Hyderabad (pronounced HIGH-deh-rah-bahd or HIGH-drah-bahd), the capital city of Andhra Pradesh, is a city of more than 3.1 million people (1991), the fifth-largest in India. It is located on the Musi River near the center of the Deccan Plateau that occupies most of central India. Secunderabad, a former British military base which is now the financial district, is officially a separate city; the two are often described as twin cities. Click here to see a map of Hyderabad. There are 6 languages widely spoken in Hyderabad: Telugu, Urdu, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil and English. While the majority of the population is Hindu, about a third are Muslim.
For an Indian city, Hyderabad is relatively young. Golconda fort was begun in the 16th century(?) by the Telugu-speaking Katakiya dynasty. The town of Bhatnagar was established on the Musi aound the same time. Hyderabad (named after the founder's wife; ábád is Arabic for city) was established in 1591 by Mohammed Quli Qutb Shahi, the first of the Muslim, Urdu-speaking Qutb Shahi kings, after conquering the area.
Here are some web pages about Hyderabad:
Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh tourism)
Hyderabad (The Deccan Page at AOL)
Other attractions in Hyderabad (The Deccan Page)
Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (A.P. website)
Hyderabad India Online Service: A map of India is available at this site. (If you go to the map through the website, it has a zoom-in feature, but it doesn't work very well.)
Sources:
http://members.iglou.com/frazar/India/Hyderabad.html, 12 Dec 1998
