Ghaznavid Empire

غزنویان Ghaznavids
977–1186
Ghaznavid Empire at its greatest extent in 1030 C.E.
Capital		Ghazna (977–1163) Lahore
Languages		Persian (official and court language; lingua franca) Arabic (theology) Turkic (military)
Religion		Sunni Islam
Government		Empire
Sultan
•	977–997	Sabuktigin (first)
•	1160–1186	Khusrau Malik (last)
Vizier
•	998–1013	Abu'l-Hasan Isfaraini (first mentioned)
•	12th-century	Abu'l-Ma'ali Nasrallah (last mentioned)
Historical era		Medieval
•	Established	977
•	Disestablished	1186
Area
•	1029 est.	3,400,000 km² (1,312,747 sq mi)
Preceded by Succeeded by Saffarid dynasty Samanids Ma'munids Farighunids Ghurid dynasty Seljuk Empire

in Anatolia
Artuqid dynasty
Saltuqid dynasty
in Azerbaijan
Ahmadili dynasty
Ildenizid dynasty
in Egypt
Tulunid dynasty
Ikhshidid dynasty
in Fars
Salghurid dynasty
in The Levant
Burid dynasty
Zengid dynasty
in Yemen
Rasulid dynasty

The Ghaznavid dynasty (Persian: غزنویان‎‎ ġaznaviyān) was a PersianateMuslim dynasty of Turkic mamluk origin at their greatest extent ruling large parts of Iran, Afghanistan, much of Transoxiana, and northwest Indian subcontinent from 977–1186. The dynasty was founded by Sabuktigin, upon his succession to rule of Ghazna after the death of his father-in-law, Alp Tigin, who was a breakaway ex-general of the Samanid Empire from Balkh, north of the Hindu Kush in Greater Khorasan.

Although the dynasty was of Central Asian Turkic origin, it was thoroughly Persianized in terms of language, culture, literature, and habits, and hence is regarded by some as a "Persian dynasty" rather than Turkic.