Medieval period.

Medieval history in the Deccan centres around the struggle for supremacy between the Bahmani and Vijayanagar kingdoms. The whole of Andhradesa, except the Telangana region, formed part of the territory of Vijayanagar. Vijayanagar - the City of Victory - was the capital of this great military empire.

One of its most successful rulers, Krishna Deva Raya, was responsible for a period of territorial expansion and economic prosperity. He was renowned as a great warrior, statesman, scholar, builder, and patron of the arts. His kingdom did not survive for long after his death in 1529.

Political and territorial realignment in the Deccan followed the Battle of Talikota in 1565 (in which the army of Vijayanagar was routed) and the earlier disintegration of the Bahmani kingdom in 1538. The Bahmani kingdom split into five independent principalities.
One, Golconda, under Quli Qutb Shah ruled the Telangana region. On the decline of Vijayanagar power, the ruler of Golconda extended his territory to the whole of Andhra, bringing the area under one political authority at last.

Golconda emerged as an independent kingdom when the Mughal Empire was at its greatest. Inevitably, the Mughals advanced south, intending to extend their territory into the Deccan. Although the rulers of the Deccan resisted, they were powerless against the Mughals. Golconda was annexed in 1687 and Andhra became a province of the Mughal Empire.

In 1724, Nizam-ul-mulk Asaf Jah, the Mughal viceroy of Deccan, carved out an independent kingdom, Hyderabad. Hyderabad, comprising almost the whole of present-day Andhra Pradesh, was the most important centre of Muslim culture in central and south India during the 1700's and 1800's. A succession of nizams ruled it from 1724 to 1947. Their court culture was Islamic, but Hindu culture also flourished in the state.