Sultan to as a sultanate ( "). The term is distinct from king ( "), despite both referring to a sovereign ruler. The use of "sultan" is restricted to Muslim countries, where the title carries religious significance, contrasting the more secular "king", which is used in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries. A feminine form of "sultan", used by Westerners, is Sultana or Sultanah and this title has been used legally for some (not all) Muslim women monarchs and sultan's mothers and chief consorts. However, Turkish and Ottoman Turkish also uses "sultan" for imperial lady, as Turkish grammar—which is influenced by Persian
Sultan rulers, generally rendered in Arabic and in western languages as Sultan: This was the native ruler's title in the Tanzanian state of Uhehe a female sultan In Indonesia (formerly in the Dutch East Indies): In Malaysia: In Brunei: In China: In the Philippines: In Thailand: In some parts of the Middle East and North Africa, there still exist regional sultans or people who are descendants of sultans and who are styled as such. See List of current constituent Asian monarchs and List of current constituent African monarchs By the beginning of the 16th century, the title sultan was carried by