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 HYDERABAD HYDER ALI 105 mines, from which the treasury of Golconda was formerly supplied. The soil of the coun- try is fertile, hut not well cultivated. There is a considerable area of waste and forest lands. Wheat and cotton are the principal agricultu- ral products ; other productions are barley, rice, oil plants, cucumbers, gourds, hemp, su- gar cane, tobacco, sweet potatoes, aromatic seeds, jowary (Indian millet), and bajree, a spe- cies of grain which forms the chief sustenance of the laboring classes. The principal manu- factures are silks, brocades, and carpets, and in the southeast calico printing by means of wooden blocks is carried on to some extent. The chief exports are steel, cotton, and teak. The climate, owing to the elevated position of the country, is colder than is usual in this lati- tude. The territory is crossed by several good military roads, and the Great Indian Peninsula railway traverses the eastern and southern parts of the country. Branch lines are pro- jected from this main line to the city of Hy- derabad, and from Hy- derabad to Masulipatam on the Madras coast. The government is Mo- hammedan, but nearly nine tenths of the peo- ple are Hindoos. Hy- derabad was anciently subject to the rajahs of Telingana and Bijana- gnr. It was erected into a separate kingdom in 1512 by a Turkish adventurer, and in 1687 became a province of the Mogul empire. Azof Jah, an officer of the court of Delhi, who in 1719 governed this and the five other provin- ces of the Deccan with the title of Nizam ul- Mulk(" regulator of the state "), made himself independent. On his death in 1748 the suc- cession was disputed by his son Nazir Jung, whose cause was espoused by the English, and his grandson Mirzapha Jung, who was favored by the French. The latter finally triumphed, and governed under the direction of the French commander Dupleix until he was put to death by some Patan chiefs. During a period of anarchy which followed, the French and Eng- lish supported rival claimants for the sover- eignty. Nizam Ali, who came to the throne in 1761, ravaged the Oarnatic, but was over- powered by a British force, and induced to sign a treaty in 1766 which gave to the East India company the Northern Circars. The English bound themselves to maintain a mili- tary force for the nizam's protection. In the war between the British and Hyder Ali, how- ever, the nizam sided with the sultan of My- sore, but in that with Tippoo Saib he formed an alliance with the company and thopeishwa, and received a share of the spoils of victory. The accession of territory which he then ob- tained he subsequently ceded to the British in lieu of payment for the support of the British contingent. On the conclusion of the first Mahratta war in 1804 his dominions were again enlarged. The misgovernment of the country under the successors of Nizam AH plunged Hyderabad deeply in debt. The East India company was at one time creditor to the amount of 500,000 or 600,000, and in liqui- dation they accepted a cession of the province of Berar, part of the revenues of which were to be devoted to the support of the subsidiary na- tive force known as the nizam's contingent. The nizam remained true to the British du- ring the mutiny of 1857-'8, and his dominions were little disturbed except by marauders. II. A town, capital of the Nizam's Dominions, situated on the river Mussi, about 300 m. N. N. W. of Madras ; pop. variously estimated at British residency In Hyderabad. 80,000, 120,000, and 200,000, a large majority of whom are Mohammedans. It is a weakly fortified town, crowded with buildings, some of which are large and imposing, having nu- merous mosques, and surrounded by gardens of remarkable beauty. The British residency is a magnificent edifice on the opposite side of the river, connected with the town by a stone bridge. In the neighborhood there are large water tanks, one of which is 20 m. in circuit. A large British garrison is maintained at Hyderabad, and there is an extensive mili- tary cantonment at Secunderabad, a few miles N. E. of the town. The celebrated city of Golconda is 7 m. distant to the northwest. HYDER AH, sultan of Mysore, born in Dina- velli, Mysore, about 1718, died Dec. 7, 1782. Ho was of Arabian descent, and son of a petty chief. Entering the service of the rajah of Mysore in 1749, he rose in the course of ten years to bo