The Ghurids

The mountainous region of north western Afghanistan was known as Ghur in the Middle Ages. Due to its geographical layout and inaccessibility, political control of the area was often fragmented, relying on local lords and their personal fortresses to rule and protect individual towns. Nonetheless, the sultanate of the Ghurids emerged in the twelfth century, uniting the region and becoming, by the early thirteenth century, a powerful state that extended from Herat in Afghanistan to western Bengal, even reaching the borders of Tibet and Kashmir.