Sultanate of Bengal

The Sultanate of Bengal was an independent Muslim kingdom that ruled the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers from the 1350s until 1576. Founded by Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah after he united the rival governorships of Bengal, it was ruled in turn by several unrelated dynasties. Rich in rice, cotton and silk, and linked by sea to China, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, it became one of the wealthiest trading states of its age.

Bengal was conquered by a Ghurid commander, Bakhtiyar Khalji, in the first years of the thirteenth century and later made a province of the Delhi Sultanate, but its distance from Delhi made it hard to control, and governors often rebelled. In 1325 Delhi split the province into three districts based at Sonargaon, Gauda and Satgaon. By 1338 each had its own breakaway ruler. Ilyas Shah, who held Satgaon, defeated his two rivals and by 1352 controlled the whole region, with his capital at Pandua.

Delhi tried to reclaim Bengal. Sultan Firuz Shah Tughluq besieged Ilyas Shah at Ekdala fort in 1353, and again fought his son Sikandar Shah there in 1359. The second war ended in a treaty by which Delhi accepted Bengal's independence.

Under Sikandar Shah the huge Adina Mosque was built at Pandua. His successor Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah sent embassies to Ming China and corresponded with the Persian poet Hafez. In the early fifteenth century a powerful Hindu landholder, Raja Ganesha, gained control, and his son, a convert to Islam, reigned as Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah. He gave Bengali traditions a larger place in court architecture and government. The Ilyas Shahi line returned to the throne in the 1430s, and in 1450 the capital moved to Gaur. In the late 1480s a series of Abyssinian commanders from the palace guard seized power.

Alauddin Hussain Shah took the throne in 1494 and founded a dynasty that lasted until 1538. Often seen as the sultanate's golden age, his reign brought conquests in Kamata in Assam, Chittagong and parts of Arakan, Tripura and Orissa. Hindus and Muslims served together in the administration. When the last sultan of the Jaunpur Sultanate was driven out by the Lodi rulers of Delhi, he found refuge in Bengal.

Bengal minted silver coins called the taka and used cowrie shells from the Maldives for small purchases. Fine muslin and silk cloth were exported in bulk, paper made from mulberry bark was highly prized, and the fertile land produced rice, sugarcane and fruit. Bengali merchants and shipowners were active as far away as Malacca. Chinese envoys, including Ma Huan, described busy, well-supplied cities. Persian was the language of government and trade, while Bengali also became a court language. Brick mosques with terracotta ornament became the hallmark of a recognisably Bengali style.

The sultanate weakened in the sixteenth century. Sultan Nasrat Shah was beaten by Babur, the first Mughal emperor, and Sher Shah Suri then conquered Bengal for his Sur Empire. After 1554 a Sur governor restored independence, and the Afghan Karrani dynasty, which moved the capital to Tanda in 1565, ruled last. Forces of Akbar defeated Sultan Daud Khan Karrani, finally at the Battle of Raj Mahal on 12 July 1576, and Bengal became a province of the Mughal Empire. Nobles known as the Baro Bhuyans held out in the eastern delta into the early seventeenth century.

Our 1400 map shows the sultanate, also labelled the Bengal Sultanate, covering the lower Ganges delta, with the Jaunpur Sultanate to its west.