Which of the following was/were reason/reasons for the success of European trading companies in South India during the 17th Century ? 1. The presence of the Mughals in the south was not as much as iit the north 2. The Vijaya Nagar kingdom had been overthrown in the late 16th Century 3. The south had ,many small and weak states Select the correct answer using the code given below :

The success of European trading companies in 17th-century South India was driven by several geopolitical factors. First, the Mughal Empire's authority was concentrated in Northern India; its presence in the south was significantly less pronounced and stable compared to the north. Second, the Vijayanagara Empire, which had provided centralized stability, was effectively overthrown following the Battle of Talikota in 1565, leading to its decline by the mid-17th century. This power vacuum resulted in the fragmentation of the region into many small, weak states and Nayak kingdoms, such as those in Madurai and Thanjavur. This political instability and lack of a unified central authority allowed European companies like the Dutch and English to exploit local rivalries, secure trading concessions, and establish fortified settlements with minimal resistance from a singular sovereign power.

Sources

1. [1] History , class XI (Tamilnadu state board 2024 ed.) > Chapter 16: The Coming of the Europeans > 1600-1650: South India after Vijayanagar > p. 244