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Andhra
Pradesh is one of the state of the country, which takes
pride in its rich historical and cultural heritage. A peek
into the History of Andhra Pradesh can give an idea of the
glorious past the state has witnessed. The brief history of
Andhra Pradesh can be classified into four prime periods.
The origin
Historians believe that the original people of Andhra
Pradesh were Aryans. They migrated to the south of Vindhyas
and there they mixed up with other races. A major part of
Emperor Ashoka's kingdom, Andhra Pradesh was an important
Buddhist center of that time. Several places in the state
still bears the traces of the Buddhist culture and
influence. |
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The earlier period
The Satavahana dynasty is perhaps the earliest dynasty that
ruled in Andhra Pradesh. This was during the second century
B.C and they were also known as the Andhras. Amravati, on
the banks of river Krishna was their capital. They promoted
national and international trade and were great followers of
Buddhism. After the end of the Satavahana reign, the state
was ruled by the Pallavas, the Chalukyas, the Cholas and the
Kakaityas respectively.
The period of Muslim expansion
The Kakatiya dynasty was uprooted in 1323, following the
capture of their ruler by Tughlak Sultan of Delhi. After the
end of the Kakatiya dynasty, few local kingdoms rose to
power in different parts of the kingdom. Among these, the
Vijaynagar kingdom was the most powerful one. The great king
Krishnadeva Raya belonged to that kingdom. After failing
time and again against the Vijayanagar empire, the kingdom
was finally captured by the Muslim invaders. In the middle
of the 16th century, the state saw the emergence of the Qutb
Shahi dynaty. They were defeated by the Mughals, to be
precise by Aurangazeb's son. In 1707, Hyderabad was declared
independent and went under the rule of the Nizams. The
Nizams were great allies of the British and they helped the
Europeans to defeat Tipu Sultan of Mysore.
The post independence period
After the Indian independence, Andhra Pradesh became the
first state to be formed on the basis of language. The
Telegu speaking people were given twenty one districts, out
of which nine were in the Nizam's Dominions and the rest in
the Madras Presidency. However following an agitation in
1953, eleven districts of the Madras state were taken to
form a new Andhra state with Kurnool as its capital. Nine
districts under the Nizam were later added to form the
enlarged state of Andhra Pradesh in 1956. Hyderabad became
the capital of the state, which is one of the most
technologically advanced cities of the modern India.
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