The Ghaznavids (Persian: ????????) were a Persianate Muslim dynasty of Turkic slave origin which existed from 975 to 1187 and ruled much of Persia; Transoxania; and the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent.

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.

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. Sebuktigin's son; Shah Mahmud; 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.