Delhi Sultanate · 1206-1526

The Delhi Sultanate

For three centuries five dynasties of sultans ruled northern India from Delhi. A former slave-soldier founded the sultanate, a woman ruled it, and its armies held off the Mongols. Students explore a state where Persian, Turkic and Indian cultures met.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 1200 to AD 1334
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

For three centuries five dynasties of sultans ruled northern India from Delhi. A former slave-soldier founded the sultanate, a woman ruled it, and its armies held off the Mongols. Students explore a state where Persian, Turkic and Indian cultures met.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Describe the rise and extent of the Delhi Sultanate between 1206 and 1526.
  • Name three important rulers of the sultanate and one decision of each.
  • Explain how the sultanate mixed Persian, Turkic and Indian cultures.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1200

The sultanate grows

Open the map in 1200 and find the Sultanate of Delhi. Then drag the slider to 1300. In which direction did it grow?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1300

The Empires of India

Click Stories at the top left and play The Empires of India. Stop at the chapter "The Delhi Sultanate". Who were these rulers, and where did they come from?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1334

A traveller in Delhi

Open Stories and play the Ibn Battuta journey until it reaches Delhi in 1334. Which job did the sultan give him?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Why could a former slave-soldier become a sultan?
  2. Razia Sultan was overthrown partly because she was a woman. Compare her with Wu Zetian of China. What is similar and what is different?
  3. The sultans were a Muslim minority ruling a mostly Hindu population. How could they keep control?
  4. Muhammad bin Tughluq's move to Daulatabad and his copper coins both failed. Why do clever ideas sometimes fail?
  5. Hindavi, an ancestor of Hindi and Urdu, grew in the sultanate. Why do languages mix where peoples meet?
4

Game round

10 min

Play Rule History as Genghis Khan, whose Mongol successors raided the Delhi Sultanate again and again. Let students take turns ruling. Then switch sides: how did the sultans of Delhi keep the Mongols out when so many others failed?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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