India Map 1759 CE — Historical Map & Timeline

Who ruled India in 1759 CE?

In 1759 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 — Peshwa-led confederacy (1749 CE–1818 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
• East India Company rule
  Bengal from 1757, expanding across the subcontinent. A trading company turned territorial power after Plassey, until the Crown took over in 1858. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica — East India Company · Read: The Battle of Plassey
• 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

What happened in India around 1759 CE?

• 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
• 1765: The Company obtains the Diwani. Revenue-collecting rights in Bengal formed a further step in the Company’s political transformation. Source: NCERT — From Trade to Territory