Reading and writing fill in the blanks
The foreign policy of a state, it is often argued, begins and ends with the border. No doubt an exaggeration, this aphorism nevertheless has an of truth. A state's relations with its neighbours, at least in the years, are greatly by its frontier policy, especially when there are no borders. Empire builders in the past sought to extend imperial frontiers for a variety of reasons; subjugation of kings and princes to gain their allegiance (as well as handsome tributes for the coffers of the state), and, security of the 'core' of the empire from external attacks by establishing a string of buffer states in areas the frontiers. The history of the British empire in India was no different. It is important to note in this connection that the concept of international boundaries (between two sovereign states), demarcated and delineated, was yet to emerge in India under Mughal rule.