3) EXTERNAL AFFAIRS9

In ancient India, many Indian kingdoms sent embassies to Rome. There was growth in Sino-Indian relations and Southeast Asian relations. Enroute to China, Southeast Asian ports became regular stops. Many kingdoms in Southeast Asia trace their ancestry to Indian princes.

Andhra Pradesh owing to its long coast must have had a lot of interaction with the rest of the world. Unfortunately, detailed discussions on the individual nationalities and kingdoms and their interactions with the world are not available. This may be because the successive governments at the union level and at the state level down play the significance of this interaction and Telugu history.  The emphasis is mostly on the Indian Union as a whole.  

The 18th century textile industry was a prominent industry in Andhra, Bengal etc. The demand for the textiles from India was very high in England, which led to prohibition of Indian textiles to protect the local textile industry in England. The Dutch, the Portuguese and the French merchants provided liberal loans to the weavers. Competition from other Europeans forced the British East India Company to monopolize the trade.

After the formation of the Indian Union, the external affairs are dealt with at the Union level, rather than at the individual national-state level.

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