Sultan Quli Qutb-ul-Mulk, more often though less correctly referred to in English as Quli Qutb Shah (1485–1543), was the founder of the Qutb Shahi dynasty, which ruled the Sultanate of Golconda in southern India from 1518 to 1687. Of Turkmen origin and born in Persia, he originally served the Bahmani sultan, and was awarded the title Qutb-ul-Mulk (Pillar of the Realm) as military chief; he eventually took control of Golconda.