The History of Karnataka goes back several millennia. Several great empires and dynasties have ruled over Karnataka and have contributed greatly to the history, culture and development of Karnataka as well as the entire Indian subcontinent. The Chindaka Nagas of central India Gangas, Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta, Chalukyas of Vengi, Yadava Dynasty of Devagiri were all of Kannada origin who later took to encouraging local languages.
In the medieval and early modern periods, the Vijayanagara Empire and the Bahmani Sultanate became the major powers in Karnataka. The latter disintegrated to form five Deccan Sultanates. The Deccan Sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire in 1565.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Maratha Empire ruled most of present-day Karnataka. Maratha rule was most fortified in the northern regions of present-day Karnataka. The first Maratha expeditions in the region were led by Chhatrapati Shivaji. As Maratha power weakened in the 1780s, the Kingdom of Mysore began occupying lands in Southern Karnataka.
After the Anglo-Mysore Wars, where the East India Company defeated the forces of Tipu Sultan, Company Rule began in India. Karnataka was divided between the Bombay Presidency, the Kingdom of Mysore and the Nizam of Hyderabad.
India became Independent in 1947, and according to the States Reorganization Act, 1956, the Kannada-speaking areas of Hyderabad State, Madras State were unified with Mysore State. The state was renamed as Karnataka in 1973.
Prehistory
The credit for doing early extensive study of prehistoric Karnataka goes to Robert Bruce-Foote and this work was later continued by many other scholars. The pre-historic culture of Karnataka (and South India in general) is called the hand-axe culture, as opposed to the Sohan culture of North India. Paleolithic hand axes and cleavers in the shape of pebbles made with quartz and quartzite which have been found in places such as Lingadahalli in Chikkamagaluru district and Hunasagi in Yadgir district, and a wooden spike at Kibbanahalli in Tumkur district are examples of old Stone Age implements. There are reports that a polished stone axe was discovered at Lingasugur in the Raichur district Neolithic sites (new Stone Age) of importance are Maski in Raichur district, Brahmagiri in Chitradurga district etc., with abundance of evidence that man begun to domesticate animals such as cows, dogs and sheep, use copper and bronze weapons, wear bangles, rings, necklaces of beads and ear-rings and have burial chambers. To the end of the Neolithic era, during the Megalithic age, people in Karnataka began to use long swords, sickles, axes, hammers, spikes, chisels and arrows, all made of iron.
Influences from the Indus Valley Civilization
Scholarly hypothesis postulates contacts between the Indus Valley cities of Harappa and Lothal, citing the discovery of gold found in the Harappan sites that was imported from mines in Karnataka.
Evidence of Neolithic habitation of areas in modern Karnataka and celts dating back to the 2nd century BCE were first discovered in 1872. There are reports that a polished stone axe was discovered at Lingsugur in the Raichur district; however the authenticity of these reports remains unverifiable. Megalithic structures and burial grounds were discovered in 1862 in the regions of Kodagu and Moorey Betta hills, while Neolithic sites were discovered in north Karnataka. Scholarly hypothesis postulates of contacts between the Indus Valley city of Harappa in 3000 BCE, citing the discovery of gold found in the Harappan sites that was imported from mines in Karnataka.
Classical period
Karnataka was the part of the Maurya Empire, the first Mauryan Emperor Chandragupta Maurya died in Shravanbelgola in Hassan District around 298 BCE where he spent last days of his life as Jain ascetic.
Around 239 BCE, the Satavahana dynasty came to power and its rule lasted nearly four centuries, until the early 3rd century CE. The disintegration of the Satavahana dynasty led to the ascent of the earliest native kingdoms, the Kadamba Dynasty of Banavasi in modern Uttara Kannada district with Mayuravarma, a native of Talagunda in modern Shivamogga district as the founding king, and the Western Ganga Dynasty in southern Karnataka, marking the birth of the region as an independent political entity. These were the first kingdoms to give administrative status to Kannada language as evidenced by the Halmidi inscription of 450, attributed to King Kakusthavarma of the Kadamba Dynasty. Also, recent discovery of a 5th-century copper coin in Banavasi, ancient capital of the Kadambas, with Kannada script inscription on it, further proves the usage of Kannada at an official level.