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Golkonda: Home of Diamonds
According to some historians, the Kakatiya kings, part of whose territory Golkonda was, built the nucleus of the complex. It was handed over to Muhammad Shah Bahmani of Gulbarga in 1363 by one of the Kakatiya kings. Some maintain that the  fort is 2000 years old and that it is older than the fort at Warangal.
After the death of Muhammad Shah Bahmani, Sultan Quli, who was the subedar of Golkonda under him, declared himself independent, thus founding the Qutub Shahi dynasty in 1518. The Qutub Shahis who ruled Golkonda for 170 years from 1518 to 1687 added to the earlier structures of the Kakatiyas and Bahmanis. Muhammad Quli Qutub Shah found water scarcity in Golkonda an intractable problem and founded a new capital on the banks of the Musi, which is now the old city of Hyderabad. Ibrahim Quli Qutub Shah, who preceded Muhammed, repaired and renovated the fort and built a small mosque midway on the steps leading to Bala Hisar.
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