The

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

has 26

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

. Visakhapatnam district is the smallest district in area while Prakasam district is the largest. Nellore district is the most populous whereas Parvathipuram Manyam district is the least populous district. The districts are further divided into two or more

revenue division A sub-division is an administrative division of a List of districts in India, district in India. In some states (Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala) they are called Revenue Divisions. It is headed by a sub-divisional magistrate (also ...

s, which are further subdivided into mandals for administrative purposes.

History

At the time of

Independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

the present day

was a part of the

Madras State Madras State was a state in the Indian Republic, which was in existence during the mid-20th century as a successor to the Madras Presidency of British India. The state came into existence on 26 January 1950 when the Constitution of India was ad ...

. The telugu speaking dominant regions Kostaandhra and Rayalaseema were separated from Madras State to form Andhra State in 1953. As Andhra State, it consists of 11 districts, which are

Anantapur Anantapur, officially Anantapuramu, is a city in Anantapur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is the mandal headquarters of Anantapuru Tehsil, mandal and also the divisional headquarters of Anantapur revenue division. The city ...

, Chittoor, East Godavari,

Guntur Guntur (), natively spelt as Gunturu, is a city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of Guntur district. The city is part of the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region and is lo ...

Kadapa Kadapa is a city in the southern part of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is located in the Rayalaseema region, and is the district headquarters of YSR Kadapa district. It is located south of the Penna River. The city is surrounded on three sides by ...

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

Kurnool Kurnool is a city in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It formerly served as the capital of Andhra State (1953–1956). The city is often referred to as "The Gateway of Rayalaseema". Kurnool is also famous for Diamond hunting as diamonds ca ...

, Nellore, Srikakulam,

Visakhapatnam Visakhapatnam (; List of renamed places in India, formerly known as Vizagapatam, and also referred to as Vizag, Visakha, and Waltair) is the largest and most populous metropolitan city in the States and union territories of India, Indian stat ...

and West Godavari. As a result of the 1956

States Reorganisation Act The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 was a major reform of the boundaries of India's States and union territories of India, states and territories, organising them along linguistic lines. Although additional changes to India's state boundaries ...

, the state's boundaries were re-organized following linguistic lines. On 1 November 1956, the Andhra State and the

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

region of the Hyderabad State were merged to form the Andhra Pradesh which is retrospectively referred to as United Andhra Pradesh. As united Andhra Pradesh, it consisted of 21 districts, with 10 districts of Telangana region. In the year 1959, Bhadrachalam and Nuguru Venkatapuram taluks of East Godavari district, which are on the other side of the Godavari River, were merged into

Khammam district Khammam district is a district in the eastern region of the Indian state of Telangana. The city of Khammam is the district headquarters. The district shares boundaries with Suryapet district, Suryapet, Mahabubabad district, Mahabubabad, Bhadra ...

on grounds of geographical contiguity and administrative viability. Similarly Aswaraopeta part of West Godavari District was added to Khammam district and Munagala taluk belonging to Krishna district was added to Nalgonda district in the same year. The number of districts became 23 with the formation of Prakasam district from the parts of Guntur, Nellore and Kurnool districts in 1970 and Vizianagaram district from parts of Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam districts in 1979. After the bifurcation of the United Andhra Pradesh in 2014, the Andhra region now known as

was left with 13 districts but was given several tribal-dominated mandals from the Khammam district of the

as part of the Polavaram project. These mandals were added to the East Godavari and West Godavari district's respectively. On 26 January 2022, the

Government of Andhra Pradesh The Government of Andhra Pradesh, abbreviated as GoAP, is the Administrative division, state government and the administrative body responsible for the governance of the States of India, Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Amaravati is the capital ...

proposed 13 new districts by issuing a draft notification under the Andhra Pradesh Districts (Formation) Act, 1974, Section 3(5). After taking the objections and suggestions received from the public into consideration, the government has published the final notification on 3 April 2022. With effect from 4 April 2022 the newly formed districts came into effect as specified in the schedule. At present there are 26 districts spread across 3 cultural regions: Uttaraandhra, Kostaandhra and Rayalaseema.

Timeline

File:Andhra State (1953 - 1956).png, (1953–1956) File:Blank map Andhra Pradesh state and districts (before 2014).png, (1956–2014) File:Location_map_India_Andhra_Pradesh_EN_V2.svg, (2014–2022) File:Andhra Pradesh districts 2022.svg, (2022–2023) File:Ap-districts.svg, (since 2023)

Districts

The state is further divided into 26 districts, with North Andhra comprising six districts, Coastal Andhra comprising 12 districts, and Rayalaseema comprising eight districts. These districts are made up of 77 revenue divisions, 685 mandals and 13,324 village panchayats as part of the administrative organisation. North Andhra: # Alluri Sitharama Raju # Anakapalli # Parvathipuram Manyam # Srikakulam #

Vizianagaram Vizianagaram, also known as Vijayanagaram, is a city and the headquarters of the Vizianagaram district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located in the Eastern Ghats, about west of the Bay of Bengal and north-northeast of Visakhapa ...

Coastal Andhra: # Bapatla # Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Konaseema # East Godavari # Eluru #

# Kakinada #

# NTR # Palnadu # Prakasam # Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore # West Godavari Rayalaseema: #

# Annamayya # Chittoor # YSR Kadapa #

# Nandyal # Sri Sathya Sai # Tirupati * Source:

References

Sources

External links