Mahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI
Asaf Jah VI Mir Mahboob Ali Khan Siddiqi Bayafandi was the 6th Nizam of Hyderabad. He ruled Hyderabad state, one of the Princely states in India between 1869 and 1911. Mahboob Ali Khan was born on 17 August 1866 at Purani Haveli in Hyderabad State, he was the youngest son of Nizam Afzal-ud-Daulah. Afzal-ud-Daulah died on 28 February 1869. On 29 February, he ascended the throne under the regency of Dewan Salar Jung I and Shams-ul-Umra III. Mahboob Ali Khan was two years and seven months old at that time. While Salar Jung I served as regent, Shams-ul-Umra III served as co-regent. Mahboob Ali Khan was the first Nizam to be exposed to western education. A special school under the guidance of Captain Claude Clerk was setup in the Chowmahalla Palace; the children of Salar Jung I, Shams-ul-Umra III and Kishen Pershad were his classmates. Besides English, he was taught Persian and Urdu languages. In 1874, Captain John Clerk, a former tutor to the Duke of Edinburgh was appointed to teach him English. Clarke imbibed in " young Mahboob the customs and manners of high English society".
At the age of sixteen, Salar Jung I began introducing Mahboob Ali Khan into the administrative processes of the state. The highest ranking officials of various departments would meet him to teach him the working of their respective departments; the regency of Salar Jung I and Shams-ul-Umra ended. His investiture ceremony took place on 5 February 1884. Lord Ripon, the Governor-General of India was present at the ceremony and gifted him a golden sword, studded with diamonds. Mahboob Ali Khan took the title His Exalted Highness Asaf Jah, Muzaffar-ul-Mulk, Nawab Mahbub Ali Khan Bahadur, Fateh Jung. Nizam's Guaranteed State Railway, a railway company owned by the Nizams was established in 1879, it was formed to connect Hyderabad State with the rest of British India, was headquartered at Secunderabad Railway Station. Construction commenced in 1870. After four years of construction works, the Secunderabad-Wadi line was built. In 1879, Mahbub Ali Khan took over this railway line. After independence, it was integrated into Indian Railways.
The introduction of railways marked the beginning of industry in Hyderabad, four factories were built to the south and east of the Hussain Sagar lake. The Great Musi Flood of 1908 ravaged the city of Hyderabad, it affected at least 200,000 people, killing an estimated 15,000. He opened his palaces to accommodate the flood victims; the Great Famine of 1876-1878 occurred during his reign. The entire Deccan, including Hyderabad Deccan, was devastated by food shortages which were enormously exacerbated by British policies; the Nizam distributed aid to famine victims, causing tens of thousands of people to flee to Hyderabad from Sholapur and other affected areas. The practice of Sati where women used to jump into the burning pyre of their husbands concerned the Nizam. Taking serious note of Sati being continued in some parts of his kingdom despite the ban, he issued a Royal Firman on November 12, 1876 stating: "It is now notified that if anybody takes any action in this direction in the future, they will have to face serious consequences.
If Taluqdars, Jagirdars and others are found careless and negligent in the matter, serious action will be taken against them by the government." The 6th Nizam had seven daughters. The Nizam was well known for his extravagant collection of clothes and cars, his collection of clothes was one of the most extensive in the world at the time. He would never wear the same outfit twice, he bought the Jacob Diamond, which stands out among the Jewels of The Nizams now owned by the Government of India. The Nizam was fluent in Urdu and Farsi languages, he wrote poems in Telugu and Urdu, some of which are inscribed alongside the walls of Tank Bund. He was a keen hunter, it was supposed. It was his order; as a result, he was awakened from his sleep a number of times. The 6th Nizam died on 29 August 1911 at the age of 45, he was buried alongside his ancestors at Hyderabad. His second son Mir. 1866–1869: Sahibzada Mir Mahbub Ali Khan Siddiqi Bahadur 1869–1877: His Highness Rustam-i-Dauran, Arustu-i-Zaman, Wal Mamaluk, Asaf Jah VI, Muzaffar ul-Mamaluk, Nizam ul-Mulk, Nizam ud-Daula, Nawab Mir Mahbub'Ali Khan Bahadur, Sipah Salar, Fath Jang, Nizam of Hyderabad 1877–1884: His Highness Rustam-i-Dauran, Arustu-i-Zaman, Wal Mamaluk, Asaf Jah VI, Muzaffar ul-Mamaluk, Nizam ul-Mulk, Nizam ud-Daula, Nawab Mir Mahbub'Ali Khan Siddiqi Bahadur, Sipah Salar, Fath Jang, Nizam of Hyderabad 1884–1902: His Highness Rustam-i-Dauran, Arustu-i-Zaman, Wal Mamaluk, Asaf Jah VI, Muzaffar ul-Mamaluk, Nizam ul-Mulk, Nizam ud-Daula, Nawab Mir Sir Mahbub'Ali Khan Bahadur, Sipah Salar, Fath Jang, Nizam of Hyderabad, GCSI 1902–1910: His Highness Rustam-i-Dauran, Arustu-i-Zaman, Wal Mamaluk, Asaf Jah VI, Muzaffar ul-Mamaluk, Nizam ul-Mulk, Nizam ud-Daula, Nawab Mir Sir Mahbub'Ali Khan Bahadur, Sipah Salar, Fath Jang, Nizam of Hyderabad, GCB, GCSI 1910–1911: Lieutenant-General His Highness Rustam-i-Dauran, Arustu-i-Zaman, Wal Mamaluk, Asaf Jah VI, Muzaffar ul-Mamaluk, Nizam ul-Mulk, Nizam ud-Daula, Nawab Mir Sir Mahbub'Ali Khan Siddiqi Bahadur, Sipah Salar, Fath Jang, Nizam of Hyderabad, GCB, GCSI British honours Empress of India Gold Medal, 1877 Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India
Facet
Facets are flat faces on geometric shapes. The organization of occurring facets was key to early developments in crystallography, since they reflect the underlying symmetry of the crystal structure. Gemstones have facets cut into them in order to improve their appearance by allowing them to reflect light. Of the hundreds of facet arrangements that have been used, the most famous is the round brilliant cut, used for diamond and many colored gemstones; this first early version of what would become the modern Brilliant Cut is said to have been devised by an Italian named Peruzzi, sometime in the late 17th century. On, the first angles for an "ideal" cut diamond were calculated by Marcel Tolkowsky in 1919. Slight modifications have been made since but angles for "ideal" cut diamonds are still similar to Tolkowsky's formula. Round brilliants cut before the advent of "ideal" angles are referred to as "Early round brilliant cut" or "Old European brilliant cut" and are considered poorly cut by today's standards, though there is still interest in them from collectors.
Other historic diamond cuts include the "Old Mine Cut", similar to early versions of the round brilliant, but has a rectangular outline, the "Rose Cut", a simple cut consisting of a flat, polished back, varying numbers of angled facets on the crown, producing a faceted dome. Sometimes a 58th facet, called a culet is cut on the bottom of the stone to help prevent chipping of the pavilion point. Earlier brilliant cuts have large culets, while modern brilliant cut diamonds lack the culet facet, or it may be present in minute size; the art of cutting a gem is an exacting procedure performed on a faceting machine. The ideal product of facet cutting is a gemstone that displays a pleasing balance of internal reflections of light known as brilliance and colorful dispersion, referred to as "fire", brightly colored flashes of reflected light known as scintillation. Transparent to translucent stones are faceted, although opaque materials may be faceted as the luster of the gem will produce appealing reflections.
Pleonaste and black diamond are examples of opaque faceted gemstones. The angles used for each facet play a crucial role in the final outcome of a gem. While the general facet arrangement of a particular gemstone cut may appear the same in any given gem material, the angles of each facet must be adjusted to maximize the optical performance; the angles used will vary based on the refractive index of the gem material. When light passes through a gemstone and strikes a polished facet, the minimum angle possible for the facet to reflect the light back into the gemstone is called the critical angle. If the ray of light strikes a surface lower than this angle, it will leave the gem material instead of reflecting through the gem as brilliance; these lost light rays are sometimes referred to as "light leakage", the effect caused by it is called "windowing" as the area will appear transparent and without brilliance. This is common in poorly cut commercial gemstones. Gemstones with higher refractive indexes make more desirable gemstones, the critical angle decreases as refractive indices increase, allowing for greater internal reflections as the light is less to escape.
This machine uses a motor-driven plate to hold a flat disk for the purpose of cutting or polishing. Diamond abrasives bonded to metal or resin are used for cutting laps, a wide variety of materials are used for polishing laps in conjunction with either fine diamond powder or oxide-based polishes. Water is used for cutting, while either oil or water is used for the polishing process; the machine uses a system called a "mast" which consists of an angle readout, height adjustment and a gear with a particular number of teeth is used as a means of setting the rotational angle. The angles of rotation are evenly divided by the number of teeth present on the gear, though many machines include additional means of adjusting the rotational angle in finer increments called a "cheater"; the stone is bonded to a rod known as a "dop" or "dop stick" and is held in place by part of the mast referred to as the "quill". The dopped stone is ground at precise angles and indexes on cutting laps of progressively finer grit, the process is repeated a final time to polish each facet.
Accurate repetition of angles in the cutting and polishing process is aided by the angle readout and index gear. The physical process of polishing is a subject of debate. One accepted theory is that the fine abrasive particles of a polishing compound produce abrasions smaller than the wavelengths of light, thus making the minute scratches invisible. Since gemstones have two sides, a device called a "transfer jig" is used to flip the stone so that each side may be cut and polished. Cleaving relies on planar weaknesses of the chemical bonds in the crystal structure of a mineral. If a sharp blow is applied at the correct angle, the stone may split cleanly apart. While cleaving is sometimes used to split uncut gemstones into smaller pieces, it is never used to produce facets. Cleaving of diamonds was once common, but as the risk of damaging a stone is too high, undesirable diamond pieces resulted; the preferred method of splitting diamonds into smaller pieces is now sawing. An older and more primitive style of faceting machine called a jamb peg machine used wooden dop sticks of precise length and a "mast" system consisting of a plate with holes placed in it.
By placing the back end of the dop into one of the many holes, the stone could
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph referred to as The Telegraph, is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was founded by Arthur B. Sleigh in 1855 as Daily Telegraph & Courier; the Telegraph is regarded as a national "newspaper of record" and it maintains an international reputation for quality, having been described by the BBC as "one of the world's great titles". The paper's motto, "Was, is, will be", appears in the editorial pages and has featured in every edition of the newspaper since 19 April 1858; the paper had a circulation of 363,183 in December 2018, having declined following industry trends from 1.4 million in 1980. Its sister paper, The Sunday Telegraph, which started in 1961, had a circulation of 281,025 as of December 2018; the Daily Telegraph has the largest circulation for a broadsheet newspaper in the UK and the sixth largest circulation of any UK newspaper as of 2016. The two sister newspapers are run separately, with different editorial staff, but there is cross-usage of stories.
Articles published in either may be published on the Telegraph Media Group's www.telegraph.co.uk website, under the title of The Telegraph. Editorially, the paper is considered conservative; the Telegraph has been the first newspaper to report on a number of notable news scoops, including the 2009 MP expenses scandal, which led to a number of high-profile political resignations and for which it was named 2009 British Newspaper of the Year, its 2016 undercover investigation on the England football manager Sam Allardyce. However, including the paper's former chief political commentator Peter Oborne, accuse it of being unduly influenced by advertisers HSBC; the Daily Telegraph and Courier was founded by Colonel Arthur B. Sleigh in June 1855 to air a personal grievance against the future commander-in-chief of the British Army, Prince George, Duke of Cambridge. Joseph Moses Levy, the owner of The Sunday Times, agreed to print the newspaper, the first edition was published on 29 June 1855; the paper was four pages long.
The first edition stressed the quality and independence of its articles and journalists: We shall be guided by a high tone of independent action. However, the paper was not a success, Sleigh was unable to pay Levy the printing bill. Levy took over the newspaper, his aim being to produce a cheaper newspaper than his main competitors in London, the Daily News and The Morning Post, to expand the size of the overall market. Levy appointed his son, Edward Levy-Lawson, Lord Burnham, Thornton Leigh Hunt to edit the newspaper. Lord Burnham relaunched the paper as The Daily Telegraph, with the slogan "the largest and cheapest newspaper in the world". Hunt laid out the newspaper's principles in a memorandum sent to Levy: "We should report all striking events in science, so told that the intelligent public can understand what has happened and can see its bearing on our daily life and our future; the same principle should apply to all other events—to fashion, to new inventions, to new methods of conducting business".
In 1876, Jules Verne published his novel Michael Strogoff, whose plot takes place during a fictional uprising and war in Siberia. Verne included among the book's characters a war correspondent of The Daily Telegraph, named Harry Blount—who is depicted as an exceptionally dedicated and brave journalist, taking great personal risks to follow the ongoing war and bring accurate news of it to The Telegraph's readership, ahead of competing papers. In 1908, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany gave a controversial interview to The Daily Telegraph that damaged Anglo-German relations and added to international tensions in the build-up to World War I. In 1928 the son of Baron Burnham, Harry Lawson Webster Levy-Lawson, 2nd Baron Burnham, sold the paper to William Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose, in partnership with his brother Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsley and Edward Iliffe, 1st Baron Iliffe. In 1937, the newspaper absorbed The Morning Post, which traditionally espoused a conservative position and sold predominantly amongst the retired officer class.
William Ewart Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose, bought The Morning Post with the intention of publishing it alongside The Daily Telegraph, but poor sales of the former led him to merge the two. For some years the paper was retitled The Daily Telegraph and Morning Post before it reverted to just The Daily Telegraph. In the late 1930s Victor Gordon Lennox, The Telegraph's diplomatic editor, published an anti-appeasement private newspaper The Whitehall Letter that received much of its information from leaks from Sir Robert Vansittart, the Permanent Under-Secretary of the Foreign Office, Rex Leeper, the Foreign Office's Press Secretary; as a result, Gordon Lennox was monitored by MI5. In 1939, The Telegraph published Clare Hollingworth's scoop. In November 1940, with Fleet Street subjected to daily bombing raids by the Luftwaffe, The Telegraph started printing in Manchester at Kemsley House, run by Camrose's brother Kemsley. Manchester quite printed the entire run of The Telegraph when its Fleet Street offices were under threat.
The name Kemsley House was changed to Thomson House in 1959. In 1986 printing of Northern editions of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph moved to Trafford Park and in 2008 to Newsprinters at Knowsley, Liverpool. During the Second World War, The Daily Telegraph covertly helped in the recruitment of code-breakers for Bletchley Park; the ability to solve The Telegraph's crossword in under 12 minutes was considered to be a recruitment test. The newspaper was asked to organise a crossword competition, after wh
Hyderabad
Hyderabad is the capital of the Indian state of Telangana and de jure capital of Andhra Pradesh. Occupying 650 square kilometres along the banks of the Musi River, Hyderabad City has a population of about 6.9 million and about 9.7 million in Hyderabad Metropolitan Region, making it the fourth most populous city and sixth most populous urban agglomeration in India. At an average altitude of 542 metres, much of Hyderabad is situated on hilly terrain around artificial lakes, including Hussain Sagar—predating the city's founding—north of the city centre. Established in 1591 by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, Hyderabad remained under the rule of the Qutb Shahi dynasty for nearly a century before the Mughals captured the region. In 1724, Mughal viceroy Asif Jah I declared his sovereignty and created his own dynasty, known as the Nizams of Hyderabad; the Nizam's dominions became a princely state during the British Raj, remained so for 150 years, with the city serving as its capital. The city continued as the capital of Hyderabad State after it was brought into the Indian Union in 1948, became the capital of Andhra Pradesh after the States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
Since 1956, Rashtrapati Nilayam in the city has been the winter office of the President of India. In 2014, the newly formed state of Telangana split from Andhra Pradesh and the city became the joint capital of the two states, a transitional arrangement scheduled to end by 2025. Relics of Qutb Shahi and Nizam rule remain visible. Golconda fort is another major landmark; the influence of Mughlai culture is evident in the region's distinctive cuisine, which includes Hyderabadi biryani and Hyderabadi haleem. The Qutb Shahis and Nizams established Hyderabad as a cultural hub, attracting men of letters from different parts of the world. Hyderabad emerged as the foremost centre of culture in India with the decline of the Mughal Empire in the mid-19th century, with artists migrating to the city from the rest of the Indian subcontinent; the Telugu film industry based in the city is the country's second-largest producer of motion pictures. Hyderabad was known as a pearl and diamond trading centre, it continues to be known as the "City of Pearls".
Many of the city's traditional bazaars remain open, including Laad Bazaar, Begum Bazaar and Sultan Bazaar. Industrialisation throughout the 20th century attracted major Indian research and financial institutions, including Defence Research and Development Organization, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, the National Geophysical Research Institute and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology. Special economic zones dedicated to information technology have encouraged companies from India and around the world to set up operations in Hyderabad; the emergence of pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries in the 1990s led to the area's naming as India's "Genome Valley". With an output of US$74 billion, Hyderabad is the fifth-largest contributor to India's overall gross domestic product. According to John Everett-Heath, the author of Oxford Concise Dictionary of World Place Names, Hyderabad means "Haydar's city" or "lion city", from haydar and ābād, was named to honour the Caliph Ali Ibn Abi Talib, known as Haydar because of his lion-like valour in battles.
Andrew Petersen, a scholar of Islamic architecture, says the city was called Baghnagar. One popular theory suggests that the founder of the city, Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah of the Golconda Sultanate, named it after Bhagmati, a local nautch girl with whom he had fallen in love, she adopted the title Hyder Mahal. The city was named as Hyderabad in her honour. According to German traveller Heinrich von Poser, whose travelogue of the Deccan was translated by Gita Dharampal-Frick of Heidelberg University, there were two names for the city: "On 3 December 1622, we reached the city of Bagneger or Hederabat, the seat of the king Sultan Mehemet Culi Cuttub Shah and the capital of the kingdom". French traveller Jean de Thévenot visited the Deccan region in 1666–1667 refers to the city in his book Travels in India as "Bagnagar and Aiderabad". Archaeologists excavating near the city have unearthed Iron Age sites that may date from 500 BCE; the region comprising modern Hyderabad and its surroundings was known as Golkonda, was ruled by the Chalukya dynasty from 624 CE to 1075 CE.
Following the dissolution of the Chalukya empire into four parts in the 11th century, Golkonda came under the control of the Kakatiya dynasty from 1158, whose seat of power was at Warangal, 148 km northeast of modern Hyderabad. The Kakatiya dynasty was reduced to a vassal of the Khalji dynasty in 1310 after its defeat by Sultan Alauddin Khalji of the Delhi Sultanate; this lasted until 1321, when the Kakatiya dynasty was annexed by Malik Kafur, Allaudin Khalji's general. During this period, Alauddin Khalji took the Koh-i-Noor diamond, said to have been mined from the Kollur Mines of Golkonda, to Delhi. Muhammad bin Tughluq succeeded to the Delhi sultanate in 1325, bringing Warangal under the rule of the Tughlaq dynasty until 1347 when Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah, a governor under bin Tughluq, rebelled against Delhi and established the Bahmani Sultanate in the Deccan Plateau, with Gulbarga, 200 km west of Hyderabad, as its capital; the Hyderabad area was under the control of the Musunuri Nayaks at this time, however, were forced to cede it to the Bahmani Sultanate in 1364.
The Bahmani kings ruled the region until 1518 and were the first independent Muslim rulers of the Deccan. Sultan Quli, a governor of Golkonda, revolted against the Bah
Chowmahalla Palace
Chowmahalla Palace or Chowmahallatuu, is a palace of the Nizams of Hyderabad state. It was the seat of the Asaf Jahi dynasty and was the official residence of the Nizams of Hyderabad while they ruled their state; the palace was built by Nizam Salabat Jung. The palace remains the property of heir of the Nizams. Other members of the Hyderabadi Nizam family have wed here; the place is named chowmahalla. The word char, its variation chau, means four and the word mahal means palace in Urdu and Hindi, it is more derived from Farsi words, as it was the official language of the Hyderabad State at the time. All ceremonial functions including the accession of the Nizams and receptions for the Governor-General were held at this palace; the palace is located in the old city in Hyderabad near the Charminar. The UNESCO Asia Pacific Merit award for cultural heritage conservation was presented to Chowmahalla Palace on 15 March 2010. UNESCO representative Takahiko Makino formally handed over the plaque and certificate to Princess Esra, former wife and GPA holder of Prince Mukarram Jah Bahadur.
While Salabat Jung initiated its construction in 1750, it was completed by the period of Afzal ad-Dawlah, Asaf Jah V between 1857 and 1869. The palace is unique for its elegance. Construction of the palace began in the late 18th century and over the decades a synthesis of many architectural styles and influences emerged; the palace consists of two courtyards as well as the grand Khilwat and gardens. The palace covered 45 acres, but only 12 acres remain today; the palace was restored between 2010 under the patronage of Princess Esra. This is the oldest part of the palace, has four palaces Afzal Mahal, Mahtab Mahal, Tahniyat Mahal and Aftab Mahal, it was built in the neo-classical style. This part has Bara Imam, a long corridor of rooms on the east side facing the central fountain and pool that once housed the administrative wing and Shishe-Alat, meaning mirror image, it has Mughal domes and arches and many Persian elements like the ornate stucco work that adorn the Khilwat Mubarak. These were characteristic of buildings built in Hyderabad at the time.
Opposite the Bara Imam is a building, its shishe or mirror image. The rooms were once used as guest rooms for officials accompanying visiting dignitaries; this is heart of Chowmahalla Palace. It is held in high esteem by the people of Hyderabad; the grand pillared Durbar Hall has a pure marble platform on which the Takht-e-Nishan or the royal seat was laid. Here the Nizams held other religious and symbolic ceremonies; the 19 spectacular Chandeliers of Belgian crystal reinstalled to recreate the lost splendor of this regal hall. The clock above the main gate to Chowmahalla Palace is affectionately called Khilwat Clock, it has been ticking away for around 251 years. An expert family of clock repairers winds the mechanical clock every week; this building housed a rare collection of priceless books. The Nizam met important officials and dignitaries here. Today it is a venue for temporary exhibitions from the treasures of the Chowmahalla Palace Collection of the bygone era; the Sixth Nizam - Mir Mahbub Ali Khan is believed to have lived here and the building was named after his mother Roshan Begum.
The present Nizam and his family decided to restore the Chowmahalla Palace and open it to the public in January 2005. It took over 5 years to restore the palaces of the first courtyard to its former glory; the palace has a collection of vintage cars like the Rolls Royce, which were used by the Nizam Kings. Nizam of Hyderabad Purani Haveli Falaknuma Palace King Kothi Chiran Palace Jewels of the Nizams Jacob Diamond Basheer Bagh Palace Official website The lost world: article by William Dalrymple about the last Nizam of Hyderabad and the restoration of Chowmahalla Palace Travel guide issued by Authority: The Administrator, H. E. H The Nizam's Private Estate
Hyderabad State
Hyderabad State known as Hyderabad Deccan, was an Indian princely state located in the south-central region of India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into Telangana state, Hyderabad-Karnataka region of Karnataka and Marathwada region of Maharashtra; the state was ruled from 1724 to 1857 by the Nizam, a viceroy of the Great Mogul in the Deccan. Hyderabad became the first princely state to come under British paramountcy signing a subsidiary alliance agreement. Under the leadership of Asaf Jah V it changed its traditional heraldic flag; the dynasty declared itself an independent monarchy during the final years of the British Raj. After the Partition of India, Hyderabad signed a standstill agreement with the new dominion of India, continuing all previous arrangements except for the stationing of Indian troops in the state. Hyderabad's location in the middle of the Indian union, as well as its diverse cultural heritage, was a driving force behind India's invasion and annexation of the state in 1948.
Subsequently, Mir Osman Ali Khan, the 7th Nizam, signed an instrument of accession. Hyderabad State was founded by Mir Qamar-ud-din Khan, the governor of Deccan under the Mughals from 1713 to 1721. In 1724, he resumed rule under the title of Asaf Jah, his other title, Nizam ul-Mulk, became the title of his position "Nizam of Hyderabad". By the end of his rule, the Nizam had become independent from the Mughals, had founded the Asaf Jahi dynasty. Following the decline of the Mughal power, the region of Deccan saw the rise of Maratha Empire; the Nizam himself saw many invasions by the Marathas in the 1720s, which resulted in the Nizam paying a regular tax to the Marathas. The major battles fought between the Marathas and the Nizam include Palkhed and Kharda. Following the conquest of Deccan by Bajirao I and the imposition of chauth by him, Nizam remained a tributary of the Marathas for all intent and purposes. From 1778, a British resident and soldiers were installed in his dominions. In 1795, the Nizam lost some of his own territories to the Marathas.
The territorial gains of the Nizam from Mysore as an ally of the British were ceded to the British to meet the cost of maintaining the British soldiers. Hyderabad was a 212,000 km2 region in the Deccan, ruled by the head of the Asaf Jahi dynasty, who had the title of Nizam and on whom was bestowed the style of "His Exalted Highness" by the British; the last Nizam, Osman Ali Khan, was one of the world's richest men in the 1930s. In 1798, Nizam ʿĀlī Khan was forced to enter into an agreement that put Hyderabad under British protection, he was the first Indian prince to sign such an agreement. The Crown retained the right to intervene in case of misrule. Hyderabad under Asaf Jah II was a British ally in the second and third Maratha Wars, Anglo-Mysore wars, would remain loyal to the British during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, his son, Asaf Jah III Mir Akbar Ali Khan ruled from 1768 to 1829. During his rule, a British cantonment was built in Hyderabad and the area was named in his honor, Secunderabad.
The British Residency at Koti was built during his reign by the British Resident James Achilles Kirkpatrick. Sikander Jah was succeeded by Asaf Jah IV, who ruled from 1829 to 1857, was succeeded by his son Asaf Jah V. Asaf Jah V's reign from 1857 to 1869 was marked by reforms by his Prime Minister Salar Jung I. Before this time, there was no regular or systematic form of administration, the duties were in the hand of the Diwan, corruption was thus widespread. In 1867, the State was divided into five divisions and seventeen districts, subedars were appointed for the five Divisions and talukdars and tehsildars for the districts; the judicial, public works, educational and police departments were re-organised. In 1868, sadr-i-mahams were appointed for the Judicial, Revenue and Miscellaneous Departments. Asaf Jah VI Mir Mahbub Ali Khan became the Nizam at the age of three years, his regents were Salar Jung I and Shams-ul-Umra III. He assumed full rule at the age of 17, ruled until his death in 1911.
The Nizam's Guaranteed State Railway was established during his reign to connect Hyderabad State to the rest of British India. It was headquartered at Secunderabad Railway Station; the railway marked the beginning of industry in Hyderabad, factories were built in Hyderabad city. During his rule, the Great Musi Flood of 1908 struck the city of Hyderabad, which killed an estimated 50,000 people; the Nizam opened all his palaces for public asylum. He abolished Sati where women used to jump into their husband's burning pyre, by issuing a royal Firman; the last Nizam of Hyderabad Mir Osman Ali Khan ruled the state from 1911 until 1948. He was given the title "Faithful Ally of the British Empire". Hyderabad was considered peaceful, during this time; the Nizam's rule saw growth of culturally. The Osmania University and several schools and colleges were founded throughout the state. Many writers, poets and other eminent people migrated from all parts of India to Hyderabad during the reign of Asaf Jah VII, his father and predecessor Asaf Jah VI.
The Nizam established Hyderabad State Bank. Hyderabad was the only state in British India which had the Hyderabadi rupee; the Begumpet Airp
Koh-i-Noor
The Koh-i-Noor spelt Kohinoor and Koh-i-Nur, is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing 105.6 carats, part of the British Crown Jewels. Mined in Golconda, there is no record of its original weight, but the earliest well-attested weight is 186 old carats. Koh-i-Noor is Hindi-Urdu and Persian for "Mountain of Light", it changed hands between various factions in south and west Asia, until being ceded to Queen Victoria after the British conquest of the Punjab in 1849. The stone was of a similar cut to other Mughal era diamonds like Darya-i-Noor which are now in the Iranian Crown Jewels. In 1851, it went on display at the Great Exhibition in London, but the lacklustre cut failed to impress viewers. Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, ordered it to be re-cut as an oval brilliant by Coster Diamonds. By modern standards, the culet is unusually broad, giving the impression of a black hole when the stone is viewed head-on; because its history involves a great deal of fighting between men, the Koh-i-Noor acquired a reputation within the British royal family for bringing bad luck to any man who wears it.
Since arriving in the UK, it has only been worn by female members of the family. Victoria wore the stone in a circlet. After she died in 1901, it was set in the Crown of Queen Alexandra, wife of Edward VII, it was transferred to the Crown of Queen Mary in 1911, to the crown of Queen Elizabeth in 1937 for her coronation as Queen consort. Today, the diamond is on public display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London, where it is seen by millions of visitors each year; the governments of India and Pakistan have both claimed ownership of the Koh-i-Noor and demanded its return since the two countries gained independence from the UK in 1947. The British government insists the gem was obtained under the terms of the Last Treaty of Lahore and has rejected the claims; the diamond is believed to have come from Kollur Mine, a series of 4-metre deep gravel-clay pits on the banks of Krishna River in the Golconda, India. It is impossible to know when or where it was found, many unverifiable theories exist as to its original owner.
Babur, the Turco-Mongol founder of the Mughal Empire, wrote about a "famous" diamond that weighed just over 187 old carats – the size of the 186-carat Koh-i-Noor. Some historians think. According to his diary, it was acquired by Alauddin Khalji, second ruler of the Khalji dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, when he invaded the kingdoms of southern India at the beginning of the 14th century and was in the possession of Kakatiya dynasty, it passed to succeeding dynasties of the Sultanate, Babur received the diamond in 1526 as a tribute for his conquest of Delhi and Agra at the Battle of Panipat. Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal emperor, had the stone placed into his ornate Peacock Throne. In 1658, his son and successor, confined the ailing emperor to Agra Fort. While in the possession of Aurangzeb, it was cut by Hortenso Borgia, a Venetian lapidary, reducing the weight of the large stone to 186 carats. For this carelessness, Borgia was fined 10,000 rupees. According to recent research, the story of Borgia cutting the diamond is not correct, most mixed up with the Orlov, part of Catherine the Great's imperial Russian sceptre in the Kremlin.
Following the 1739 invasion of Delhi by Nader Shah, the Afsharid Shah of Persia, the treasury of the Mughal Empire was looted by his army in an organised and thorough acquisition of the Mughal nobility's wealth. Along with millions of rupees and an assortment of historic jewels, the Shah carried away the Koh-i-Noor, he exclaimed Koh-i-Noor!, Persian for "Mountain of Light", when he obtained the famous stone. One of his consorts said, "If a strong man were to throw four stones – one north, one south, one east, one west, a fifth stone up into the air – and if the space between them were to be filled with gold, all would not equal the value of the Koh-i-Noor". After Nader Shah was killed and his empire collapsed in 1747, the Koh-i-Noor fell to his grandson, who in 1751 gave it to Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the Afghan Empire, in return for his support. One of Ahmed's descendants, Shuja Shah Durrani, wore a bracelet containing the Koh-i-Noor on the occasion of Mountstuart Elphinstone's visit to Peshawar in 1808.
A year Shujah formed an alliance with the United Kingdom to help defend against a possible invasion of Afghanistan by Russia. He was overthrown, but fled with the diamond to Lahore, where Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh Empire, in return for his hospitality, insisted upon the gem being given to him, he took possession of it in 1813, its new owner, Ranjit Singh, willed the diamond to the East India Company-administered Hindu Jagannath Temple in Puri, in modern-day Odisha, India. However, after his death in 1839, his will was not executed. On 29 March 1849, following the conclusion of the Second Anglo-Sikh War, the Kingdom of Punjab was formally annexed to Company rule, the Last Treaty of Lahore was signed ceding the Koh-i-Noor to Queen Victoria and the Maharaja's other assets to the company. Article III of the treaty read: "The gem called the Koh-i-Noor, taken from Shah Sooja-ool-moolk by Maharajah Ranjeet Singh, shall be surrendered by the Maharajah of Lahore to the Queen of England"; the Governor-General in charge of the ratification of this treaty was the Marquess of Dalhousie.
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