Gaur

Gaur, also called Lakhnauti, was a walled capital in western Bengal and the seat of Delhi's governors. In 1337 Qadar Khan held it for the Delhi sultan.

After Qadar Khan's death, his officer Alauddin Ali Shah seized Lakhnauti. Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah overthrew him in 1342 and united Bengal as an independent sultanate in 1352. Sultan Mahmud Shah moved the court from Pandua back to Gaur in 1453; Portuguese travellers later compared its wealth to Lisbon's. A Mughal army took the city in 1575, after which plague and a shifting Ganges left it deserted.