In the initial days of his reign, the control of the kingdom was in the hands of Mukammal Khan, an Ahmadnagar official and his son.

[19] Beginning in the 1560s, the de facto ruler of nearby Vijayanagara Empire, Rama Raya, made a series of aggressive efforts to maintain hold over Kalyan[20][a] and conducted diplomatic dealings with the Sultanates laden with insulting gestures.

[15] Murtaza launched an unsuccessful campaign into Bijapur in 1580, following the death of sultan Ali Adil Shah I earlier that year.

[23] Amid falling stability in the Sultanate as a result of mismanaged factional relations, Murtaza was murdered by his son Miran Hussain in 1588, who succeeded him and ascended the throne.

Ismail, a cousin of Miran Hussain was raised to the throne, but actual power was in the hands of Jamal Khan, the leader of the Habshi group in the court.

[15][26] Despite Ahmadnagar city being incorporated into the Mughal Empire, much of the former kingdom still remained in the possession of influential officials of the Nizam Shahi dynasty.

Malik Ambar and other Ahmadnagar officials defied the Mughals and declared Murtaza Nizam Shah II as sultan in 1600 at a new capital in Paranda.

[28] After the death of Malik Ambar in May 1626, his son Fath Khan surrendered to the Mughals in the siege of Daulatabad in 1633 and handed over the young Nizam Shahi ruler Hussain Shah, who was sent as a prisoner to the fort of Gwalior.

At first, revenue was fixed as two-fifths of the actual produce in kind, but later the cultivators were allowed to pay in cash equivalent to approximately one-third of the yield.

[35] Literature was heavily patronised in the kingdom, as seen through manuscripts such as the Tarif-i Husain Shah Badshah-i Dakan.

[38] The city of Ahmadnagar, founded by the Nizam Shahs, was described as being comparable to Cairo and Baghdad, within a few years of its construction.

[41][page needed] Malik Ambar is credited with the construction of the Janjira Fort in the Murud Area of present-day Maharashtra India.

[42] After its construction in 1567 AD, the fort was key to the Sidis withstanding various invasion attempts by the Marathas, Mughals, and Portuguese to capture Janjira.