Located about 20 kilometres northwest from Kolhapur city, in Panhala, the Panhalgad Fort was built between 1178 and 1209 AD by the ruler Bhoja II of Shilahara. Later the fort came under the rule of the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur in 1489, which was further captured by Shivaji in 1659 by defeating Bijapur general Afzal Khan.