The region of modern day Bangalore was part of several successive South Indian kingdoms. After centuries of the rule of the Western Gangas, the region was captured by the Cholas in 1024. In 1116 the Hoysala Empire overthrew the Cholas and extended its rule over the region. Modern Bangalore had its beginning in 1537 by a vassal of the Vijayanagara Empire, Kempé Gowda I, who built a mud-brick fort at the site that would become the central part of modern Bangalore. Kempé Gowda referred to the new town as his "gandubhūmi" or "Land of Heroes".
Within the fort, the town was divided into smaller divisions—each called a "pete" The town had two main streets—Chikkapeté Street, which ran east-west, and Doddapeté Street, which ran north-south. Their intersection formed the Doddapeté Square—the heart of Bangalore. Kempé Gowda's successor, Kempé Gowda II, built four towers that marked Bangalore's boundary. During the Vijayanagara rule, many Saints and Poets referred to Bangalore as "Devarāyanagara" and "Kalyānapura" or "Kalyānapuri" ("Auspicious City").
After the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire, Bangalore's rule changed hands several times. Kempé Gowda declared independence, then in 1638, a large Adil Shahi Bijapur army led by Ranadulla Khan and accompanied by Shāhji Bhōnslé defeated Kempé Gowda III, and Bangalore was given to Shāhji as a jagir (feudal estate). In 1687, the Mughal general Kasim Khan, under orders from Aurangzeb, defeated Ekoji I, son of Shāhji, and leased Bangalore to Chikkadevaraja Wodeyar (1673–1704), the ruler of Mysore kingdom. After the death of Krishnaraja Wodeyar II in 1759, Hyder Ali, Commander-in-Chief of the Mysore Army, proclaimed himself the de facto ruler of Mysore. The kingdom later passed to Hyder Ali's son Tipu Sultan.
Bangalore fort was captured by the British armies under Lord Cornwallis on 21 March 1791 during the Third Anglo-Mysore War and formed a centre for British resistance against Tipu
