The Deccan sultanates is a historiographical term referring to five late medieval to early modern Persianate Muslim kingdoms on the Deccan Plateau between the Krishna River and the Vindhya Range. They emerged after the disintegration of the Bahmani Sultanate and were ruled by various dynasties: Ahmadnagar, Berar, Bidar, Bijapur, and Golconda. Ahmadnagar was the first to declare independence, in 1490; followed by Bijapur and Berar in the same year. Bidar became independent in c. 1492, and Golconda in 1512.

Although the five sultanates were all ruled by Muslims, their founders were of diverse origins: the Nizam Shahi dynasty, the ruling family of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, was founded by Malik Hasan Bahri, a Marathi Muslim of Brahmin origin; the Berar Sultanate by a Kannadiga Muslim of Brahmin origin; the Bidar Sultanate by a Georgian slave; the Bijapur Sultanate by a foreigner who may have been a Georgian slave purchased by Mahmud Gawan; and the Golconda Sultanate by a slave of Iranian Turkmen origin.

All the Deccan sultanates based their legitimacy on being the successor states of the Bahmani Sultanate, and continued to use Bahmanid coins instead of issuing their own coins. Although generally rivals, the sultanates did ally with each other against the Vijayanagara Empire in 1565, permanently weakening Vijayanagara in the Battle of Talikota. Notably, the alliance destroyed the entire city of Vijayanagara, with important temples being razed to the ground.

In 1574, after a coup in Berar, Ahmadnagar invaded and conquered it. In 1619, Bidar was annexed by Bijapur. The sultanates were later conquered by the Mughal Empire: Berar was stripped from Ahmadnagar in 1596; Ahmadnagar was completely taken between 1616 and 1636; and Golconda and Bijapur were conquered by Aurangzeb's 1686–87 campaign.

The Ahmadnagar Sultanate was founded by Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah I, who was the son of Nizam ul-Mulk Malik Hasan Bahri, who was prominent in Bahmanid politics as the leader of the Deccani Muslim party at the court. Nizam-ul-Mulk Bahri was a military slave, formerly a Hindu Brahmin from Vijayanagar originally named Timapa who converted to Islam, although the Brahmin lineage might have been a genealogical topos rather than fact, which, along with military training, Persian education and conversion by patronage, was meant to share with the origin of the Bahmanid dynasty. He became the regent of Muhammad Shah Bahmani after the former had devised the execution of Mahmud Gawan. As the head of the Sunni Deccani party, Nizam-ul-Mulk lead the wholesale massacre of the Shia foreigners, especially the Turks and Georgian population in Bidar, by the orders of the Bahmani Sultan. After the politically charged murder of Nizam-ul-Mulk Bahri, and frustrated with the weakened Bahmani Sultan and the factionalised administration at Bidar, the outrated son, Ahmad Nizam Shah, the governor of Junnar, defeated the Bahmani army led by general Jahangir Khan on 28 May 1490, declared independence and established dynastic rule over Ahmadnagar. The territory of the sultanate was located in the northwestern Deccan, between the sultanates of Gujarat and Bijapur. Initially, his capital was in Junnar. In 1494, the foundation was laid for the new capital of Ahmadnagar. Malik Ahmed Shah, after several attempts, secured the fortress of Daulatabad in 1499.

After Malik Ahmed Shah's death in 1510, his son Burhan, a boy of seven, was installed in his place. In 1538, under the influence of Shah Tahir, an Imam, he would establish Nizari Shi'ism as the state religion. Burhan Shah I died in Ahmadnagar in 1553. He left six sons, of whom Hussain succeeded him. After the death of Hussain Shah I in 1565, his son Murtaza (a minor) ascended the throne. While Murtaza was a child, his mother, Khanzada Humayun Sultana, ruled as a regent for several years. Murtaza Shah annexed Berar in 1574. On his death in 1588, his son Miran Hussain ascended the throne; but his reign lasted only a little more than ten months, as he was poisoned. Ismail, a cousin of Miran Hussain was raised to the throne, but the actual power was in the hands of Jamal Khan, the leader of the Deccani group in the court. He led the massacre of foreign nobles at Ahmadnagar, causing all the Persian nobles to flee and take service at Bijapur, including the historian Firishta himself.

"There were massacres (qatl-e 'ām) twice in the city, in the course of which not a single person from abroad was left alive. The killing spree lasted for three days. Good people like learned men and traders, who had assembled here in this period, were all slain, and their houses were destroyed."

Jamal Khan also enforced the Mahdawi religion on the state. He was killed in the battle of Rohankhed in 1591 and soon Ismail Shah was also captured and confined by his father Burhan, who ascended the throne as Burhan Shah II. He reinstated Shia Islam as the state religion. After the death of Burhan Shah, his eldest son Ibrahim ascended the throne. Ibrahim Shah died only after a few months in a battle with the Bijapur Sultanate. Soon, Chand Bibi, the aunt of Ibrahim Shah, proclaimed Bahadur, the infant son of Ibrahim Shah, as the rightful Sultan; and she became regent. In 1596, a Mughal attack led by Murad was repulsed by Chand Bibi.