Rapid changes in the political situation of the rest of India occurred due to the incursions of Muslim armies from the northwest marked a turning point in the history of Tamil Nadu. With the decline of the three ancient dynasties during the fourteenth century, the Tamil country became part of the Vijayanagara Empire. Under this empire the Telugu speaking Nayak governors ruled the Tamil land. The brief appearance of the Marathas gave way to the European trading companies, who began to appear during the seventeenth century and eventually assumed greater sway over the indigenous rulers of the land. The Madras Presidency comprising of most of southern India including what is now Tamil Nadu, was created in the eighteenth century and was ruled directly by the British East India Company. After the independence of India by Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi, the Tamil Nadu state was created based on linguistic boundaries, due to a Telugu man who wished the Telugu speaking land bordering Tamil Nadu to become its own state, which it did, Andra Pradesh was born. This caused a chain reaction because the other languages also wanted their own states. This led to state boundaries because of linguistic reasons, and gave birth to many other linguisticly devised states, including Tamil Nadu.