Sultan of Mysore · r. 1782–1799

Tipu Sultan

Ruler. Strategist. Innovator.

For seventeen years, Tipu Sultan ruled a South Indian state that fought the British East India Company to a standstill, reformed its economy from the ground up, sent embassies from Paris to Constantinople, and fielded the world's first iron-cased war rockets. He died sword in hand defending his capital — and has been argued over ever since.

This site explores him as a person, a sultan and statesman, a military commander, an administrator and economic reformer, a diplomat, a patron of technology — and a historical figure whose legacy remains genuinely contested. We separate documented evidence from later interpretation, and say so when historians disagree.