The history of the state unfolds its vital links with the past and manifests itself triumphantly in many edifices, monuments and architectural ruins left behind by dynasties as old as 300 B.C. The Mauryas, Satavahanas, Pallavas, Cholas, Chalukyas, and Vijayanagar had a glorious emperorship over the state. The existence of the state is found from the epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana.

The word Andhra means “Leader in Battle”. Sanskrit writings reveal that the people of the state are Aryans. During the Mauryan reign, the state was a political power in the south eastern region. Between 624-1323 AD the state faced a significant change in the social, religious and literacy spheres. During these periods the language Telugu was emerged as a literary medium for the people and Sanskrit was less emphasized. This alteration in the literature was made by the east and west Chalukyas.

During the emperorship of the Mughals the state also built social status and communal relationship with the Muslims. The language Telugu was equally treated with the Deccani Urdu. During colonial era, the state had a great contribution to the Freedom movement. After independence the Telugu speaking portion of the Madras state demanded for a new state and it was fulfilled on 1, November 1956 when Andhra Pradesh acquired the full status of a state of the Indian Union.

The Early Andhra Pradesh

The earliest dynasty that ruled Andhra Pradesh was the Satavahana dynasty (2nd century BC 2nd century A.D), also known as the andhras.They were ruling much of central and southern India at that time. They established their capital at Amravati on the banks of river Krishna. They were very much indulged in international trade with both eastern Asia and Europe.The Satavahana kings were followers of Buddhism and they worked towards the welfare of this religion.

Later, Andhra Pradesh was ruled by the Pallavas from Tamil Nadu, the Chalukyas from Karnataka, and the Cholas. The Kakaityas also ruled this state in 13th century and they established their capital at Warangal. This dynasty had to face several Muslim invasions. Later on, after the demolition of Hampi, the kings of Hindu Vijayanagar kingdom, shifted their base to Chandragiri near Tirupati.

The Muslim Expansion

The Kakatiya dynasty ended in 1323, when the Tughlak Sultan of Delhi captured the Kakatiya ruler. After the death of Kakatiya empire, four local kingdoms arose out of the old Kakatiyan empire. One of these kingdoms was Vijayanagar. This empire was a strong empire which rose against the Muslim expansion for more than 200 years. Vijayanagar kings fought bravely with Muslim sultanates in the north, which was attacked by the invaders time and again. In order to weaken the Vijayanagar empire, many sultans joined one another. Finally a grand alliance of the sultanates of Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, Golconda and Bihar was formed against Vijayanagar. Thus, the Vijayanagar army was defeated on 23rd January, 1565 by the Deccan sultans at the battle of Talikota.

Subsequently, in the mid 16 th century, the Muslim Qutb Shahi dynasty emerged. The foundation of the modern city of Hyderabad was laid by the Qutub Shahis of Golcunda. They were defeated by the son of the Moghal emperor Aurangzeb in 1687, who seized Golconda. He appointed Asaf Jah the governor of Deccan. Later, when the Mughal Empire was decaying under Aurangzeb's successors, the Asaf Jahis were collecting power to become independent rulers under the title of Nizam. Five years after the death of Aurangzeb, in 1707, Hyderabad was declared independent by its Viceroy and thus, established the Asaf Jahi dynasty of Nizams. The Nizams helped the British against Tipu Sultan of Mysore and therefore they were rewarded a certain degree of autonomy even at the timem, when the British dominated all India. The Nizams were also involved in the Anglo-French wars in the Deccan. But, finally they had enter into a subsidiary alliance with the British in 1800.

Post-Independence
Andhra Pradesh is one of the first states in India which was formed only on the linguistic basis. After India's independence, the andhras, that is, the Telugu-speaking people (although Urdu is widely spoken in Hyderabad) were distributed in about 21 districts. Out of them 9 were in the Nizam's Dominions and 12 in the Madras Presidency. But after an agitation, on October 1, 1953, 11 districts of the Madras State were consolidated to form a new andhra State with Kurnool as capital. Later, on November 1, 1956 the State Reorganization Commission recommended to enlarge the andhra State by adding nine districts which were in the Nizam's Dominion. The city of Hyderabad, became the capital of the enlarged Andhra Pradesh, which was also the capital of the Nizam.