غزنویان Ghaznavian Ghaznavid Empire
←   ← 963–1187 →   →
Ghaznavid Empire at its greatest extent
Capital	Ghazni (963–1151) Lahore (1151–1187)
Language(s)	Persian (official/poetry)[1] Arabic (official/poetry) Turkic (military)[2]
Religion	Sunni Islam
Government	Empire
shah
- 963-977	Alptigin
- 1160-1187	Khusrau Malik
Historical era	Medieval
- Established	963
- Disestablished	1187
Area
- 1029 est.	3,400,000 km2 (1,312,747 sq mi)

The Ghaznavids (Persian: غزنویان‎) were a Persianate^[3][4][5] Muslim dynasty of Turkic slave-soldiers^[6][7][8] which existed from 975 to 1187 and ruled much of Persia, Transoxania, and the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent.^[9][10][11] The Ghaznavid state was centered in Ghazni, a city in modern-day Afghanistan. Due to the political and cultural influence of their predecessors - that of the Persian Samanid Empire - the originally Turkic Ghaznavids had become thoroughly Persianized.^{[9][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]}

The dynasty was founded by Sebuktigin upon his succession to rule of territories centered around the city of Ghazni from his father-in-law, Alp Tigin, a break-away ex-general of the Samanid sultans.^[18] Sebuktigin's son, Shah Mahmoud, expanded the empire in the region that stretched from the Oxus river to the Indus Valley and the Indian Ocean; and in the west it reached Rey and Hamadan.

Under the reign of Mas'ud I, the dynasty experienced major territorial losses, losing the western territories to the Seljuqs at the Battle of Dandanaqan resulting in a restriction of its holdings to Balochistan, Western Panjab and modern-day Afghanistan.^[19][20] In 1151, Sultan Bahram Shah lost Ghazni to Ala'uddin Hussain of Ghor and the capital was moved to Lahore until its subsequent capture by the Ghurids in 1186.