History

Anantapur is a district and its administrative city in the southwest of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, on the border of the state of Karnataka. The district, whose name is also transliterated as Ananthapur, was constituted in 1882 from the unwieldy district of Bellary. Its principally agricultural economy grows rice, cotton, maize, chillies, sesame, and sugar cane. Silk trade and limestone, iron, and diamond mining are also important.

Geography

Spanning an area of 19,130 kmē, Anantapur District is bounded on the north by Kurnool District, on the east by Cuddapah District, on the southeast by Chittoor District, and on the southwest and west by Karnataka state. Its northern and central portions are a high plateau, generally undulating, with large granite rocks or low hill ranges rising occasionally above its surface. In the southern portion of the district the surface is more hilly, the plateau there rising to 2600 ft. above the sea. Six rivers flow within the district: Penna, Chithravathi, Vedavathi, Papagni, Swarnamuki, and Thadakaleru. The district receives an average annual rainfall of 381 millimeters. This place also contributed many people like Former President of India Mr. Neelam Sanjiva Reddy.

Demographics

As of the 2001 census, the district had a population of 3,639,300, with a growth rate of +14.31%. Telugu, Urdu, and English are primarily spoken, with a literacy rate of 56.69%. Anantapur includes 866 villages.

Places of interest

Anantapur is home to Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Penukonda and Rayadurga forts, the holy site Puttaparthi, and Lepakshi temple. There is a remarkable fortress rock at Gooty, 2171 ft. above the sea, and a similar but larger rock at Penukonda, with an elevation equal to that of Bangalore, about 3100 ft. Gooty fortress was a stronghold of the Marathas, but was taken from them by Hyder Ali. In 1789 it was ceded by Tipu Sultan to the Nizam of Hyderabad, and in 1800 the Nizam ceded the district of Anantapur with others to the British in payment for a subsidiary British force.

Major cities within the district are Anantapur, Hindupur, Tadipatri, Kadiri, Dharmavaram, Rayadurg and Kalyandurg. Other places of interest include Alur, Chitrachedu, Enumaladoddi, Gooty, Lepakshi, yalagalavanka and Puttaparthi.