Hospet (officially Hosapete) is the largest and fastest-growing industrial city and district headquarters of the Vijayanagara district in the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n state of

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

. Hospet is known as "the steel city of Karnataka". It is located on the bank of the

Tungabhadra River The Tungabhadra River () starts and flows through the state of Karnataka, India, for most of its course, then through Andhra Pradesh where it ultimately joins the Krishna River near Murvakonda. The Tungabhadra derives its name from two strea ...

and is from

Hampi Hampi or Hampe (), also referred to as the Group of Monuments at Hampi, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the town of Hampi in Vijayanagara district, east-central Karnataka, India. Hampi predates the Vijayanagara Empire; it is menti ...

(Vijayanagar). Hampi was once the capital of the

Vijayanagara Empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also known as the Karnata Kingdom, was a late medieval Hinduism, Hindu empire that ruled much of southern India. It was established in 1336 by the brothers Harihara I and Bukka Raya I of the Sangama dynasty, belongi ...

. It has been designated a UNESCO

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

. Hospet is the connecting link between North and South Karnataka. It is from the state capital Bengaluru.

History

Hospet was built in 1520 AD by Krishna Deva Raya, one of the prominent rulers of

. He built the city in honour of his mother Naagalaambika. The city was originally named Naagalapura; however, people referred to the city as ''Hosa Pete'', which means "New City". The area between Hampi and Hospet is still called Naagalapura. This was the main entrance to the city of Vijayanagara for travellers coming from the west coast. The current MLA for this area is Anand Singh. The government approved a request to rename the city in October 2014, and Hospet was renamed "Hosapete" on 1 November 2014. The city is currently home to the tallest flagpole in the nation. During the Independence day on 15 August 2022, Hospet hoisted the tallest national flag on a pole.

About

Hospet is well connected to several important cities in India. Some major cities like

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

are connected by roadways and railways.

Ballari Ballari (formerly Bellary) is a city in the Ballari district in state of Karnataka, India. Ballari houses many steel plants such as JSW Steel, JSW Vijayanagar, one of the largest in Asia. Ballari district is also known as the ‘Steel city of ...

is located approximately away. Hosapete Junction railway station lies on Hubballi-Guntakal railway line. The nearest airport from the city is Jindal Vijaynagar Airport approximately away from Hospet which serves flights to and from

and

every day.

is away. In addition, the city has a well-developed market area. Hospet is a well-known tourist destination, mainly due to its proximity to

and Tungabhadra Dam. The Municipal Ground is good for evening walks, the sports club, occasional exhibitions and is also surrounded by snacks counters.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census, the total population of Hospet was 206,167, of which 102,668 are male and 103,499 are female. The town has an average literacy rate of 79.30%, with male literacy at 85.95% and female literacy at 72.74%. In Hospet, 13.46% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Languages

At the time of the 2011 census, 53.14% of the population in the city spoke

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

, 23.31%

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

, 11.29% Telugu, 4.95%

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

, 2.83%

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

and 1.54%

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

as their first language.

References

{{Authority control Cities and towns in Vijayanagara district Cities in Karnataka Taluks in Vijayanagara district