'Administrator of the Realm'), and was the title bestowed upon Asaf Jah I when he was appointed Viceroy of the Deccan by the Mughal Emperor Farrukhsiyar.

When the English East India Company achieved paramountcy over the Indian subcontinent, they allowed the Nizams to continue to rule their princely states as client kings.

The seventh and last Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, fell from power when India annexed Hyderabad State in 1948 in Operation Polo.

[6] The title Nizam comes from the Persian نظام /nɪˈzɑːm/, which itself is derived from Arabic niẓām which means "order" or "arrangement", and was typically given to high ranking state officials.

[7] According to Sir Roper Lethbridge in The Golden Book of India (1893), the Nizams are lineally descended from the First Caliph Abu Bakr, the successor of the Islamic prophet Muhammed.

[8] The family of Nizams in India is descended from Abid Khan, a Persian from Samarkand, whose lineage is traced to Sufi Shihab-ud-Din Suhrawardi (1154–91) of Suhraward in Iran.

Mir Qamaruddin Khan, the founder of the line of Nizams, was born of the couple, thus descending from two prominent families of the Mughal court.

Ghazi Uddin Khan rose to become a General of the Emperor Aurangzeb and played a vital role in conquering Bijapur and Golconda Sultanates of Southern India in 1686.

The next year, following the death of his uncle Muhammad Amin Khan, a power-broker in the Mughal Court, Qamaruddin returned to Delhi and was made the wazir (prime minister).

In Friday prayers, the sermon would be conducted in the name of Aurangzeb, and this tradition continued until the end of Hyderabad State in 1948.

The death of Asaf Jah I in 1748 resulted in a period of political unrest as his sons, backed by opportunistic neighbouring states and colonial foreign forces, contended for the throne.

In 1768, he signed the treaty of Machilipatnam, surrendering the coastal region to the East India Company in return for a fixed annual rent.

During the Second World War, 80,000 men who were raised by the Nizam to form a personal army under the Indian State Forces, known as the 19th Hyderabad Regiment served in Malaya, North Africa, Persia, Singapore and Burma The last Nizam of Hyderabad state, Mir Osman Ali Khan crowned in 1911, had been the richest man in the world in his time.

After attempts by India to persuade the Nizam to accede to India failed, and due to large-scale atrocities committed by Razakars (who wanted the Nizam to accede Hyderabad to Pakistan) on the Hindu populace,[20] the Indian government finally launched a military operation named Operation Polo.

[28] The pace at which the last Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan amassed wealth made him one of the world's richest men in 1937, also known for his miserliness.

[29] According to the Forbes All-Time Wealthiest List of 2008, Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan is the fifth richest man in recorded history per the figures, with an estimated worth of US$210.8 billion adjusted by Forbes as per the growth of the US GDP since that period and the present exchange rate of the US dollar against the Indian rupee.

[28] The Nizams set up numerous institutions in the name of the dynasty including hospitals, schools, colleges, and universities that imparted education in Urdu.

[39] He also donated 1,525 acres of Land to "Sita Rama Swami Temple" located in Devaryamjal[40] The Asaf Jahis were prolific builders.

Their palaces are listed below: The last Nizam had 34 children, including 16 sons and 18 daughters[41][42][43][44][45][46] The Asaf Jahi dynasty followed the order of precedence of male primogeniture regardless of the mother's marital status or rank.