Key Facts
- Duration
- 1674–1818 (144 years)
- Peak area
- ~2.5 million km²
- Founding ruler
- Chhatrapati Shivaji (1674)
- Dominant Mughal period
- 1737–1803
- Major constituent states
- Scindia, Gaekwad, Holkar, Bhonsle
Imperial Zenith Metrics
Territorial Scale Comparison
Peak area vs modern sovereign states
Historical Trajectory
Phase I: Rise
Shivaji, a Marathi-speaking warrior from the western Deccan Plateau, revolted against the Bijapur Sultanate and the Mughal Empire in pursuit of Hindu self-rule. Crowned Chhatrapati in 1674 at Raigad Fort, he built a disciplined military and administrative state. After Aurangzeb's death in 1707, Shivaji's grandson Shahu revived Maratha power under Peshwa Bajirao I, who extended conquests across northern and central India.
Phase II: Zenith
Under Peshwa Bajirao I and his successors, the confederacy expanded to control roughly 2.5 million km², stretching from Maharashtra north to Gwalior and east to Orissa. Between 1737 and 1803, the Marathas exercised effective control over Mughal imperial politics. The four great houses—Scindia, Gaekwad, Holkar, and Bhonsle—administered vast territories, making the Maratha Confederacy the dominant power across the subcontinent.
Phase III: Decline
The decisive defeat at the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761 against the Durrani Empire checked Maratha expansion, though Peshwa Madhavrao I recovered most lost territories by the 1770s. His death weakened central Peshwa authority over the confederate chiefs. After Peshwa Baji Rao II was defeated by the Holkar dynasty in 1802 and sought British protection, the East India Company dismantled the confederacy through the Second and Third Anglo-Maratha Wars, completing its dissolution by 1818.
Notable Imperial Reigns
Selected rulers mapping the empire’s trajectory