States, administration and trade from 1000 to 1700 CE: the Delhi Sultanate, Vijayanagara and the Ahoms, land revenue, money and trade, travellers and hill forts.
Key ideas
Vijayanagara had its capital at Hampi on the Tungabhadra, with busy markets for gems, cloth and spices.
The Ahoms ruled Assam from Garhgaon; under the paik system men served the state in turns and got land in return.
Military commanders were given land revenue (iqta) instead of salaries; Mughal officers held ranks called mansabs.
Under Akbar, Todar Mal had land measured and tax fixed by crop and area (the zabt system).
Sher Shah issued the silver rupiya and built roads with sarais (rest houses) for travellers.
Merchants moved money with hundis, bills of exchange paid out in cash by money-changers (sarrafs) in other cities.
Travellers like Ibn Battuta, Abdur Razzaq and Domingo Paes described cities and markets; hill forts like Raigad and Senji were hard to attack and stored food and water.
Remember
Delhi Sultanate founded
1206
First Battle of Panipat
1526
Vijayanagara founded
1336, by Harihara and Bukka
Ahom rule
1228 to 1826
Hundi
a bill of exchange, like a cheque
Senji (Gingee) Fort
part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site from 2025
Watch out
Mixing up the iqta (land revenue for commanders) and the mansab (an officer’s rank).
Working out a span wrongly: 1228 to 1826 is 1826 − 1228 = 598 years.
Thinking a hundi was a coin: it was a paper note paid out in cash by an agent elsewhere.
Worked example
The Ahoms ruled from 1228 to 1826. (a) For how many years was that? (b) How many years before 2007 did their rule begin?