. The Greek army led by Alexander the Great stayed in

15933-468: The sultanate's rule and large-scale desecrations of Hindu and Buddhist temples, including universities and libraries took place. Mongolian raids on West and Central Asia set the scene for centuries of migration of fleeing soldiers, intelligentsia, mystics, traders, artists, and artisans from those regions into the subcontinent , thereby establishing Islamic culture there. Although conventionally named after its principal capital city, Delhi ,

16074-506: The term Indian subcontinent began in the British Empire, and has been a term particularly common in its successors. South Asia as the preferred term is particularly common when scholars or officials seek to differentiate this region from East Asia. According to historians Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal , the Indian subcontinent has come to be known as South Asia "in more recent and neutral parlance." This "neutral" notion refers to

16215-399: The terminology applied to domains under Delhi Sultanate was often unspecified. It was called as "Empire of Delhi" ( Persian : Mamalik-i-Delhi) by Juzjani and Barani while Ibn Battuta called the empire under Muhammad bin Tughlaq as " Hind and Sind ". The Delhi Sultanate was also known as the "Empire of Hindustan " ( Persian : Mamalik-i-Hindustan) , a name that gained currency during

16356-413: The thousands of years of history. Paper had already reached some parts of India as early as the 6th or 7th century, initially through Chinese travellers and the ancient silk road which India was very well connected with. Earlier some historians believed that paper failed to catch on as palmyra leaves and birch bark remained far more popular but this theory was discredited later on. On the other hand,

16497-405: The time of the last Sayyid ruler, Alam Shah (whose name translated to "king of the world"), this resulted in a common northern Indian witticism, according to which the "kingdom of the king of the world extends from Delhi to Palam ", i.e. merely 13 kilometres (8.1 mi). Historian Richard M. Eaton noted that this saying showcased how the "once-mighty empire had become a joke". The Sayyid dynasty

16638-561: The traders. A network of spies was instituted to ensure the implementation of the system; even after price controls were lifted after Khalji's death, Barani claims that the fear of his spies remained and that people continued to avoid trading in expensive commodities. The sultanate enforced Islamic religious prohibitions on anthropomorphic representations in art. The army of the Delhi sultans initially consisted of nomadic Turkic Mamluk military slaves belonging to Muhammad of Ghor. The nucleus of this Southeast Asian sultanate military were

16779-566: The transfer of the elite to Daulatabad was the hatred of the nobility to the Sultan, which remained in their minds for a long time. The other result was that he managed to create a stable Muslim elite and result in the growth of the Muslim population of Daulatabad who did not return to Delhi, without which the rise of the Bahmanid kingdom to challenge the Vijayanagara kingdom would not have been possible. Muhammad bin Tughlaq's adventures in

16920-518: The treasuries but retracted each time, only extending Islamic rule into western Punjab. The wave of raids on north Indian and western Indian kingdoms by Muslim warlords continued after Mahmud of Ghazni, plundering and looting these kingdoms. The raids did not establish or extend permanent boundaries of their Islamic kingdoms. The Ghurid Sultan Mu'izz al-Din Muhammad began a systematic war of expansion into North India in 1173. He sought to carve out

17061-594: The two countries. The Cold War decades also contributed to the divide , as Pakistan aligned with the West and India with the Soviet Union ; other factors include the time period after the 1962 Sino-Indian War , which saw India and China move apart while Pakistan and China built closer relations. Pakistan has been beset with terrorism , economic issues , and military dominance of its government since Independence, with none of its Prime Ministers having completed

17202-551: The ultimate justification for any ruler within the Islamic world was the protection and advancement of the faith. For the Sultans, as for their Ghaznavid and Ghurid predecessors, this entailed the suppression of heterodox Muslims, and Firuz Shah attached some importance to the fact that he had acted against the ashab-i had-u ibadat (deviators and latitudinarians). It also involved plundering and extorting tribute from, independent Hindu principalities. Firuz Shah, who believed that India

17343-590: The weakness and quarrelling of the rulers of the Delhi Sultanate, so he marched with his army to Delhi, plundering and killing all the way. Estimates for the massacre by Timur in Delhi range from 100,000 to 200,000 people. Timur had no intention of staying in or ruling India. He looted the lands he crossed, then plundered and burnt Delhi. Over fifteen days, Timur and his army raged a massacre. Then he collected wealth, captured women and men and children, and enslaved people (particularly skilled artisans), and returning with this loot to Samarkand. The people and lands within

17484-534: The west, and in the north to northeastern Iran, northern Afghanistan, and southern Uzbekistan . Identification with a South Asian identity was found to be significantly low among respondents in an older two-year survey across Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The history of core South Asia begins with evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens , as long as 75,000 years ago, or with earlier hominids including Homo erectus from about 500,000 years ago. The earliest prehistoric culture have roots in

17625-557: The world , impelled by the economic/ labour needs and opportunities presented by the British Empire. The introduction of Western political thought inspired a growing Indian intellectual movement, and so by the 20th century, British rule began to be challenged by the Indian National Congress , which sought full independence under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi . Britain, under pressure from Indian freedom fighters, increasingly gave self-rule to British India. By

17766-412: The world. In 2022, South Asia had the world's largest populations of Hindus , Muslims , Sikhs , Jains, and Zoroastrians. South Asia alone accounts for 90.47% of Hindus, 95.5% of Sikhs, and 31% of Muslims worldwide, as well as 35 million Christians and 25 million Buddhists. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an economic cooperation organisation in the region which

17907-470: The years 1000 and 1500, India's GDP , of which the sultanates represented a significant part, grew nearly 8% to $ 60.5 billion in 1500. Though the overall the percentage of the GDP share reduced from 33% to 22% According to Maddison's estimates, India's population grew from 85 million in 1200 to 101 million in 1500 AD in the period. The Delhi Sultanate period coincided with more use of mechanical technology in

18048-941: The years after the base metal coin experiment. In 1335, Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan, a Sayyid native of Kaithal in North India, revolted and founded the Madurai Sultanate in South India. By 1347, the Bahmani Sultanate had become independent through the rebellion of Ismail Mukh . It became a competing Muslim kingdom in the Deccan region of South Asia, founded by Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah . Muhammad bin Tughlaq died in 1351 while trying to chase and punish people in Gujarat who were rebelling against

18189-578: Was a Punjabi chieftain from Khokhar clan. The Timurid invasion and plunder had left the Delhi Sultanate in shambles, and little is known about the rule by the Sayyid dynasty. Annemarie Schimmel notes the first ruler of the dynasty as Khizr Khan, who assumed power as a vassal of the Timurid Empire . His authority was questioned even by those near Delhi. His successor was Mubarak Khan, who renamed himself Mubarak Shah, discontinued his father's nominal allegiance to Timur and unsuccessfully tried to regain lost territories in Punjab from Khokhar warlords. With

18330-640: 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 around c.  1206–1211 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

18471-468: Was assassinated in 1206, by Ismāʿīlī Shia Muslims. After the assassination, one of Ghori's slaves (or Mamluks), the Turkic Qutb al-Din Aibak, assumed power, becoming the first Sultan of Delhi. Qutb al-Din Aibak , a former slave of Mu'izz ad-Din Muhammad Ghori , was the first ruler of the Delhi Sultanate. Aibak was of Turkic Cuman - Kipchak origin, and due to his lineage, his dynasty is known as

18612-405: Was changed into a Muslim nation, declared that "no zimmi living in a Musalman country might dare to act". The Hindu kingdoms who submitted to Islamic rule qualified as "protected peoples" according to the wide spectrum of the educated Muslim community within the subcontinent. The balance of the evidence is that in the latter half of the fourteenth century, if not before, the jizyah was levied as

18753-499: Was conquered by the Grand Vizier Nusrat Khan Jalesari , the kingdom of Malwa by Ainul Mulk Multani , as well as Rajputana . However, these victories were cut short because of Mongol attacks and plunder raids from the northwest. The Mongols withdrew after plundering and stopped raiding northwest parts of the Delhi Sultanate. After the Mongols withdrew, Ala ud-Din Khalji continued to expand

18894-595: Was displaced by the Lodi dynasty in 1451, however, resulting in a resurgence of the Delhi Sultanate. The Lodi dynasty was an Afghan, or Turco-Afghan dynasty, related to the Pashtun ( Afghan ) Lodi tribe . The founder of the dynasty, Bahlul Khan Lodi , was a Khalji of the Lodi clan. He started his reign by attacking the Muslim Jaunpur Sultanate to expand the influence of the Delhi Sultanate and

19035-439: Was established in 1985 and includes all the nations comprising South Asia. The geographical extent is not clear cut as systemic and foreign policy orientations of its constituents are quite asymmetrical. Beyond the core territories of the Indian Empire (territories of the British Empire which were under the system of British Raj), there is a high degree of variation as to which other countries are included in South Asia. There

19176-448: Was murdered in 1296 by Muhammad Salim of Samana, on the orders of his nephew and son-in-law Juna Muhammad Khalji , who later came to be known as Ala ud-Din Khalji. Ala ud-Din began his military career as governor of Kara province, from where he led two raids on the Kingdom of Malwa (1292) and Devagiri (1294) for plunder and loot. After he acceded to the throne, expansions towards these kingdoms were renewed including Gujarat which

19317-457: Was of Turko-Afghan heritage. They were originally Turkic, but due to their long presence in Afghanistan, they were treated by others as Afghan as they adopted Afghan habits and customs. The first ruler of the Khalji dynasty was Jalal ud-Din Firuz Khalji . He was around 70 years old at the time of his ascension and was known as a mild-mannered, humble and kind monarch to the general public. Jalal ud-Din Firuz ruled for 6 years before he

19458-446: Was partially successful through a treaty. Thereafter, the region from Delhi to Varanasi (then at the border of Bengal province), was back under the influence of the Delhi Sultanate. After Bahlul Lodi died, his son Nizam Khan assumed power, renamed himself Sikandar Lodi and ruled from 1489 to 1517. One of the better-known rulers of the dynasty, Sikandar Lodi expelled his brother Barbak Shah from Jaunpur, installed his son Jalal Khan as

19599-437: Was precarious, and several Muslim amirs (nobles) challenged his authority as they had been supporters of Qutb al-Din Aibak. After a series of conquests and brutal executions of opposition, Iltutmish consolidated his power. His rule was challenged several times, such as by Qubacha, and this led to a series of wars. Iltutmish conquered Multan and Bengal from contesting Muslim rulers, as well as Ranthambore and Sivalik from

19740-424: Was required, and expensive goods such as certain fabrics were deemed "unnecessary" for the general public and required a permit from the state to be purchased. These licenses were issued to amirs , maliks , and other important persons in government. Agricultural taxes were raised to 50%. Traders regarded the regulations as burdensome, and violations were severely punished, leading to further resentment among

19881-644: Was supported by non-Khalji nobles like Kamal al-Din Gurg . However, he lacked the support of the majority of Khalji's nobles who had him assassinated, hoping to take power for themselves. However, the new ruler had the killers of Kafur executed. The last Khalji ruler was Ala ud-Din Khalji's 18-year-old son Qutb ud-Din Mubarak Shah Khalji , who ruled for four years before he was killed by Khusro Khan, another slave-general with Hindu origins, who reverted from Islam and favoured his Hindu Baradu military clan in

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