Bijapur Sultanate: Map & History
The Bijapur Sultanate was an early modern sultanate located in the southwestern Deccan, ruled by the Adil Shahi dynasty.
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The Bijapur Sultanate was an early modern sultanate located in the southwestern Deccan, ruled by the Adil Shahi dynasty. One of the five Deccan sultanates, Bijapur had originally been a taraf (province) of the Bahmani Sultanate prior to its independence in 1490 and before the kingdom's political decline in the last quarter of the 15th century. The Sultanate of Bijapur was one of the most powerful states in the Indian subcontinent at its peak, second to the Mughal Empire which conquered it in 1686 under Aurangzeb.
Modern Countries Once Part of Bijapur Sultanate
At its mapped extent, Bijapur Sultanate covered territory in 1 present-day country. The period shown is when the mapped borders include that country, and the note says how much of it.
States and Provinces
Largest Present-Day Cities in Its Territory
Each opens on the live map inside Bijapur Sultanate's borders of that time.
Derived by testing mapped cities against this polity's dated territorial polygons, so the list is indicative and follows the borders in the source dataset.
Bijapur Sultanate in Depth
History
The founder of the dynasty, Yusuf Adil Shah, may have been a Georgian slave who was purchased by the Bahmani statesman Mahmud Gawan. Other historians have said that he was of Persian or Turkoman origin. According to the contemporary historian Firishta, Yusuf was a son of the Ottoman sultan Murad II; however, this is disputed by modern historians. Another theory is that he was an Aq Qoyunlu Turkoman.
Yusuf impressed the Bahmani sultan Muhammad Shah III, and he was appointed governor of Bijapur. Yusuf took advantage of Bahmani decline to establish himself as an independent sultan at Bijapur in 1490, pursuing the same goal Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah I had that year.
Culture
The sultanate's architecture, a subset of Deccani architecture, was a variant of Indo-Islamic architecture influenced by that of the Middle East. Adil Shahi architecture was of good quality with a localized, unique nature. It was characterised by large domes and dargahs (Sufi shrines), complex turrets, geometric and Arabic (or Persian) calligraphic designs, and decorated friezes of tholobates.
Yusuf Adil Shah, the first sultan, began by expanding two dargahs at Gulbarga with minarets. The first building characteristic of Adil Shahi architecture was a congregational mosque (jama masjid) built during the reign of Ibrahim Adil Shah I. The primary Jami Masjid of Bijapur, built under Ali I, was commissioned in 1576.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Bijapur Sultanate (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Bijapur Sultanate: Key Facts
| Capital | Vijayapura |
|---|---|
| Religion | Shia Islam |
| Founded | 1490 |
| Dissolved | 1686 |
Preceded by
Facts from Wikidata Q83821 (CC0).
Bijapur Sultanate Map Over Time
Dated world maps on which Bijapur Sultanate appears, with the other states of the time.
Bijapur Sultanate Timeline
Key historical inflections from foundation to peak territorial expansion
Expansion to peak recorded area of 396,483 km² in 1656 CE.
Bijapur Sultanate: Frequently Asked Questions
When did the Bijapur Sultanate exist?
The Bijapur Sultanate is dated to 1492 CE – 1686 CE, in the Early Modern & Age of Discovery era.
What was the capital of the Bijapur Sultanate?
The capital of the Bijapur Sultanate was Bijapur.
How large was the Bijapur Sultanate at its peak?
At its peak in 1656 the Bijapur Sultanate covered about 396,483 km².
How did the map of the Bijapur Sultanate change over time?
The Bijapur Sultanate appears on 2 dated world maps in the atlas, from 1500 CE to 1600 CE. Each shows its borders in that year next to the other states of the time.
Other Sovereign Realms
High & Late Middle Ages • Capital: Avarga
Early Modern & Age of Discovery • Capital: Söğüt, Bursa, Edirne, Constantinople
Industrial Era • Capital: London
Early Modern & Age of Discovery • Capital: Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Lahore, Delhi