In 712 CE, a Syrian Muslim chieftain called Muhammad bin
Qasim conquered most of the Indus region for the Umayyad empire, but the
instability of the empire resulted in effective control only over Sind and
southern Punjab. The provincial capital of "As-Sindh" was at Al-Mansurah, 72
km north of modern Hyderabad. There was gradual conversion to Islam in the
south, especially amongst the native Buddhist majority, but in areas north
of Multan, Buddhists, Hindus and other non-Muslim groups remained numerous.
In 997 CE, Mahmud of Ghazni conquered the bulk of Khorasan, marched on
Peshawar in 1005, and followed it by the conquests of Punjab (1007),
Balochistan (1011), Kashmir (1015) and Qanoch (1017). By the end of his
reign in 1030, Mahmud's empire extended from Kurdistan in the west to the
Yamuna river in the east, and the Ghaznavid dynasty lasted until 1187.
Contemporary historians such as Abolfazl Beyhaqi and Ferdowsi described
extensive building work in Lahore, as well as Mahmud's support and patronage
of learning, literature and the arts.
In 1160, Muhammad Ghori conquered Ghazni from the Ghaznavids and became its
governor in 1173. He marched eastwards into the remaining Ghaznavid
territory and Gujarat in the 1180s, but was rebuffed by Gujarat's Solanki
rulers. In 1186-7, he conquered Lahore, bringing the last of Ghaznevid
territory under his control and ending the Ghaznavid empire. Muhammad Ghori
returned to Lahore after 1200 to deal with a revolt of the Rajput Ghakkar
tribe in the Punjab. He suppressed the revolt, but was killed during a
Ghakkar raid on his camp on the Jhelum River in 1206. Muhammad Ghori's
successors established the first Indo-Islamic dynasty, the Delhi Sultanate.
The Mamluk Dynasty, (mamluk means "slave" and referred to the Turkic slave
soldiers who became rulers throughout the Islamic world), seized the throne
of the Sultanate in 1211. Several Turko-Afghan dynasties ruled their empires
from Delhi: the Mamluk (1211-90), the Khalji (1290-1320), the Tughlaq
(1320-1413), the Sayyid (1414-51) and the Lodhi (1451-1526). Although some
kingdoms remained independent of Delhi - in Gujarat, Malwa (central India),
Bengal and Deccan - almost all of the Indus plain came under the rule of
these large Indo-Islamic sultanates. Perhaps the greatest contribution of
the sultanate was its temporary success in insulating South Asia from the
Mongol invasion from Central Asia in the thirteenth century; nonetheless the
sultans eventually lost Afghanistan and western Pakistan to the Mongols (see
the Ilkhanate Dynasty).
The sultans (emperors) of Delhi enjoyed cordial relations with Muslim rulers
in the Near East but owed them no allegiance. While the sultans ruled from
urban centers, their military camps and trading posts provided the nuclei
for many towns that sprang up in the countryside. Close interaction with
local populations led to cultural exchange and the resulting "Indo-Islamic"
fusion has left a lasting imprint and legacy in South Asian architecture,
music, literature, life style and religious customs. In addition, the
language of Urdu (literally meaning "horde" or "camp" in various Turkic
dialects) was born during the Delhi Sultanate period, as a result of the
mingling of speakers of Sanskritic prakrits, Persian, Turkish and Arabic
languages.
From the 16th to the 19th century CE the formidable Mughal empire covered
much of South Asia and played a major role in the economic and cultural
development of the region. The empire was one of the three major Islamic
states of its day and sometimes contested its northwestern holdings such as
Qandahar against the Uzbeks and the Safavid Persians. The Mughals were
descended from Persianized Central Asian Turks (with significant Mongol
admixture). The third emperor, Akbar the Great, was both a capable ruler and
an early proponent of religious and ethnic tolerance and favored an early
form of multiculturalism. For a short time in the late 16th century, Lahore
was the capital of the empire. The architectural legacy of the Mughals in
Lahore includes the Shalimar Gardens built by the fifth emperor, Shahjahan,
and the Badshahi Mosque built by the sixth emperor, Aurangzeb.
In 1739, the Persian emperor Nader Shah invaded India, defeated the Mughal
Emperor Mohammed Shah, and occupied most of Balochistan and the Indus plain.
After Nadir Shah's death, the kingdom of Afghanistan was established in
1747, by one of his generals, Ahmad Shah Abdali and included Kashmir,
Peshawar, Daman, Multan, Sind and Punjab. In the south, a succession of
autonomous dynasties (the Daudpotas, Kalhoras and Talpurs) had asserted the
independence of Sind, from the end of Aurangzeb's reign. Most of Balochistan
came under the influence of the Khan of Kalat, apart from some coastal areas
such as Gwadar which were ruled by the Sultan of Oman. The Sikh Confederacy
(1748-1799) was a group of small states in the Punjab which emerged in a
political vacuum created by rivalry between the Mughals, Afghans and
Persians.[34] The Confederacy drove out the Mughals, repelled several Afghan
invasions and in 1764 captured Lahore. However after the retreat of Ahmed
Shah Abdali, the Confederacy suffered instability as disputes and rivalries
emerged.[35] The Sikh empire (1799-1849) was formed on the foundations of
the Confederacy by Ranjit Singh who proclaimed himself "Sarkar-i-Wala", and
was referred to as the Maharaja of Lahore.[34] His empire eventually
extended as far west as the Khyber Pass and as far south as Multan. Amongst
his conquests were Kashmir in 1819 and Peshawar in 1834, although the
Afghans made two attempts to recover Peshawar. After the Maharaja's death
the empire was weakened by internal divisions and political mismanagement.
The British annexed the Sikh empire in 1849 after two Anglo-Sikh wars. |
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