A
ruined city in Andhra Pradesh state, in the southeast of
India. It was the
capital. from
1364 to
1512. of the Bahmani
kingdom, but after 1512 it became the capital of the
Muslim sultanate of Golconda.
The legions of Aurangzeb, the Mughal emperor, captured the city in 1687, after which Golconda gradually fell into ruin.
The main feature of the city is its fort on a hill 400 feet above the surrounding plain; it was large enough to house the administration, the army, and families of the rulers, any other poor bastards in the area were out of luck. There are also ruins of palaces and mosques.
At its peak, the city was famed for the diamonds found to the southeast and cut in Golconda; its name has come to be associated with great wealth.