Hyderabad (Haidarábád), or the NIZAM'S DOMINIONS, a great native or feudatory state of India, occupies the greater part of the Deccan proper or central plateau of southern India, between the provinces of Madras and Bombay. Area, 81,807 sq. m. (excluding the British assigned districts of Berar, q.v.); pop. (1881) 9,845,594; (1891) 11,537,040. About a tenth only are Mohammedans, found mainly in the capital, though the Nizam-and state are Mohammedan. Telugu, Kanarese, and Marathi are the principal languages spoken. Education is making rapid strides; during the three years previous to 1889 the number of schools nearly doubled, and the pupils increased from 11,740 to 27,700. The surface is a slightly-elevated tableland. The principal rivers are the Godavari, with its tributaries the Dndna, Manjira, and Pranlita; and the Kistna (Krishna), with its tributaries the Bhima and Tungabhadra. The soil is in general very fertile, but poorly cultivated; yet, wherever it receives moderate attention, it yields harvests all the year round. The products are rice, wheat, maize, mustard, castor-oil, sugar-cane, cotton, indigo, fruits (including grapes and melons), and all kinds of kitchen vegetables. The pasturages are extensive, and sheep and horned cattle are numerous. The climate is good on the whole.
The mean temperature of the capital, Hyderabad, in January is , and in May . The exports are cotton, oil-seeds, cloth, hides, metal wares, and agricultural produce; salt, grain, timber, European piece-goods, and hardware are imported. The railway from Madras to Bombay intersects the south-west part of the state. The state revenue is about £4,000,000 a year; and there is an army of 13,000 infantry and 1400 cavalry, besides a large force of irregulars (possibly some 48,000 constitute the military force).
In 1687 the territory long known as the Nizam's Dominions became a province of the Mogul empire; but soon after 1713 the governor or viceroy of the Deccan, Asaf Jah, with the title of Nizam-ul-Mulk ('regulator of the state'), made himself independent. After his death, in 1748, two claimants appeared for the throne, his son Nasir Jang, and his grandson Muzaffar Jang. The cause of the former was espoused by the East India Company, and that of the latter by a body of French adventurers under General Duplex. Then followed a period of strife and anarchy. In 1761 Nizam Ali obtained the supreme power, and after some vacillation signed a treaty of alliance with the English in 1766. He aided them in the war with Tippoo, sultan of Mysore, and at the termination of that war, in 1799, a new treaty was formed, by which, in return for certain territorial concessions, the East India Company bound itself to maintain a subsidiary force of 6000 men for the defence of the Nizam's dominions. Another treaty was concluded in 1853. The Nizam, who in point of rank is the first Mohammedan ruler in India, remained faithful to the British during the mutiny of 1857-58 (see JUNG, SIR SALAR). The assigned districts (see BERAR) were in 1861 given in trust to Britain on account of unpaid and increasing debts; the surplus revenue being returned to the Nizam.