1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Nizam

NIZAM, the hereditary title of the reigning prince of Hyderabad (q.v.) in India, derived from an Arabic word meaning order, or administration. The same word is found in Nazim, applied to the Nawab of Bengal, and in Nizamat, the old term for criminal jurisdiction. Nizam-ul-Mulk (＝“administrator of the kingdom”) was the title of Asaf Jah, the founder of the dynasty, a very able soldier and minister of the court of Aurangzeb, who was appointed governor of the Deccan in 1713, and established his independence before his death in 1748.