1.
Delhi Sultanate
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The Delhi Sultanate was a Muslim kingdom based mostly in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for 320 years. Five dynasties ruled over Delhi Sultanate sequentially, the Mamluk dynasty, the Khilji dynasty, the Tughlaq dynasty, the Sayyid dynasty, the first four dynasties were of Turkic origin, and the last dynasty was of Afghan origin. Qutb-ud-din Aibak, a slave of Muhammad Ghori, was the first sultan of Delhi. Afterwards the Khilji dynasty was able to conquer most of central India. The sultanate reached the peak of its reach during the Tughlaq dynasty. This was followed by due to continuing Hindu-Muslim wars, states such as the Vijayanagara Empire asserting independence. The Delhi Sultanate caused destruction and desecration of politically important temples of South Asia, in 1526 the Sultanate fell, to be succeeded by the Mughal Empire. By 962 AD, 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 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, the raids did not establish or extend permanent boundaries of their Islamic kingdoms. The Ghurid Sultan Muizz al-Din Muhammad began a war of expansion into north India in 1173. He sought to carve out a principality for himself by expanding the Islamic world, Mu’izz sought 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, Muizz al-Din was assassinated in 1206, by Ismāʿīlī Shia Muslims in some accounts or by Hindu Khokhars in others. After the assassination, one of Mu’izz slaves, the Turkic Qutbu l-Din Aibak, assumed power, Qutb al-Din Aibak, a slave of Muizz ad-Din Muhammad Ghori, was the first ruler of the Delhi Sultanate. Aibak was of Cuman-Kipchak origin, and due to his lineage, Aibak reigned as the Sultan of Delhi for four years. After Aibak died, Aram Shah assumed power in 1210, but he was assassinated in 1211 by Shams-ud-din Iltutmish, iltutmishs power was precarious, and a number of Muslim amirs challenged his authority as they had been supporters of Qutb al-din Aibak. After a series of conquests and brutal executions of opposition, he consolidated his power and his rule was challenged a number of times, such as by Qubacha, and this led to a series of wars. Iltumish conquered Multan and Bengal from contesting Muslim rulers, as well as Ranathambhore and he also attacked, defeated, and executed Taj al-Din Yildiz, who asserted his rights as heir to Muizz ad-Din Muhammad Ghori
2.
Coronation
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The ceremony can also be conducted for the monarchs consort, either simultaneously with the monarch or as a separate event. A ceremony without the placement of a crown on the head is known as an enthronement. Coronations are still observed in the United Kingdom, Tonga, in addition to investing the monarch with symbols of state, Western-style coronations have often traditionally involve anointing with holy oil, or chrism as it is often called. Wherever a ruler is anointed in this way, as in Great Britain and Tonga, some other lands use bathing or cleansing rites, the drinking of a sacred beverage, or other religious practices to achieve a comparable effect. Such acts symbolise the granting of divine favour to the monarch within the relevant spiritual-religious paradigm of the country, in the past, concepts of royalty, coronation and deity were often inexorably linked. Rome promulgated the practice of worship, in Medieval Europe. Coronations were once a direct expression of these alleged connections. Thus, coronations have often been discarded altogether or altered to reflect the nature of the states in which they are held. However, some monarchies still choose to retain an overtly religious dimension to their accession rituals, others have adopted simpler enthronement or inauguration ceremonies, or even no ceremony at all. In non-Christian states, coronation rites evolved from a variety of sources, buddhism, for instance, influenced the coronation rituals of Thailand, Cambodia and Bhutan, while Hindu elements played a significant role in Nepalese rites. The ceremonies used in modern Egypt, Malaysia, Brunei and Iran were shaped by Islam, Coronations, in one form or another, have existed since ancient times. Egyptian records show coronation scenes, such as that of Seti I in 1290 BC, judeo-Christian scriptures testify to particular rites associated with the conferring of kingship, the most detailed accounts of which are found in II Kings 11,12 and II Chronicles 23,11. Following the assumption of the diadem by Constantine, Roman and Byzantine emperors continued to wear it as the symbol of their authority. Although no specific coronation ceremony was observed at first, one gradually evolved over the following century, the emperor Julian was hoisted upon a shield and crowned with a gold necklace provided by one of his standard-bearers, he later wore a jewel-studded diadem. Later emperors were crowned and acclaimed in a manner, until the momentous decision was taken to permit the Patriarch of Constantinople to physically place the crown on the emperors head. Historians debate when exactly this first took place, but the precedent was established by the reign of Leo II. This ritual included recitation of prayers by the Byzantine prelate over the crown, after this event, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the ecclesiastical element in the coronation ceremonial rapidly develop. This was usually performed three times, following this, the king was given a spear, and a diadem wrought of silk or linen was bound around his forehead as a token of regal authority
3.
Uttar Pradesh
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Uttar Pradesh, abbreviated as UP, is the most populous state in the Republic of India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. The state, located in the region of the Indian subcontinent, has over 200 million inhabitants. It was created on 1 April 1937 as the United Provinces during British rule, Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh. Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Bhadohi, Raebareli, Moradabad, Bareilly, Aligarh, Sonbhadra, on 9 November 2000, a new state, Uttarakhand, was carved out from the Himalayan hill region of Uttar Pradesh. It covers 243,290 square kilometres, equal to 7. 33% of the area of India. Hindi is the official and most widely spoken language in its 75 districts, Uttar Pradesh is the third largest Indian state by economy, with a GDP of ₹9,763 billion. Agriculture and service industries are the largest parts of the states economy, the service sector comprises travel and tourism, hotel industry, real estate, insurance and financial consultancies. Uttar Pradesh was home to powerful empires of ancient and medieval India, the two major rivers of the state, the Ganges and Yamuna, join at Allahabad and then flow as the Ganges further east. Modern human hunter-gatherers have been in Uttar Pradesh since between around 85,000 and 72,000 years ago, the kingdom of Kosala, in the Mahajanapada era, was located within the regional boundaries of modern-day Uttar Pradesh. According to Hindu legend, the divine king Rama of the Ramayana epic reigned in Ayodhya, the aftermath of the Mahabharata yuddh is believed to have taken place in the area between the Upper Doab and Delhi, during the reign of the Pandava king Yudhishthira. The kingdom of the Kurus corresponds to the Black and Red Ware and Painted Gray Ware culture, most of the invaders of south India passed through the Gangetic plains of what is today Uttar Pradesh. Control over this region was of importance to the power and stability of all of Indias major empires, including the Maurya, Kushan, Gupta. Following the Huns invasions that broke the Gupta empire, the Ganges-Yamuna Doab saw the rise of Kannauj, during the reign of Harshavardhana, the Kannauj empire reached its zenith. It spanned from Punjab in the north and Gujarat in the west to Bengal in the east and it included parts of central India, north of the Narmada River and it encompassed the entire Indo-Gangetic plain. Many communities in parts of India claim descent from the migrants of Kannauj. Kannauj was several times invaded by the south Indian Rashtrakuta Dynasty, in the Mughal era, Uttar Pradesh became the heartland of the empire. Mughal emperors Babur and Humayun ruled from Delhi, in 1540 an Afghan, Sher Shah Suri, took over the reins of Uttar Pradesh after defeating the Mughal king Humanyun. Sher Shah and his son Islam Shah ruled Uttar Pradesh from their capital at Gwalior, after the death of Islam Shah Suri, his prime minister Hemu became the de facto ruler of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and the western parts of Bengal
4.
Delhi
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Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory of Delhi or NCT, is a city and a union territory of India. It is bordered by Haryana on three sides and by Uttar Pradesh to the east, the NCT covers an area of 1,484 square kilometres. According to 2011 census, Delhis city population was about 11 million, Delhis urban area is now considered to extend beyond the NCT boundary to include an estimated population of over 26 million people making it the worlds second largest urban area. As of 2016 recent estimates of the economy of its urban area have ranked Delhi either the top or second most productive metro area of India. Delhi is the second wealthiest city after Mumbai in India, with a wealth of $450 billion. Delhi has been inhabited since the 6th century BC. Through most of its history, Delhi has served as a capital of various kingdoms and it has been captured, ransacked and rebuilt several times, particularly during the medieval period, and modern Delhi is a cluster of a number of cities spread across the metropolitan region. New Delhi is jointly administered by the government of India and the local government of Delhi. Delhi is also the centre of the National Capital Region, which is a unique interstate regional planning area created by the National Capital Region Planning Board Act of 1985, Delhi ranks among the cities with the worst air pollution in the world. There are a number of myths and legends associated with the origin of the name Delhi, one of them is derived from Dhillu or Dilu, a king who built a city at this location in 50 BC and named it after himself. The coins in circulation in the region under the Tomaras were called dehliwal, according to the Bhavishya Purana, King Prithiviraja of Indraprastha built a new fort in the modern-day Purana Qila area for the convenience of all four castes in his kingdom. He ordered the construction of a gateway to the fort and later named the fort dehali, another theory suggests that the citys original name was Dhillika. The people of Delhi are referred to as Delhiites or Dilliwalas, the city is referenced in various idioms of the Northern Indo-Aryan languages. Dilli dilwalon ka shehr or Dilli Dilwalon ki meaning Delhi belongs to the large-hearted/daring, aas-paas barse, Dilli pani tarse, literally meaning it pours all around, while Delhi lies parched. An allusion to the sometimes semi-arid climate of Delhi, it refers to situations of deprivation when one is surrounded by plenty. The area around Delhi was probably inhabited before the second millennium BC, the city is believed to be the site of Indraprastha, the legendary capital of the Pandavas in the Indian epic Mahabharata. According to Mahabharata, this land was initially a huge mass of forests called Khandavaprastha which was burnt down to build the city of Indraprastha, the earliest architectural relics date back to the Maurya period, in 1966, an inscription of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka was discovered near Srinivaspuri. Remains of eight cities have been discovered in Delhi
5.
Iltutmish
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Shams ud-Din Iltutmish was a ruler of the Delhi Sultanate in India. Although his predecessor Qutb al-Din Aibak established the Mamluk Dynasty of Delhi, Iltutmish is considered the founder of the Delhi Sultanate, Shams-ud-din Iltutmish was the second ruler of the Slave dynasty. He founded the Delhi Sultanate in 1211 and received the Caliphs investiture in his rule and he conquered Multan and Bengal from contesting rulers, and Ranathambhore and Siwalik from their rulers. He expanded his domain by defeating the Muslim rulers of Ghazni, Multan and Bengal and he conquered the latter two territories and made further conquests in the Hindu lands, conquering the fort of Ranathambhore and the lands of Gwalior and the fort of Mandur. The name Iltutmish is a Turkic name, meaning he has held/owned land, another theory concerning the meaning of the name suggests a connection with an eclipse that supposedly occurred at his birth. The title Shams ad-Dunya Wad-Din is a royal Laqab of the time, translated as Sun of the world, Shams-ud-din belonged to the tribe of Ilbari in the Eurasian Steppe of Turkestan. While his association with the Turkic nobility of that tribe confidence can be seen as dubious and anachronistic and he was sold into slavery at an early age, reportedly after being sold by his kinsmen to slave merchants. Earning some reputation in his court, he was appointed personal attendant of the Sultan. Muhammads deputy and former slave, Qutub-ud-din-Aybak, then Viceroy of Lahore, Aibak bought Iltutmish and another slave for the high price of 100,000 Tankas, the silver coin used in Muslim India. He rose quickly in Aibaks service, earned the title Amir Tamghach, married Aibaks daughter, in recognition of his services during the campaign of Muhammad of Ghur against the Khokhars in 1205-06, he was, by the Sultans order, manumitted. Iltutmish was appointed Governor of Badaun in 1206 and was serving in this post when Aibak died in a polo accident, subsequently, a group of noblemen invited Iltutmish to stake his claim on the Indian dominions of the Ghurids. By 1211, Qutb al-Din Aibak was dead from a polo accident, Muizzi amirs, who had been appointed by Muhammad of Ghor, supported Aram Shah, possible son of Qutb al-Din Aibak. Qutbi amirs, owing allegiance to Aibak, invited Iltutmish, then Governor of Badaun, Aram Shah ascended to the throne in Lahore. In 1211, Iltutmish claimed the throne in Delhi, Aram Shah marched towards Delhi but was slain in battle at Bagh-i-Jud leaving Iltutmish unopposed in Delhi. On his accession, Iltutmish faced a number of challenges to his rule, in the aftermath of Aibaks death, the Ghurid dominions in India had divided into four. Nasir-ud-Din Qabacha, the Governor of Uch and Multan asserted his independence, ali Mardan Khilji, who had been appointed Governor of Lakhnauti in Bengal by Aibak in 1206, had thrown off his allegiance to Delhi after his death and styled himself Sultan Ala-ud-din. Lahore was contested by Iltutmish, Qabacha and, Muhammad of Ghors adopted son, Yildoz attempted to bring Delhi under his control. Initially, Iltutmish acknowledged Yildozs suzerainty by accepting the symbolic presents of the chatr, to add to Iltutmishs troubles, some of the Amirs of Delhi expressed resentment against his rule
6.
Islam
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Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion which professes that there is only one and incomparable God and that Muhammad is the last messenger of God. It is the worlds second-largest religion and the major religion in the world, with over 1.7 billion followers or 23% of the global population. Islam teaches that God is merciful, all-powerful, and unique, and He has guided mankind through revealed scriptures, natural signs, and a line of prophets sealed by Muhammad. The primary scriptures of Islam are the Quran, viewed by Muslims as the word of God. Muslims believe that Islam is the original, complete and universal version of a faith that was revealed many times before through prophets including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses. As for the Quran, Muslims consider it to be the unaltered, certain religious rites and customs are observed by the Muslims in their family and social life, while social responsibilities to parents, relatives, and neighbors have also been defined. Besides, the Quran and the sunnah of Muhammad prescribe a comprehensive body of moral guidelines for Muslims to be followed in their personal, social, political, Islam began in the early 7th century. Originating in Mecca, it spread in the Arabian Peninsula. The expansion of the Muslim world involved various caliphates and empires, traders, most Muslims are of one of two denominations, Sunni or Shia. Islam is the dominant religion in the Middle East, North Africa, sizable Muslim communities are also found in Horn of Africa, Europe, China, Russia, Mainland Southeast Asia, Philippines, Northern Borneo, Caucasus and the Americas. Converts and immigrant communities are found in almost every part of the world, Islam is a verbal noun originating from the triliteral root s-l-m which forms a large class of words mostly relating to concepts of wholeness, submission, safeness and peace. In a religious context it means voluntary submission to God, Islām is the verbal noun of Form IV of the root, and means submission or surrender. Muslim, the word for an adherent of Islam, is the active participle of the verb form. The word sometimes has connotations in its various occurrences in the Quran. In some verses, there is stress on the quality of Islam as a state, Whomsoever God desires to guide. Other verses connect Islām and dīn, Today, I have perfected your religion for you, I have completed My blessing upon you, still others describe Islam as an action of returning to God—more than just a verbal affirmation of faith. In the Hadith of Gabriel, islām is presented as one part of a triad that also includes imān, Islam was historically called Muhammadanism in Anglophone societies. This term has fallen out of use and is said to be offensive because it suggests that a human being rather than God is central to Muslims religion
7.
Indira Gandhi
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Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi was an Indian politician and central figure of the Indian National Congress party, and to date the only female Prime Minister of India. Indira Gandhi was the daughter of Indias first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, despite her surname Gandhi, she is not related to the family of nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi. She served as Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977 and then again from 1980 until her assassination in 1984, Gandhi served as her fathers personal assistant and hostess during his tenure as prime minister between 1947 and 1964. She was elected Congress President in 1959, upon her fathers death in 1964, Gandhi refused to enter the Congress party leadership contest and instead chose to become a cabinet minister in the government led by Lal Bahadur Shastri. As the Prime Minister of India, Gandhi was known for her political ruthlessness, Gandhi also presided over a controversial state of emergency from 1975 to 1977 during which she ruled by decree. Akin to Mahatma Gandhis fate, she was assassinated by nationalists in 1984. The assassins, Beant Singh and Satwant Singh, were both killed, in 1999, Indira was named Woman of the Millennium in a poll organised by the BBC. Indira Gandhi was born as Indira Nehru in a Kashmiri Pandit family on 19 November 1917 in Allahabad and her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, was a leading figure in Indias political struggle for independence from British rule, and became the first Prime Minister of the Union of India. She was the child, and grew up with her mother, Kamala Nehru, at the Anand Bhavan. She had a lonely and unhappy childhood and her father was often away, directing political activities or incarcerated, while her mother was frequently bed-ridden with illness, and later suffered an early death from tuberculosis. She had limited contact with her father, mostly through letters, Indira was mostly taught at home by tutors, and intermittently attended school until matriculation in 1934. It was during her interview that Rabindranath Tagore named her Priyadarshini, a year later, however, she had to leave university to attend to her ailing mother in Europe. While there, it was decided that Indira would continue her education at the University of Oxford, after her mother died, she briefly attended the Badminton School before enrolling at Somerville College in 1937 to study history. Indira had to take the entrance examination twice, having failed at her first attempt with a performance in Latin. At Oxford, she did well in history, political science and economics and she did, however, have an active part within the student life of the university, such as the Oxford Majlis Asian Society. During her time in Europe, Indira was plagued with ill-health and was attended by doctors. She had to make repeated trips to Switzerland to recover, disrupting her studies and she was being treated there in 1940, when the Nazi armies rapidly conquered Europe. Gandhi tried to return to England through Portugal but was stranded for nearly two months
8.
Turkic peoples
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The Turkic peoples are a collection of ethnic groups that live in central, eastern, northern, and western Asia as well as parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family and they share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds. The first known mention of the term Turk applied to a Turkic group was in reference to the Göktürks in the 6th century, a letter by Ishbara Qaghan to Emperor Wen of Sui in 585 described him as the Great Turk Khan. The Orhun inscriptions use the terms Turk and Turuk and this includes Chinese records Spring and Autumn Annals referring to a neighbouring people as Beidi. During the first century CE, Pomponius Mela refers to the Turcae in the north of the Sea of Azov. There are references to certain groups in antiquity whose names could be the form of Türk/Türük such as Togarma, Turukha/Turuška, Turukku. But the information gap is so substantial that we cannot firmly connect these ancient people to the modern Turks, turkologist András Róna-Tas posits that the term Turk could be rooted in the East Iranian Saka language or in Turkic. This etymological concept is related to Old Turkic word stems tür, türi-, törü. The earliest Turkic-speaking peoples identifiable in Chinese sources are the Dingling, Gekun, the Chinese Book of Zhou presents an etymology of the name Turk as derived from helmet, explaining that taken this name refers to the shape of the Altai Mountains. During the Middle Ages, various Turkic peoples of the Eurasian steppe were subsumed under the identity of the Scythians, between 400 CE and the 16th century, Byzantine sources use the name Σκύθαι in reference to twelve different Turkic peoples. However, the usage of the term is based on the linguistic classification in order to avoid any political sense. In short, the term Türki can be used for Türk or vice versa and it is generally agreed that the first Turkic people lived in a region extending from Central Asia to Siberia, with the majority of them living in China historically. Historically they were established after the 6th century BCE, the earliest separate Turkic peoples appeared on the peripheries of the late Xiongnu confederation about 200 BCE. Turkic people may be related to the Xiongnu, Dingling and Tiele people, according to the Book of Wei, the Tiele people were the remnants of the Chidi, the red Di people competing with the Jin in the Spring and Autumn period. Turkic tribes such as the Khazars and Pechenegs probably lived as nomads for many years before establishing the Turkic Khaganate or Göktürk Empire in the 6th century and these were herdsmen and nobles who were searching for new pastures and wealth. The first mention of Turks was in a Chinese text that mentioned trade between Turk tribes and the Sogdians along the Silk Road, the first recorded use of Turk as a political name appears as a 6th-century reference to the word pronounced in Modern Chinese as Tujue. The Ashina clan migrated from Li-jien to the Juan Juan seeking inclusion in their confederacy, the tribe were famed metalsmiths and were granted land near a mountain quarry which looked like a helmet, from which they were said to have gotten their name 突厥. A century later their power had increased such that they conquered the Juan Juan, Turkic peoples originally used their own alphabets, like Orkhon and Yenisey runiforms, and later the Uyghur alphabet
9.
Gwalior
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Gwalior is a major city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and one of the Counter-magnet cities. Located 319 kilometres south of Delhi, the city of India. The city and its fortress have been ruled by several historic northern Indian kingdoms, from the Tomars in the 13th century, it was passed on to the Mughal Empire, then to the Maratha in 1754, followed by the Scindia in 18th century. Besides being the headquarters of Gwalior district and Gwalior division. Several administrative and judicial organisations, commissions and boards have their state, Gwalior was the winter capital of the state of Madhya Bharat which later became a part of the larger state of Madhya Pradesh. Prior to Indian independence on 15 August 1947, Gwalior remained a state of the British Raj with the Scindia as the local rulers. High rocky hills surround the city from all sides, on the north it just forms the border of the Ganga- Yamuna Drainage Basin, the city however is situated in the valley between the hills. Gwaliors metropolitan area includes Lashkar Gwalior, Morar Gwalior, Thatipur, Gwalior was one of the major sites of rebellion during the 1857 uprising. Post-independence, Gwalior has emerged as an important tourist attraction in central India while many industries, before the end of the 20th century it became a million plus agglomeration and now it is a metropolitan city in central India. Gwalior is surrounded by industrial and commercial zones of neighbouring districts on all three main directions, a 2016 report of the World Health Organization found Gwalior to be the second-most air-polluted city in the world and the most polluted city in India. Gwalior has been selected as one of the hundred Indian cities to be developed as a city under PM Narendra Modis flagship Smart Cities Mission. According to local tradition, Gwalior owes its name to a sage of former times, Suraj Sen, a prince of the gurjar-pratihar clan of the eighth century, is said to have lost his way in the forest. On a secluded hill, he met an old man, the sage Gwalipa, upon asking the sage for some drinking water, he was led to a pond, where the waters not only quenched his thirst but cured him of leprosy. Suraj Sen later built a palace inside the fort, which was named Gwalior after the sage, after being founded by Maharaj Suraj Sen, Gwalior Fort saw many different rulers ruling the city and suburbs around it. Gwalior became a prominent place for religious practices, cultures and other disciplines coming up during that time in the country, during the 6th century BC Gwalior was ruled by the Nanda dynasty of Pataliputra. During the first century AD, Gwalior came under Naga Dynasty, from the carving found at Pawaya, it has been discovered that the kushanas ruled the city till the 3rd century AD. After that, it came under the Guptas till 467 AD, during the 5th century, The Kannauj of Gurar-Pratihara Dynasty ruled Gwalior and played a prominent role in shaping its history. From 700–740 AD Gwalior became the capital of Kannauj, a Magnificent Sun Temple was created at the fort hill during that period
10.
Persian people
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The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group that make up over half the population of Iran. They share a cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language. The ancient Persians were originally a branch of the ancient Iranian population who entered modern-day Iran by the early 10th century BC. The English term Persian derives from Latin Persia, itself deriving from Greek Persís, in the Bible, it is referred to as Parás —sometimes Paras uMadai —within the books of Esther, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemya. Although Persis was originally one of the provinces of ancient Iran, varieties of this term were adopted through Greek sources, thus, in the Western world, the term Persian came to refer to all inhabitants of the country. 10th-century Iraqi historian Al-Masudi refers to Pahlavi, Dari and Azari as dialects of the Persian language, in 1333, medieval Moroccan traveler and scholar Ibn Battuta, referred to the people of Kabul as a specific sub-tribe of Persians. Lady Mary Sheil, in her observation of Iran during the Qajar era, describes Persians, Kurds and Leks to identify themselves as descendants of the ancient Persians. On March 21,1935, the king of Iran, Reza Shah Pahlavi, issued a decree asking the international community to use the term Iran. However, the term Persian is still used to designate the predominant population of the Iranian peoples living in the Iranian cultural continent. The earliest known written record attributed to the Persians is from the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, the inscription mentions Parsua as a tribal chiefdom in modern-day western Iran. The ancient Persians were originally a branch of the Iranian population that, in the early 10th century BC. They were initially dominated by the Assyrians for much of the first three centuries after arriving in the region, however, they played a role in the downfall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Medes, another branch of population, founded the unified empire of Media as the regions dominant cultural and political power in c.625 BC. Meanwhile, the Persian dynasty of the Achaemenids formed a state to the central Median power. In c.552 BC, the Achaemenids began a revolution which led to the conquest of the empire by Cyrus II in c.550 BC. They spread their influence to the rest of what is called the Iranian Plateau, at its greatest extent, the Achaemenid Empire stretched from parts of Eastern Europe in the west, to the Indus Valley in the east, making it the largest empire the world had yet seen. The Achaemenids developed the infrastructure to support their growing influence, including the creation of Pasargadae and its legacy and impact on the kingdom of Macedon was also notably huge, even for centuries after the withdrawal of the Persians from Europe following the Greco-Persian Wars. The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of Alexander the Great, until the Parthian era, the Iranian identity had an ethnic, linguistic, and religious value, however, it did not yet have a political import
11.
Abyssinian people
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The Abyssinian people, also known as the Habesha, are a people inhabiting the Horn of Africa. They include a few linguistically, culturally and ancestrally related ethnic groups in the Ethiopian Highlands, members cultural, linguistic, and in certain cases, ancestral origins trace back to the Kingdom of Dʿmt and the Kingdom of Aksum. Scholars have classified the Amhara and the Tigreans as Abyssinians proper, the Geez speaking people, minimally affected by Sabaean influence, formed the ethnic and cultural stock for both the pre-Axumite and Axumite states. Geez, which is related to Tigrinya and Tigre, is also believed to be the ancestor of the diverse southern Ethiopian Semitic languages including Amharic. Together, the Amhara and Tigray constitute over 35% of Ethiopias population, the Abyssinians are believed to be descendants of the Axumites, who spoke the ancient Geez language. Geez is most closely related to Tigrinya and Tigre languages, the Aksumites inhabited northern Ethiopia and Eritrea. They already lived in area by the early 1st millennium BC, and founded the Axumite empire. These people formed the basic stock of both the pre-Axumite and Axumite states. By the medieval period, the Semitic languages would have spread southward as far as southern Shewa, eastward into the Hararghe highlands, linguistic analysis further indicates that the Ethiopian Semitic languages have retained a Cushitic substratum, which also belongs to the Afro-Asiatic family. The Geez language, Tigre and Tigrinya spoken in the north were influenced by Beja, Agaw and Saho-Afar substrates, with Amharic and Gafat in the south also partially influenced by these substrates. The Amharic, Argobba, Harari and Gurage tongues spoken in central Ethiopia are characterized by an Eastern Sidamo or Highland East Cushitic substratum, as well as Oromo, overall, the linguistic impact of the Cushitic languages is more marked toward the south. In Arabic, the plateau on the east of the Nile, from which most of the waters of that river are derived, is called Habesh. The modern term derives from the vocalized Geez, ሐበሣ, Ḥabaśā, first written with a script that did not mark vowels as ሐበሠ ḤBŚ or in pseudo-Sabaic as ḤBŠTM. The earliest known use of the dates to the second or third century Sabaean inscription recounting the defeat of the nəgus GDRT of Aksum. The term Habashat appears to refer to a group of peoples, a Sabaean inscription describes an alliance between Shamir Yuhahmid of the Himyarite Kingdom and King DBH of Aksum in the first quarter of the third century. The submission of Shamir of dhū Raydān and the clans of Habashat, the term Habesha was formerly thought by some scholars to be of Arabic descent because the English name Abyssinia comes from the Arabic form. Based on the inscriptions the Aksumites left behind, they did not regard themselves or their territory as Habesha and he believed the etymology of Habesha must have derived from the Mehri language, which means “gatherers”. It was not until long after Aksumite kingdom had ended that Gulf Arab travelers and geographers began to describe the Horn region as Al-Habash, the first among these travelers were Al-Masudi and Al-Harrani
12.
Siddi
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The Siddi, also known as Siddhi, Sheedi, or Habshi, are an ethnic group inhabiting India and Pakistan. Members are descended from Bantu peoples from Southeast Africa, some were merchants, sailors, indentured servants, slaves, and mercenaries. The Siddi community is estimated at around 50, 000–60,000 individuals, with Karnataka, Gujarat and Hyderabad in India and Makran. Siddis are primarily Sufi Muslims, although some are Hindus and others Roman Catholic Christians, there are conflicting hypotheses on the origin of the name Siddi. One theory is that the word derives from sahibi, a Arabic term of respect in North Africa, similar to the word sahib in modern India and Pakistan. A second theory is that the term Siddi is derived from the title borne by the captains of the Arab vessels that first brought Siddi settlers to India and these captains were known as Sayyid. Similarly, another term for Siddis, habshi, is held to be derived from the name for the captains of the Abyssinian ships that also first delivered Siddi slaves to the subcontinent. Siddis are also referred to as Afro-Indians. Siddis were referred to as Zanji by Arabs, in China, various transcriptions of this Arabic word were used, including Xinji, the first Siddis are thought to have arrived in India in 628 AD at the Bharuch port. Several others followed with the first Arab Islamic invasions of the subcontinent in 712 AD, the latter group are believed to have been soldiers with Muhammad bin Qasims Arab army, and were called Zanjis. Later the Siddi population was added to via Bantu peoples from Southeast Africa that had brought to the Indian subcontinent as slaves by the Portuguese. While most of these migrants became Muslim and a minority became Christian. A former alternative name of Janjira was Habshan, in the Delhi Sultanate period prior to the rise of the Mughals in India, Jamal-ud-Din Yaqut was a prominent Siddi slave-turned-nobleman who was a close confidant of Razia Sultana. Although this is disputed, he may also have been her lover, malik Ambar, a prominent Siddi figure in Indian history at large, is sometimes regarded as the military guru of the Marathas, and was deeply allied with them. He established the town of Khirki which later became the city of Aurangabad. Later, the Marathas adapted Siddi guerrilla warfare tactics to grow their power, harris provides an historical survey of the eastward dispersal of slaves from Southeast Africa to places like India. Historically, Siddis have not existed only within binary relations to the nation state and they did not simply succumb to the ideologies and structures of imperial forces, nor did they simply rebel against imperial rule. The Siddi are recognized as a tribe in 3 states and 1 union territory, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka and Daman
