To this problem, about which until now we had only news through the classical authors and the ancient Tamil poets, the excavations directed in 1945 by REM Wheeler on the coastal lagoon of Ariyankuppam (near Pondichéry) have brought new light. discovered a commercial emporium of the 1st and 2nd century AD. C. which testifies evident and close contacts with the Roman world. In the excavated area the remains of a large building about m. Long have been brought to light. 50, perhaps a warehouse, with a rectangular plan, built in bricks, which soon had to be abandoned, perhaps because it was too close to the lagoon. To the south, on the other hand, on higher ground, two large tanks had been built behind the warehouse, with pavement and pipes made of bricks, and adjacent to two large rectangular courtyards partly paved. It is thought that the tanks were used for the preparation of muslin and the courtyards for drying fabrics. The abundant ceramics provide chronological and commercial documents: the greatest number is made up of plates and cups from Arezzo factories, smooth and of inferior quality, with the brands Vibii, Camuri, Itta; there are also fragments of copies of Arezzo vases, imported from the Mediterranean. There are also fragments of amphorae, black pottery of Mediterranean import, and also locally made terracotta. The upper layers contained fragments of Chinese porcelain after the 9th century. Still have been found: a gem with a portrait of Augustus, fragments of a lamp and Roman glass cups, Indian terracotta, but no ancient coins. The place, after its abandonment, it was used as a brick quarry. The discovery of this emporium shows that if Indian trade was largely in Alexandrian hands, relations with the Roman market should not have been lacking, which is confirmed by the existence of a templum Augusti near Muziris (documented by the Tabula Peutingeriana), and by the numerous finds of Roman coins in many places in India, especially in the district of Coimbatore, where there are beryllium mines and where the communication road between the east and west coasts passes. For India 1997, please check aristmarketing.com.
The dominion of India
The new dominion, born on August 15, 1947 (see above, History), includes all the territories not transferred to Pakistan and which do not prefer to remain independent. Since, under the India Independence Act (10 July 1947), independent states have the right, but not the duty, to opt for one or the other of the two dominions, and can therefore remain independent, a definition of limits and consistency of the two new units is, to this day, more presumptive than real.
Currently, and until the territorial delimitation is completed, it can be calculated that India (or even better, the Indian Union) extends over 3.5 million sq km. and counts 340-345 million residents, thus appearing in 9th place among the states of the world (after the Australian Commonwealth, and before the South African Union) in terms of size, and even in 2nd place (after and a short distance from China) by population. It covers 85% of the territory and 83% of the residents of the former Indian Empire. The territory includes the entire Deccan peninsula and most of the Indo-Gangetic plain, maintaining contact with China and the Burmese Union, but remaining separate from Persia and Afghānistān. As for the population, the passage to Pakistan of 73% of the total number of Muslims of the former Indian Empire, makes the dominion of India a distinctly Hindu state, albeit with notable minorities of other religions and ethnically anything but homogeneous.
However, agricultural production will be affected somewhat (rice and tobacco decreased by about 1/3; wheat and cotton by over 1/3, jute by almost 3/4), while for industries the problem of their redistribution will arise mainly for Pakistan. The same is true of internal trade, of communication routes and of international traffic, since the Indian dominion is by far the most conspicuous and efficient part of the organization of the former Indian Empire. Compared to Pakistan, however, in view of its much larger proportions, the Indian dominion will have much more serious problems to solve before ensuring sufficient internal stability; and it is not unlikely that the autonomist tendencies of the larger and more solid regional units, remained in fact still isolated, form a federative structure that respects the great differences in economic and civil development that still exist between units and units, and allows time for their progressive merger. These problems are complicated by those no less serious posed by the current political situation (liquidation of the French and Portuguese penetration in India, new equilibrium in the Indian and Pacific Oceans), which may accelerate or delay their solution.
