ABSTRACT
Located in the State of Andhra Pradesh in southern India, Hyderabad was founded in 1591 by Muhammad Quli Qutub Shah whose family ruled the Deccan plateau for more than 150 years. The city grew within the heyday of the Mughal Empire and the Nizams of the Asif Jahi dynasty ruled the Deccan until 1948. Under the Nizams, Hyderabad was the largest Princely State in India with an area as large as Great Britain. Following independence, the State of Hyderabad merged with the Union of India and when, in 1956, India was reconstituted into a federation of linguistic States, it became the Telugu-speaking State of Andhra Pradesh with the city of Hyderabad as its capital.
