{i} Oman, state on the far eastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula between Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Sea; Gulf of Oman, bay that is located between Oman and Iran, northwestern arm of the Arabian Sea
(1403?-1511) Malay dynasty that ruled the great entrepôt of Malacca (Melaka) and its dependencies. Malacca, which commanded the main sea route between India and China, was founded by Paramesvara died 1424 , who converted to Islam and took the title Sultan Iskandar Shah in 1414. It benefited from the rearoused desire of Ming-dynasty China to trade with the West. By the mid-1430s it had become a major commercial emporium; by the mid-15th century it was an important territorial power as well. The wealthy state encouraged literature, learning, and a lively political and religious life; the period of its ascendancy is considered the golden age of Malay history. The city fell to the Portuguese in 1511
Principal Muslim sultanate in northern India during the 13th to the 16th centuries. Its creation owed much to the campaigns of Muammad of Ghr and his lieutenant Qub al-Dn Aybak between 1175 and 1206. During the reign of Sultan Iltutmish (1211-36), a permanent capital was established at Delhi and political ties with Ghr were severed. From 1290 to 1320, under the Khalj dynasty, the sultanate was an imperial power. Its power was shattered by Timur's invasion (1398-99), but it somewhat recovered under the Lod (Afghan) dynasty (1451-1526). It fell again to Bbur (1526), was reestablished briefly, then finally was subsumed into Akbar's Mughal Empire in 1556