Ghaznavid Sultanate

Timeline

1. 977–1030Ghazni · AfghanistanAfter Sebüktegin broke free of the Samanid dynasty to become independent, his son Mahmud repeatedly campaigned in the Indian subcontinent, plundering wealth and spreading Islam while controlling Khorasan and Central Asian trade routes; Ghazni became a model of a Persianized Turkic military state, its court gathering Persian literati and Islamic scholars.
2. 1031–1040Ghazni–Lahore · PunjabAfter Mas'ud I (1030–1041) acceded, he maintained suzerainty over northwestern India with Lahore as the center of rule in South Asia; but Seljuk forces advancing from the east, the Karakhanids to the west, and internal succession disputes drained the state, forcing the empire's strategic focus to swing between defending Khorasan and Indian expeditions.
3. 1040–1050Dandanaqan · KhorasanIn the 1040 Battle of Dandanaqan, Mas'ud was decisively defeated by the combined Seljuk forces of Tughril and Chaghri, losing Khorasan and eastern Iranian territory; the Ghaznavids retreated to Afghanistan and the Indian frontier, falling from Central Asian hegemon to a regional power, with the political center gradually shifting south to Lahore.
4. 1050–1186Lahore · PunjabAfter losing Central Asia, the Ghaznavid Sultanate made Punjab its ruling core, continuing its Islamizing influence over northwestern India; in the 12th century the Ghurid dynasty rose, conquering Lahore in 1186 and ending the Ghaznavid regime, though its model of Indian expeditions was inherited by the later Delhi Sultanate.