India Map 1740: Who Ruled India Then?

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Shivaji Maharaj1740 CE

Balaji Baji Rao becomes Peshwa

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India Map 1740 CE — Historical Map & Timeline

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj builds Swarajya through forts, administration, mobility and command of difficult terrain.

The interactive map shows the atlas’s nearest drawn reconstruction (1674 CE). Frontiers moved in between, so use the list of powers below for 1740 CE.

Who ruled India in 1740 CE?

In 1740 CE, power in the subcontinent was shared among 10 major states and dynasties. Dates are conventional estimates.

Mughal Empire — Later Mughal emperors (1707 CE–1857 CE)
Northern India, and at its height most of the subcontinent. Founded by Babur after Panipat; nominal rule ended in 1857. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica — Mughal dynasty · Read: The Mughal Empire
Maratha Swarajya and Empire — Chhatrapati Shahu (1707 CE–1749 CE)
Western Deccan, later much of central and northern India. From Shivaji Maharaj's coronation in 1674 to the Third Anglo-Maratha War. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica — Maratha · Read: Maratha Swarajya and Expansion
Hyderabad State (Nizams)
Deccan; capital Hyderabad. Asaf Jahi Nizams, the most populous princely state, integrated into India in 1948. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica — Hyderabad historical state India
Kingdom of Mysore
Southern Karnataka. Wodeyar kingdom, independent of Vijayanagara from about 1610; under Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan from 1761 to 1799. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica — Wadiyars
Mewar (Sisodia Rajputs)
Southern Rajasthan; capitals Chittor, later Udaipur. Rajput kingdom of Rana Kumbha, Rana Sanga and Maharana Pratap; a princely state under British paramountcy from 1818, merged into Rajasthan in 1949. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica — Udaipur (historical state)
Ahom kingdom
Brahmaputra valley, Assam. Ruled the Brahmaputra valley for six centuries until the Treaty of Yandabo. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica — Ahom
Portuguese India (Goa, Daman and Diu)
Goa and coastal enclaves. Goa was taken in 1510 and remained Portuguese until 1961. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica — Goa
Travancore
Southern Kerala. Kingdom of Marthanda Varma; merged into Travancore-Cochin in 1949. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica — Travancore
Awadh
Central Uttar Pradesh; capitals Faizabad and Lucknow. Nawabi state annexed by the East India Company in 1856. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica — Awadh
Nawabs of Bengal
Bengal, Bihar and Odisha; capital Murshidabad. Autonomous Mughal governors until Plassey in 1757. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica — Murshid Quli Khan · Read: The Battle of Plassey

What happened in India around 1740 CE?

1690: Charnock arrives at Sutanuti. The municipal history records Job Charnock’s arrival at Sutanuti. This date concerns the Company’s presence amid existing settlements, rather than the beginning of all urban life here. Source: Kolkata Municipal Corporation — Municipal History
18th century: A seat of Peshwa power. Shaniwar Wada served as the Peshwas’ headquarters. Construction dates vary across public accounts, so this entry uses a century rather than an exact founding year. Source: Pune District — Shaniwar Wada
1707 CE: Long Mughal-Maratha war reaches a turn
1740 CE: Balaji Baji Rao becomes Peshwa
1757: Company forces retake the settlement. After Siraj-ud-Daulah’s capture of the English settlement in 1756, Company forces retook it in 1757. The Battle of Plassey later that year was a separate event in Bengal. Source: Kolkata Municipal Corporation — Municipal History
1761: Panipat halts expansion but not Maratha power. At the Third Battle of Panipat, the Maratha army suffered a devastating defeat against Ahmad Shah Durrani and his allies. The loss checked northern ambitions, yet Maratha states recovered political influence within a decade. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica: Battles of Panipat
1764–1765: Buxar and the Diwani turn victory into fiscal rule. At Buxar, Company forces defeated the combined armies of Mir Qasim, Shuja al-Dawlah and Mughal emperor Shah Alam II. The following settlement granted the Company revenue-collecting rights in Bengal, Bihar and Odisha. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica: Battle of Buxar

Major Historical Milestones in 1740 CE

1740 CE: Balaji Baji Rao becomes Peshwa

Historical Events & Sourced Records (1740 CE)

Maratha power grows beyond its founder

After Shivaji Maharaj’s death, the state survived severe Mughal pressure and later expanded under the Chhatrapatis, Peshwas and several powerful Maratha houses. This wider confederated order was influential across much of the subcontinent but was not a single uniformly centralized administration.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica — Maratha confederacy

1740 ईस्वी में भारत का नक्शा: मराठा स्वराज्य

1740 ईस्वी का यह इंटरैक्टिव नक्शा मराठा स्वराज्य के समय का भारत दिखाता है। छत्रपति शिवाजी महाराज किलों, प्रशासन और कठिन भूगोल पर नियंत्रण से स्वराज्य बनाते हैं।

1740 ईस्वी में भारत पर किसका शासन था? मुग़ल साम्राज्य, मराठा स्वराज्य और साम्राज्य, हैदराबाद रियासत (निज़ाम), मैसूर राज्य, मेवाड़, अहोम राज्य, पुर्तगाली भारत, त्रावणकोर, अवध, बंगाल के नवाब।

1740 mein Bharat ke pramukh rajya: Mughal Empire, Maratha Swarajya and Empire (Chhatrapati Shahu), Hyderabad State (Nizams). Ye Maratha Swarajya ka daur tha.