Founding of the Delhi Sultanate

The Delhi Sultanate was founded in 1206 by Qutb al-Din Aibak, a former Turkic slave, or Mamluk, of the Ghurid ruler Muhammad of Ghor, who had spent decades extending Ghurid conquests into northern India before his assassination by Ismaili Shia attackers in 1206 left his Indian territories without a clear successor. Aibak, who had served as Muhammad's military governor in India, assumed power over these conquered territories and became the first Sultan of Delhi, ruling for four years until 1210 and winning praise in contemporary and later accounts for his generosity. The sultanate's establishment marked a decisive shift from the temporary raiding expeditions that had characterized earlier Ghurid campaigns in India, begun under Muhammad of Ghor from 1173 onward, into a permanent, settled Islamic government based at Delhi. Over the following three centuries, the sultanate, ruled by a succession of dynasties beginning with Aibak's own Mamluk line, expanded to control large parts of the Indian subcontinent, establishing the foundation for centuries of Muslim political rule in South Asia.