Fort Golconda

I visited the Golconda Fort this afternoon. It is situated a little bit outside the city. So I took an autorishaw and 20 min later I could start doing the tourist.

What is the history of the fort? The city and fortress are built on a granite hill that is 120m high and is surrounded by massive crenellated ramparts. The beginnings of the fort date to the 1143, when the Hindu Kakatiya dynasty ruled the area. The Kakatiya dynasty were followed by the state of Warangal, which was later conquered by the Islamic Bahami Sultanat. The fort became the capital of a major province in the Sultanate and after its collapse the capital of the Qutb shahi king. The fort finally fell into ruins after a siege and its fall to Mughal emperor Aurangazeb .



After the collapse of the Bahami Sultanat, Golconda rose to prominence as the seat of the Qutb shahi Dynasty around 1507. Over a period of 62 years the mud fort was expanded by the first three Qutb shahi kings into a massive fort of granite, extending around 5 km in circumference. It remained the capital of the Qutb shahi Dynasty until 1590 when the capital was shifted to Charminar. The Qutb shahi expanded the fort, whose 10 km outer wall enclosed the city. The Qutb shahi sultanate lasted until its conquest by Mughal emperor Aurangazeb in 1687. The fortress held out against Aurangzeb for eight months, falling to the Mughals through treachery.