Iqta Fief System of the Delhi Sultanate

Timeline

1. 1206–1300Delhi · North IndiaInheriting the iqta tradition of the Ghaznavid and Ghurid dynasties, the Delhi sultans divided farmland and market taxes of the Indian subcontinent into fiefs granted to Turkic-Afghan military nobles; iqta'dars had to maintain a fixed number of cavalry according to the register, land was not heritable, and fiefs could be reclaimed upon personnel transfers.
2. c. 1300–1320North Indian plains · North IndiaIn the early 14th century the sultanate perfected the iqta register system, distinguishing large iqta (supporting governor-level nobles) from small iqta (supporting junior officers), specifying cavalry quotas, tax remittance proportions, and assembly obligations upon the sultan's summons, forming a central-local military noble alliance.
3. 1340–1350Tughluq domains · IndiaAfter Muhammad bin Tughluq's death in 1340, before his cousin Firuz Shah Tughluq acceded in 1351, the sultanate fell into succession turmoil; Muhammad's reign had seen large-scale tax increases, currency recoinage, and forced iqta reassignments, and the 1340s reforms intensified conflicts between iqta'dars and peasants, laying the background for Firuz's conciliatory policies and fief stabilization after 1351.
4. c. 1400–1556North India · North IndiaDuring the 15th-century Lodi dynasty, iqta gradually became hereditary and localized, and the center found it difficult to reclaim fiefs; after Babur founded the Mughal Empire in 1526, cash salaries and the zamindar system gradually replaced the traditional iqta, completing the transformation of the military nobles' land distribution model.