Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - ఆంధ్ర ప్రదేశ్

status	State
Capital	Amaravati , Vijayawada (formerly), Hyderabad (formerly)
surface	160,205 km²
Residents	49,386,799 (2011)
Population density	308 inhabitants per km²
languages	Telugu
governor	Biswabhusan Harichandan
Chief Minister	YS Jaganmohan Reddy ( YSR Congress Party )
Website	www.ap.gov.in
ISO code	IN-AP

Andhra Pradesh ( Telugu ఆంధ్ర ప్రదేశ్ IAST Āndhra Pradēś [ ˈɑːndʰrʌ prʌˈdeːɕ ]) is an Indian state with an area of ​​160,205 km² and over 49 million inhabitants (2011 census). The capital is Amaravati , which is still under construction as of 2019, but is already listed as such on the official Internet portal.

The name of the state means "Land of Andhra" in Sanskrit , a people known in pre-Christian times. Andhra Pradesh emerged in independent India in 1953, initially in the form of the state of Andhra . This united in 1956 under the States Reorganization Act with the Telangana region to form the new state of Andhra Pradesh , whose borders were formed along the language borders of Telugu . On June 2, 2014, Telangana was separated from Andra Pradesh as a separate state. With that, Andhra Pradesh lost around 40 percent of its area and population as well as the capital Hyderabad , which will now function as the capital for both states for 10 years. To distinguish Andhra Pradesh before 2014, the term Seemandhra is also used for Andhra Pradesh without Telangana , which is composed of the names of the two regions of the remaining state: Seema for Rayalaseema and Andhra for the Andhra coast .

geography

Andhra Pradesh topographic map

Andhra Pradesh borders on the states of Tamil Nadu in the south, Karnataka in the west, Telangana in the north and Odisha in the northeast, as well as in the east on the Bay of Bengal . The union territory of Pondicherry belonging place Yanam is as enclave near the coast in northeastern Andhra Pradesh. After the secession of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh has an area of ​​160,205 square kilometers, which is less than half the size of Germany . In terms of area, Andhra Pradesh is the seventh largest of India's 29 states. Before Telangana split off, Andhra Pradesh was India's fourth largest state with an area of ​​275,045 square kilometers.

Landscape structure

Forested mountain landscape in the northern Eastern Ghats (Kambalakonda nature reserve near Visakhapatnam )

The Ethipothala waterfalls near the Nagarjuna-Sagar dam

Andhra Pradesh's coast on the Bay of Bengal is a compensation coast with numerous lagoons , some of which have already silted up . The southern section to the mouth of the Krishna is included in the Coromandel coast . Behind it lies a wide coastal plain, which is bounded by the mountain range of the Eastern Ghats , which in turn descend to the highlands of the Dekkan in the west and north-west . The three largest rivers Godavari , Krishna and Penneru cut deep into the mountainous country and thus separate the Eastern Ghats into several large blocks: the up to 1150 meter high Palkonda and Seshachalam mountains south of the Penneru, the Nallamalai mountains , which reach just over 1000 meters between Penneru and Krishna as well as the north-east of Godavari continuing, steeply sloping main chain of the Eastern Ghats with the 1680 meter high Devodi Munda, the highest point in the state. The Penneru also divides the Velikonda Mountains, which run parallel to the east of the Nallamalai chain and reach the Tamil Nadu border in the south and almost to the Krishna in the north, into two mountain ranges of more than 1000 meters each. To the west of the Nallamalai Mountains is the low-lying Kadapa Basin, through which the Penneru and some tributaries flow. Krishna and Godavari form broad river plains that reach far into the inland and flow into widely diversified deltas in the Bay of Bengal . The northwestern highlands between Krishna and Godavari are known as Telangana , the southwest region as Rayalasima .

climate

Andhra Pradesh has a tropical climate. However, there are considerable regional differences in both temperatures and the distribution of precipitation. Basically, two general statements can be made. On the one hand, it is cooler and more humid in the north than in the southern parts of the country, and on the other hand, the coastal areas have higher average temperatures and rainfall than the inland areas.

On the coast, the thermometer rarely falls below 18 degrees Celsius, even in January and February. Values ​​of up to 41 degrees are only reached in the hottest months of April and May. The annual mean temperature is around 27 degrees in the north and 29 degrees in the south. Precipitation falls almost exclusively during the southwest monsoon from June to September and during the northeast monsoon from October to December, with the intensity of the former decreasing from north to south and that of the latter increasing from north to south. Depending on the location, between 700 and 1500 mm of rain falls per year. The northern part of the coast with over 1000 mm is the wettest. The humidity is high all year round.

In the higher inland areas, the temperatures fluctuate noticeably more. The lowest values ​​in winter are 13 degrees in the northern Telangana highlands and 17 degrees in the Rayalasima region in the southwest. At least in Telangana, temperatures below 10 degrees are occasionally possible. In April and May the thermometer can rise to 43 degrees, in extreme years over 45 degrees have been measured. The average annual temperatures are slightly lower than on the coast. Telangana only receives sufficient rainfall from June to September through the southwest monsoon, a total of 750 to 1000 mm depending on the location. In Rayalasima it also rains during the northeast monsoon from October to December, but the previous summer monsoons are much weaker, so that a total of only 550 to 800 mm is reached. The humidity in the interior is 20% to 35% in the driest time of the year from February to May. In the rainy season it rises to 70% to over 80%. The dry inland climate encourages droughts .

population

Demographics

Residents of a village in Andhra Pradesh

According to the 2011 Indian census, 49.4 million people live in the area of ​​what is now the state of Andhra Pradesh (after Telangana was split off ). This makes Andhra Pradesh the tenth largest among the 29 states of India. Before Telangana split off, Andhra Pradesh was still the fifth largest state with a population of 84.6 million.

The population density of Andhra Pradesh is 308 inhabitants per square kilometer, which is below the Indian average of 382 inhabitants per square kilometer. The population is unevenly distributed: while the fertile deltas of Godavari and Krishna each have a density of more than 500 people per square kilometer, the dry southwest is rather sparsely populated. 30 percent of Andhra Pradesh's residents live in cities. The degree of urbanization thus corresponds to the national average of 31 percent. The gender ratio is unbalanced, but corresponds to the mean value for all of India: for every 1,000 men in Andhra Pradesh there are 950 women (India: 943).

The Adivasi (members of the indigenous tribal population) represent a minority of the population of Andhra Pradesh . 2.6 million residents of the state (five percent of the population) are classified as members of the tribal population ( Scheduled Tribes ). The largest groups are the Yanadi , Yerukula and Sugali , who settle in southwest Andhra Pradesh. A number of other tribal peoples live in the northern eastern Ghats on the border with Orissa ( Visakhapatnam , Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts ), including the Konda , Bagata , Jatapu , Savara and Kondh .

languages

A wall painting on Telugu in Kakinada

As in neighboring Telangana, the main language of Andhra Pradesh is Telugu . Telugu belongs to the group of the Dravidian languages widespread in South India and is written in its own script, the Telugu script . According to the 2011 census, Telugu was spoken as the mother tongue of 89 percent of the population in what is now Andhra Pradesh.

Most of the Muslim minority of Andhra Pradesh speaks Urdu as their mother tongue , mostly in the regional variant Dakhini . Urdu is one of the Indo-Aryan languages and is closely related to Hindi . However, it differs in the use of the Persian-Arabic script and the larger proportion of loan words from Persian and Arabic . Most Urdu speakers in Andhra Pradesh are bilingual with Telugu. In districts with a particularly high proportion of speakers, Urdu enjoys the status of a second official language. Along the border with Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Odisha, the languages ​​of the neighboring federal states - Tamil , Kannada and Oriya - are also spoken.

A number of smaller languages ​​are spoken among the tribal population in northeast Andhra Pradesh, each with several tens of thousands of native speakers. These include Savara in Srikakulam and Vizianagaram Districts , Jatapu in Vizianagaram District, Konda in Visakhapatnam District and Koya in West Godavari District . The Savara belongs to the group of Munda languages , the rest of these languages ​​to the Dravidian language family.

Telugu is used as the only official language of Andhra Pradesh. As everywhere in India, English plays an important role as an important educational, economic and administrative language.

Languages ​​in Andhra Pradesh (2011)

language	speaker	proportion of
Telugu	44.141.145	89.4%
Urdu	3,244,556	6.6%
Tamil	573,500	1.2%
Others	1,427,598	2.9%
total	49.386.799	100%

Religions

The Hindu Temple of Tirumala Tirupati is the world's most visited pilgrimage destination.

In Andhra Pradesh, the Hindu population is 91 percent, well above the overall Indian average of 80 percent. Muslims make up the largest minority at 7 percent. Most of Andhra Pradesh's Muslims live in the Rayalaseema region, while the coastal region is strongly Hindu. Around one and a half percent of Andhra Pradesh's population are Christians . Despite isolated Jesuit missionary attempts in the 18th century, Christianity was only able to gain a foothold in Andhra Pradesh in the 19th century through the predominantly Protestant and later also Catholic missionary activity, especially among the Dalit and Adivasi who were excluded from Hindu society .

Religions in Andhra Pradesh (2011)

religion	Relatives	proportion of
Hinduism	44,875,698	90.9%
Islam	3,617,713	7.3%
Christianity	682.660	1.4%
Others	210.728	0.4%
total	49.386.799	100%

education

Andhra Pradesh's literacy rate is 67%, below the national average of 73% (2011 census). Despite compulsory schooling from the age of six, not all children actually go to school, especially in rural areas.

The first language of instruction is usually the official language Telugu . However, lessons can also be given in one of the other recognized national languages ​​of India , provided that at least 10 students in one class and at least 30 students in the entire school have the corresponding language as their mother tongue. English is taught as a second or third language. The languages ​​of the Adivasi population, on the other hand, are not recognized; Adivasi children receive their basic education exclusively in Telugu. Most of the courses at higher educational institutions are held in English.

Biggest cities

Status: 2011 census.

	city	Residents		city	Residents
1	Visakhapatnam	1,730,320	6th	Rajahmundry	343.903
2	Vijayawada	1,048,240	7th	Kadapa	341,823
3	Guntur	651,382	8th	Kakinada	312,255
4th	Nellore	505.258	9	Tirupati	287.035
5	Kurnool	424.920	10	Anantapur	262,340
Source: Census of India 2011. (PDF; 154 kB)

history

Early history

The Andhra are mentioned for the first time in the Aitareya Brahmana as one of the non- Indo-Aryan tribes of southern and central India. From the time of the Maurya Empire, which existed between the 4th and 2nd centuries BC. Chr. Existed in northern India, there are further references to the Andhra living between the lower reaches of Godavari and Krishna . One of the edicts of Ashoka names the Andhra as subordinates of the great Maurya ruler Ashoka . After his death in 233 BC The decline of the Maurya and with it the rise of the Andhra began.

Shatavahana (3rd century BC to 3rd century AD)

→ Main article : Shatavahana

In the 3rd century BC BC Simuka united the various Andhra tribes in one empire and founded the Shatavahana dynasty, which rose to become a great power at the beginning of the 2nd century. Their empire comprised the northern Deccan between Narmada and Godavari, including Telangana and the north coast of what is now Andhra Pradesh. The capital was initially Dharanikota on the lower reaches of Krishna, later Pratishtana in today's Maharashtra . The Roman scholar Pliny the Elder even described the "Andarae" (Andhra or Shatavahana) as the strongest power in South India with 30 fortified cities, 100,000 foot soldiers, 30,000 horsemen and 1,000 war elephants.

Martial entanglements with the Shaka from the late 1st century AD led to the loss of the north-western parts of the empire, as a result of which the lower reaches of the Godavari became the new center of power. After a brief resurgence in the 2nd century, the Shatavahana Empire gradually broke up into numerous smaller feudal states in the early 3rd century.

Despite their presumably Dravidian origin, the Shatavahana took over the Sanskrit culture of northern India and introduced an administrative system based on the model of the Maurya. The ruling house followed Hinduism , but at the same time Buddhism was also able to spread and consolidate in the empire.

Regional empires (3rd to 7th centuries)

From the crumbling Shatavahana empire, the Vakataka dynasty in the northern Deccan emerged in the 3rd century as the strongest successor. Among other things, she controlled the Telangana Highlands. The South Indian campaign of the Gupta ruler Samudragupta (ruled around 335 to 375) brought the Vakataka into a relationship of dependency on northern India, reinforced by a marriage relationship with the Gupta at the time of Chandragupta II (ruled 375 to 413/5). The Vakataka were able to regain their independence, but at the end of the 5th century their rule came to a standstill for unexplained reasons. They were followed by the Chalukya of Badami around the middle of the 6th century .

In the actual heartland of Andhra Pradesh, the fertile lowlands between Godavari and Krishna delta , the Ikshvaku inherited the Shatavahana. Although they adhered to the Hindu faith, Buddhism continued to flourish under their protection. The Ishvaku Empire was short-lived and fell to the Pallava around 300 , who had already established themselves in the late Shatavahana in southern Andhra Pradesh. They too were subject to Samudragupta and were temporarily subordinate to him.

The kingdom of the Pallava bordered in the north on Kalinga under the Ganga , whose center of power lay from the 6th century on the Andhra coast north of the Godavari, but also included large parts of Orissa . It was not until the 11th century that the Ganga moved their capital to Orissa.

Eastern Chalukya (7th to 11th centuries)

→ Main article : Chalukya

Pulakeshin II (ruled 609 to 642), king of the Chalukya empire, which had ruled the northwestern Deccan since the 6th century, put an end to the rule of the Pallava in Andhra Pradesh - with the exception of the south. In 624 he appointed his brother Vishnuvardhana to be the viceroy of the conquered territories. After Pulakeshin's death, the empire of the eastern branch line of the Chalukya gained independence. The capital became Vengi in the Krishna Godavari basin. The western highlands of Andhra Pradesh remained with the Chalukya of Badami, who were defeated by the Rashtrakuta in 757 and were able to regain power in 973 as Chalukya of Kalyani .

Weakened by internal disputes and incompetent rulers in the first half of the 8th century, the eastern Chalukya found themselves constantly exposed to attacks after the victory of the Rashtrakuta over the Chalukya of Badami, which they could only withstand with great difficulty. Only Vijayaditya III. (ruled 848 to 892) succeeded in liberating himself by allying himself with the Rashtrakuta in order to restore his full independence after the death of their king. Vijayaditya's nephew and successor, Bhima (ruled 892 to 921), was able to achieve a military victory over the Rashtrakuta for the first time.

After the archenemy, the Rashtrakuta, was wiped out by the western Chalukya in 973, the situation of the Eastern Chalukya seemed to have improved. But in the Chola , which had defeated the Pallava towards the end of the 9th century, a new opponent arose for him. Rajaraja I. (r. 985 to 1014) established the Chola Empire as a great power in what is now Tamil Nadu . He installed a puppet ruler as king of the eastern Chalukya empire, which from then on only had the status of a vassal state and soon afterwards became the bone of contention between the rising Chola and the Chalukya of Kalyani. The latter repeatedly supported their own aspirants to the throne. In 1070 the dispute was decided in favor of the Chola: A prince of the eastern Chalukya ascended the throne of the Chola Empire as Kulottunga I. When the Chalukya king Vijayaditya VII died a few years later, his kingdom fell to the Chola.

Although the eastern Chalukya were of Canarese descent, they promoted the native Telugu language from the 9th century . In the 11th century Rajaraja Narendra (ruled 1018 to 1061) had the Mahabharata translated into Telugu by his court poet. Temple buildings testify to the promotion of the Hindu religion, while Buddhism lost its importance under the Chalukya.

Medieval empires (11th to 14th centuries)

Under Kulottunga I (reigned 1070 to 1120) the gradual decline of the Chola empire was already apparent. By 1118 most of Andhra Pradesh, including Vengi, fell into the hands of the Chalukya of Kalyani. In addition, he had to accept the expansion of power of the Hoysala , vassals of the Chalukya, on the southern Deccan . Only the south of Andhra Pradesh remained with the Chola until the final collapse of the empire in the second half of the 13th century.

The Chalukya left the administration of the eastern parts of the empire to local vassals, including the Kakatiya prince Prola II, who extended his original sphere of influence near Warangal in Telangana and declared himself independent after the death of Vikramaditya II (ruled 1076 to 1127). Rudra (ruled 1158 to 1195) moved the capital to Warangal and expanded the empire to the Godavari, his successors Mahadeva (ruled 1195 to 1199) and Ganapati (ruled 1199 to 1261) to the coast. Under Ganapati, the Kakatiya empire reached its greatest extent and encompassed the northern half of Andhra Pradesh.

In 1304 the Sultan's troops first invaded Delhi from the north, but were repulsed. In 1309/10 the sultan's army, led by Malik Kafur, was successful. The Kakatiya king Prataparudra (ruled 1295 to 1323) had to bow down, but was allowed to continue to rule against payment of tribute. After the death of Sultan Ala ud-Din Khalji (r. 1296 to 1316), however, he refused to pay tribute. In 1323 came the end of the Kakatiya: after a lost battle, their king surrendered to the Sultan and died as a prisoner on the way to Delhi . The rule of the Delhi sultans on the Deccan did not last long. Vassals or governors split off, and Hindu empires conquered at the expense of Delhi. In 1347 the Bahmani Sultanate renounced the capital in the far north.

Bahmanids and Vijayanagar (14th to 16th centuries)

→ Main articles : Bahmani Sultanate  and Vijayanagar

While the Bahmanids established themselves in the north-western Deccan and western Telangana, after the death of the last Hoysala king (1346) the Hindu empire Vijayanagar was established in Karnataka , which soon conquered the smaller empires in the south of Andhra Pradesh. The 14th and 15th centuries were marked by constant wars between the Muslim Bahmanids and the Hindu empires of the region, above all the arch enemy Vijayanagar. In 1425 the Bahmanids subjugated Warangal and expanded their empire to the Bay of Bengal . Vijayanagar was able to expand at times to the mouth of the Godavari delta. For the Bahmani Sultanate, however, not only the southern neighbor posed a serious threat. The Suryavamshi dynasty founded in Orissa in 1435 also bothered them. Internal disputes in the late 15th century accelerated the decline of the Bahmanid Empire, which split into five individual empires from 1490 onwards.

Sultanate of Golkonda and rule of the Mughals (1512 to 1724)

→ Main article : Mughal Empire

Ruins of Golkonda , capital of the sultanate of the same name (1512–1687)

The easternmost and next to Bijapur most powerful of the five Deccan sultanates , Golkonda , is of importance for the history of Andhra Pradesh . In 1512, the governor of this eastern part of the Bahmanid Empire, Quli Qutb Shah, declared his province to be independent, thereby establishing the Qutb Shahi dynasty . Like the other Deccan sultanates, Golkonda continued the fight against Vijayanagar on its own. It was not until 1564 that four of the five sultanates, including Golkonda, agreed on an alliance against the common enemy, whom they defeated a year later in the Battle of Talikota . As a result, Golkonda was able to expand its national territory to about the Penneru to almost all of Andhra Pradesh. The sultanate also flourished culturally in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. During that time, significant contributions to Urdu poetry and Muslim architecture were made. Many foreign, especially Persian , artists and advisers came to the court of the sultans. The Islam spread in the cities. Nevertheless, the ruling Muslims were tolerant of the predominantly Hindu population. Hyderabad , later the center of its own empire, was founded in 1590 .

The conquest of the northern neighboring sultanate Ahmadnagar by the northern Indian Mughal empire in 1633 ushered in the decline of Golkonda, which for the first time faced the threat from the Mughals who were reaching for the Deccan. In 1636 the sultan had to accept the degradation to the vassal of the powerful enemy in a treaty. In 1685, Mughal Mughal Aurangzeb (ruled 1658 to 1707) began a campaign of conquest against the last two of the originally five Deccan sultanates, Bijapur and Golkonda. Bijapur fell after only two months of siege. Golkonda was able to hold out longer, but in 1687 also succumbed to Aurangzeb's army. For the first time, the whole of Andhra Pradesh was under the rule of a single Muslim empire.

The Mughals were to suffer the same fate as the Sultans of Delhi over three centuries earlier . Soon after the death of the decan’s conqueror, Grand Mogul Aurangzeb , signs of disintegration overcame the gigantic empire in the face of weak, mostly only ruling rulers for a short period of time and, moreover, constant feuds with their rivals. In 1724, the powerful general Nizam ul-Mulk, installed as governor, took advantage of the weakness of the Mughal Empire to settle in Hyderabad and to found a new dynasty under the name Asaf Jah I.

Hyderabad and British Colonial Rule (1724-1948)

→ Main article : Hyderabad (state)

Asaf Jah I. (r. 1724 to 1748), founder and first nizam of the state of Hyderabad

The heart of the Hyderabad Empire was in Telangana in northeast Andhra Pradesh. However, the capital was initially Aurangabad in today's Maharashtra and only from 1763 Hyderabad . After the death of the first nizam (ruler) in 1748, the empire got caught up in the clashes between the British and French, who were fighting for supremacy in southern India and with Indian empires, each of whom supported a candidate for the throne of Hyderabad. After both candidates were killed in quick succession in wars against renegade Nawabs (provincial governors), Salabat Jang, supported by the French, ascended the throne in 1751.

The turmoil of the Seven Years' War between the French and the British, which broke out in 1756 and was also fought on Indian soil, took advantage of the latter for a coup in Hyderabad in 1762. In return, the new Nizam had Asaf Jah II. 1766 the entire coastal region from the Krishna Delta to Chilkasee in southern Orissa , known as "Northern Sarkar's" surrender to the British protecting power. At the same time, the Marathas (taking Gooty in 1776) and the Kingdom of Mysore under the Muslim rulers Hyder Ali (r. 1761 to 1782) and Tipu Sultan (r. 1782 to 1799) in the southwest of Andhra Pradesh were able to record territorial gains at the expense of Hyderabad, but were ultimately defeated the British. On the south coast ruled the Nawabs of Arcot , who became increasingly dependent on the British towards the end of the 18th century and whose territory became part of the Madras presidency in 1801 . A year later - in the year Asaf Jah II died - Hyderabad was limited to Telangana and a few adjacent areas in today's states of Maharashtra and Karnataka . The entire Andhra coast and all areas south of the Krishna were firmly in the hands of the British East India Company . In addition, the successor of the late Nizams was contractually bound to the British and had to tolerate the presence of British troops on his territory. After all, Hyderabad remained as the largest princely state in India under British sovereignty until 1948.

The areas under the direct administration of the British East India Company were transferred to the British Crown after the Sepoy Revolt of 1857/58, which was mainly limited to northern India . The Indian independence movement only captured the British-administered area of ​​Andhra Pradesh at the beginning of the 20th century. Mahatma Gandhi's civil disobedience movement was particularly popular in Andhra Pradesh in the 1920s and 1930s.

Developments since Indian independence in 1947

Political division of South India prior to the States Reorganization Act 1956

South India in 2009

South India after the division of Andhra Pradesh in 2014 and the formation of Telangana from the areas that were formerly part of Hyderabad

Incorporation of Hyderabad

The liberation of British India to independence on August 15, 1947 in Andhra Pradesh was not without incident. The rulers of the princely states under British sovereignty should choose either to join India or Pakistan . Countries with a Muslim majority were advised to join Pakistan, and geographical considerations should also be taken into account. For Hyderabad, the overwhelming majority of which adhered to Hinduism and which was also completely enclosed by Indian territory, joining the Indian Union as a member state seemed logical. However, given the size of his country, the Muslim ruler had an independent state in mind. There were demonstrations and uprisings among the Hindu people. After the Indian government under Jawaharlal Nehru negotiated in vain with the Nizam about membership, Indian forces occupied Hyderabad between September 13 and 17, 1948, putting an end to the Nizam's hopes. From then on Hyderabad formed an Indian state within the boundaries of the old princely state, and from 1950 a federal state . The east and south of today's Andhra Pradesh belonged to the state of Madras.

At the same time there was a peasant uprising led by the Communist Party of India (CPI) in the Telangana region from 1946 onwards, as a result of which the rebels temporarily controlled large parts of Telangana and carried out a radical redistribution of the land there. After the incorporation of Hyderabad into the Indian Union, the uprising was suppressed by the Indian army and the last of the insurgents capitulated in 1951.

Formation of Andhra Pradesh and further political development

Immediately after India's independence, calls for the dissolution of the state structures based on the borders of the old principalities and British-Indian provinces and their reorganization according to linguistic aspects were voiced throughout the country. The Telugu-speaking population of Hyderabad and Madras demanded a state of their own called Andhra. This should also include the city of Madras (today Chennai ), which at that time had a colorful mixture of Andhras and Tamils . On October 1, 1953, the eleven predominantly Telugu-speaking districts of Madras became the new state of Andhra as the first of the language-based states in India - but without the city of Madras, which remained in the state of the same name (today Tamil Nadu ). The capital became Kurnool .

In the Telugu-speaking parts of Hyderabad, the desire to belong to Andhra arose. The Indian government complied with this: On November 1, 1956, Andhra was united with nine districts of Hyderabad, which had a Telugu majority, to Andhra Pradesh with the capital Hyderabad under the so-called States Reorganization Act . The first chief minister was Neelam Sanjiva Reddy of the Indian National Congress , which was the government of the state without interruption until 1983.

In the late 1960s, a peasant uprising inspired by Maoist Naxalites took place in the region around Srikakulam for several years .

At the end of the 1960s, a regional movement that ran counter to the Andhra unification efforts of the previous decade emerged in the northwest region of Telangana , which, in view of the immigration of many people from the coastal districts to Hyderabad and other cities in the region, demanded a separate state of Telangana. Between 1969 and 1971 the Telangana movement shaped the politics of Andhra Pradesh until the then chief minister Kasu Brahmananda Reddy resigned in favor of PV Narasimha Rao , who came from Telangana . As a counter-reaction, there were demonstrations by the movement “Jai Andhra” ( Hindi “Sieg Andhra”, alluding to the nationwide exclamation “Jai Hind”) in 1972 . It was directed against the disadvantage of residents of the coastal region in the allocation of civil servants on the basis of a regulation of the Nizam of Hyderabad, which was still valid at the time. The unrest only subsided in December 1973 after the appointment of a new chief minister, Jalagam Vengala Rao .

Frequent changes of government in the 1980s favored the rise of the regional Telugu Desam Party , founded in 1982 by the popular former film actor NT Rama Rao . In 1983 she succeeded for the first time in replacing the Congress Party at the head of government. Since then, it has determined the political fortunes of Andhra Pradesh, often alternating with Congress. Nara Chandrababu Naidu ruled as chief minister from 1994 to 2004, longer than any of his predecessors. In 2004 he was replaced by the Congress Party under the incumbent chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy .

Naxalite rebel movements

→ Main article : Naxalites

Since 1980 Maoist rebels, known in India as the Naxalites, have been fighting for the establishment of a communist community in the areas of the economically and socially neglected tribes in northwest Andhra Pradesh . Their military actions are directed primarily against security organs and political representatives of the state. Hundreds of people have been killed in clashes between Naxalites and the police. Human rights violations have become alarmingly high on both sides. Between 1999 and 2001 there were the most violent clashes to date. Although the fighting has since subsided and several rounds of ceasefire negotiations have taken place, Naxalite groups still control rural areas in the north-west of the state.

Division of Andhra Pradesh 2014

The three major landscapes of historical Andhra Pradesh: coastal region Andhra Telangana Rayalaseema




→ Main article : Telangana

In December 2009 the Indian central government announced that the Telangana region would become a state of its own; the formation of the new state of Telangana was decided on July 30, 2013; it should take at least 122 days until the company was founded. Before that, the Indian federal government and the parliament of the state of Andhra Pradesh had to give their approval. This was preceded by days of protests, some of which were violent, and a hunger strike by Chandrasekhara Rao, the leader of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party, which has been campaigning for the secession of the state for years .

Since Hyderabad , the former capital of today's Andhra Pradesh, lies on the territory of the new state of Telangana, disagreements about the assignment of the city were to be expected. After five years, Hyderabad should be the capital of both states. On June 2, 2014 the new federal state with the capital Hyderabad was constituted. The new capital of Andhra Pradesh is now Vijayawada .

politics

Political system

The Parliament building in Hyderabad

Formal head of state is appointed by the President of India Governor ( Governor ). However, the actual governance lies with the Chief Minister ( Chief Minister ), who is elected by Parliament for a term. He determines the composition of his cabinet, which is formally introduced by the governor. Since 2007 the parliament has comprised a lower house ( Legislative Assembly ) and an upper house ( Legislative Council ); from 1985 to 2007 it consisted of only one chamber. The House of Commons consists of 294 direct elected members of parliament and one member nominated by the governor to represent the Anglo-Indian community. Some seats are reserved for members of disadvantaged castes ( Scheduled Castes ) and the tribal population ( Scheduled Tribes ). The House of Lords has 90 members, 31 of whom are elected by the House of Commons, 31 by the administrative authorities of the districts, and 16 by representatives of the education system. The remaining 12 MPs are appointed by the governor.

Andhra Pradesh's highest court is the Andhra Pradesh High Court in Hyderabad with 39 judges. The Chief Justice chairs the meeting .

See also : List of Governors of Andhra Pradesh  and List of Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh

Political parties

Distribution of seats after the 2019 parliamentary elections
YSRCP	151
TDP	23
JSP	1
Anglo-Indians	1
total	176

Until the early 1980s, Andhra Pradesh's policy was determined exclusively by the Indian National Congress (INC). In view of frequent reshuffles of the Congress governments and serious allegations of bribery and embezzlement against the party, the former film actor NT Rama Rao founded the Telugu Desam Party (TDP; "Party for the Land of Telugu") as a political alternative to the Congress Party at the state level. The TDP sees itself as representing the interests of the entire Telugu-speaking population of Andhra Pradesh. A year later she won the elections. Since then, the Congress Party and the TDP have frequently alternated in government. After the death of Congress politician YS Rajasekhara Reddy, the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) split from the Congress Party in 2011 under the leadership of his son YS Jaganmohan Reddy . The new party quickly established itself as a major political force at the state level. India's largest party, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, “Indian People's Party”), is largely insignificant in Andhra Pradesh.

In May 2014 a parliament for the whole of Andhra Pradesh was formally elected, which was split into the parliaments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana with the establishment of Telangana on June 2, 2014. The TDP won 102 of 175 constituencies in the rest of Andhra Pradesh and thus received an absolute majority in the parliament of the remaining state. The second strongest force with 67 members was the YSR Congress Party, founded in 2009 . Also represented in parliament are the BJP with four MPs, the small Navodayam Party with one MP and one independent. The Congress party, however, suffered a catastrophic defeat as a result of the division of Andhra Pradesh, for which the Congress-led central government was jointly responsible, and completely missed out on parliament. As a result of the election, TDP leader N. Chandrababu Naidu was sworn in as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh on June 8, 2014. He had already held the office from 1995 to 2004.

In the all- India parliamentary election in 2014 , which took place at the same time as the state elections , the TDP ran as part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), a party alliance led by the nationwide victorious Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The TDP won 15 of the 25 constituencies in Rest-Andhra-Pradesh, and its alliance partner, the BJP, won two more. The remaining eight constituencies went to the YSR Congress.

In the following all- India election in 2019 and the parallel election to the legislative assembly of Andhra Pradesh, the YSRCP won across the board. It won 151 of 175 constituency seats in the state parliament and won 22 of the 25 Lok Sabha constituencies of Andhra Pradesh. On May 30, 2019, YS Rajasekhara Reddy was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

Administrative division

Districts

Districts of Andhra Pradesh (yellow background) and Telangana (white background)

Andhra Pradesh is divided into the following 13 districts (population and population density according to the 2011 census):

	Administrative headquarters	surface	Population (2011)	Population density
Anantapur	Anantapur	19,130 ​​km²	4,081,148	213 inhabitants / km²
Chittoor	Chittoor	15,152 km²	4,174,064	275 inhabitants / km²
East Godavari	Kakinada	10,807 km²	5,154,296	477 inhabitants / km²
Guntur	Guntur	11,391 km²	4,887,813	429 inhabitants / km²
Krishna	Machilipatnam	8,727 km²	4,517,398	518 inhabitants / km²
Kurnool	Kurnool	17,658 km²	4,053,463	230 inhabitants / km²
Prakasam	Ongols	17,626 km²	3,397,448	193 inhabitants / km²
Srikakulam	Srikakulam	5,837 km²	2,703,114	463 inhabitants / km²
Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore	Nellore	13,076 km²	2,963,557	227 inhabitants / km²
Visakhapatnam	Visakhapatnam	11,161 km²	4,290,589	384 inhabitants / km²
Vizianagaram	Vizianagaram	6,539 km²	2,344,474	359 inhabitants / km²
West Godavari	Eluru	7,742 km²	3,936,966	509 inhabitants / km²
YSR	Kadapa	15,359 km²	2,882,469	188 inhabitants / km²

Local self-government

There are currently 16 municipal corporations in Andhra Pradesh :

• Anantapur
• Chittoor
• Eluru
• Guntur
• Kadapa
• Kakinada
• Kurnool
• Machilipatnam
• Nellore
• Ongols
• Rajahmundry
• Srikakulam
• Tirupati
• Vijayawada
• Visakhapatnam
• Vizianagaram

There are also numerous municipalities .

economy

With a gross domestic product of 4,752 billion rupees (equivalent to 100 billion US dollars , as of 2010), Andhra Pradesh was the third largest economy of the then 28 states of India after Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh . This is due to its large population, because the state is only in the middle in terms of actual development. The gross domestic product per capita, at $ 1,185, is only slightly higher than the Indian average of $ 1,087.

Andhra Pradesh is still highly dependent on agriculture, but its overall economic share is steadily declining. The most important growth engine is the service sector in the large metropolitan areas. The capital Hyderabad is considered a high-tech location .

With a value of 0.683, Andhra Pradesh ranks 20th among the 29 states of India in the Human Development Index in 2015 .

Agriculture

Cotton picker in Andhra Pradesh

The less profitable agriculture, which accounts for 29% (2005/06) of the gross domestic product, is still the main source of income for 62% of the population. Almost half of the area of ​​Andhra Pradesh is used for agriculture. The cultivation of rice , by far the most important arable crop, predominates in the fertile valleys of Godavari and Krishna as well as all other crops in the entire coastal region, but is also widespread in the rest of Andhra Pradesh with the exception of the dry southwest. Among the millet varieties on the Dekkan, sorghum (Jowar) dominates, while the rain-rich mountains of the northeast represent one of the main cultivation areas of finger millet (Ragi) in India. Other important food crops are legumes, maize, and oilseeds such as peanuts inland and coconuts on the coast. Among the commercial crops, cotton (in the plains between Krishna and Penneru ), sugar cane and tobacco (both in the lowlands near the coast) are important. Andhra Pradesh is India's largest tobacco producer alongside Gujarat .

Since only around 40% of the usable area is under irrigation, agricultural production depends to a large extent on the weather conditions in the monsoon rainy season . Andhra Pradesh is therefore prone to droughts - the Rayalasima region in the southwest and southern Telangana are particularly affected . In good harvest years , the state produces large surpluses of rice.

Andhra Pradesh was one of the first states in India to liberalize its agriculture. As the most important measures, subsidies and cheap government loans were abolished or cut, many government aid organizations (for example for the distribution of seeds to poor smallholders) were privatized or dissolved, and domestic and foreign trade restrictions on agricultural products were lifted. The aim is to align agricultural production with the world market. This requires high investments in high-yield seeds, agrochemicals and agricultural machinery in order to increase international competitiveness. Smallholders, who make up the overwhelming majority of farmers, are unable to do so without state aid and are therefore increasingly dependent on private lenders. Every year hundreds of small farmers see suicide as the only way out of the debt trap.

Andhra Pradesh wants to switch completely to organic farming by 2024 .

Mining and Natural Resources

Andhra Pradesh is one of the most resource-rich states in India. Hard coal is mined on the lower and middle reaches of the Godavari (districts Khammam , Warangal , Karimnagar and Adilabad ) . In the district Kadapa there are large deposits of asbestos and barite . In the deltas of Krishna and Godavari and the adjacent coastal waters, larger amounts of natural gas are stored , and to a lesser extent also crude oil . The previously insignificant natural gas production is to be expanded further. Iron ore , manganese , limestone , granite and mica are also mined , and to a lesser extent quartz , copper , lead and zinc . Although Andhra Pradesh has the second largest bauxite deposits in India, the deposits of this important aluminum ore have so far hardly been developed. Until the middle of the 18th century, the area of ​​what is now Andhra Pradesh was also one of the most important finding sites for diamonds in India. In the meantime, however, the deposits are largely exhausted.

Industry

The IT center HITEC City in Hyderabad

With a share of 22% of the gross domestic product (2005/06; including mining), Andhra Pradesh's industry is somewhat weaker than the overall Indian average. The most important branches of industry are traditionally the food, beverage, metal processing, textile, cement, leather and machine industries. The pharmaceutical, chemical and software industries are growth areas. The latter has settled in the capital Hyderabad , the most important industrial location of Andhra Pradesh, as has biotechnology , which is considered to be a future industry . Other important industrial centers are Visakhapatnam (oil refinery, steel, metal processing, chemical industry, shipbuilding) on ​​the north coast and the large cities in the deltas of Krishna and Godavari , especially Vijayawada . In contrast, the entire southern half of the state and the Telangana highlands, with the exception of the greater Hyderabad area, are only slightly industrialized.

Infrastructure

The National Highway 5 at Madhurawada

The Godavari Railway Bridge between Rajahmundry and Kovvur

The port of Visakhapatnam

The road is by far the most important route in Andhra Pradesh. In 2000, 82% of passenger and 73% of goods were transported by road. The road network, with a total length of around 195,000 kilometers (as of 2001), is coarse-meshed, even compared to other Indian states. The twelve mostly two-lane national highways account for around 4,100 kilometers . Only the 1,000-kilometer-long section of Andhra Pradesh on National Highway  5 between Calcutta and Chennai was expanded into a four-lane highway as part of the large-scale national infrastructure program “ Golden Quadrilateral ” . Overall, however, the construction and expansion of new roads cannot keep pace with the rapid growth in traffic, despite steadily increasing public investments in this area. In 2001, almost 3.6 million motor vehicles were registered in Andhra Pradesh.

The 5,000-kilometer railway network connects all major cities. It is largely subordinate to the regional company South Central Railway of the Indian State Railways . The routes north of Visakhapatnam are served by the East Coast Railway , the Gudur –Chennai, Renigunta –Chennai and their branch lines by the Southern Railway . Only the main lines are electrified. Some branch lines still have meter gauge , but the much larger part of the rail network is designed in broad gauge.

Hyderabad is the only city in Andhra Pradesh to have an international airport, the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport . The airport opened in 2008 and can handle up to 12 million passengers a year. There are also regional airports in Donakonda (70 kilometers northwest of Ongole ), Kadapa , Kakinada , Nadirgul (near Hyderabad), Puttaparthi (60 kilometers south of Anantapur ), Rajamandri , Sikandarabad , Tirupati , Vijayawada , Visakhapatnam and Warangal .

Andhra Pradesh's second largest city, Visakhapatnam, has India's most important overseas port. In the 2004/05 financial year, over 50 million tons of goods were handled here, mainly bulk goods such as iron ore, mineral oils, coal and fertilizers. There are medium-sized ports in Kakinada and Machilipatnam , but these are of minor importance for foreign trade.

Andhra Pradesh is India's third largest electricity producer. More than half of the energy demand is covered by fossil fuels, around 40% by hydropower.

See also

• List of Monuments of National Importance in Andhra Pradesh

literature

• Hermann Kulke , Dietmar Rothermund : History of India. From the Indus culture to today. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-406-43338-3 (especially the chapters The Rise of South India , Origin and Conflicts of the Regional Empires and The States of South and Central India in the Age of the Delhi Sultanate )
• P. Raghunadha Rao: Ancient and Medieval History of Andhra Pradesh. Sterling Publishers Private Ltd., New Delhi 1994, ISBN 81-207-1709-0

Web links

Commons : Andhra Pradesh  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Wiktionary: Andhra Pradesh  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• Web presence of the government of Andhra Pradesh (English)
• History of Andhra Pradesh (English)
• Languages ​​(especially Urdu) in Andhra Pradesh (English)
• Official website of the 2001 Indian Census ( Memento of June 16, 2004 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Total population of the districts of Andhra Pradesh without Telangana according to the 2011 census ( Census of India 2011: Primary Census Abstract - Andhra Pradesh. )
2. ↑ Question mark over Andhra's capital: How the ambitious plan to build Amaravati has hit a wall. August 21, 2019, accessed on January 7, 2020 . 
3. ↑ - ( Memento of August 3, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Official portal page of Andhra Pradesh (English)
4. ↑ Calculated using the values ​​for the districts of Andhra Pradesh without Telangana according to the 2011 census ( Census of India 2011: Primary Census Abstract - Andhra Pradesh. )
5. ↑ Calculated for the districts remaining near Andhra Pradesh in 2014 according to Census of India 2011: C-16 Population By Mother Tongue. Andhra Pradesh.
6. ↑ Calculated for the districts remaining near Andhra Pradesh in 2014 according to Census of India 2011: C-1 Population By Religious Community. Andhra Pradesh.
7. ↑ Calculated using the values ​​for the districts of Andhra Pradesh without Telangana according to the 2011 census ( Census of India 2011: Primary Census Abstract - Andhra Pradesh. )
8. ↑ Annual Status of Education Report 2005: (PDF) ( Memento from January 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
9. ↑ Kulke / Rothermund, 1998, p. 129
10. ↑ NZZ online: India gets 29th state
11. ↑ ^{a b} orf.at: Green light for the new state in India , accessed on July 30, 2013
12. ↑ Rediff said it first: Andhra's new capital to be Vijaywada. rediff.com, September 4, 2014, accessed October 1, 2014 . 
13. ^ Government of Andhra Pradesh: Elections to Legislative Council (PDF; 99 kB)
14. ↑ ^{a b} Andhra Pradesh: Assembly results 2019. The Hindu, accessed June 10, 2019 . 
15. ↑ The Economic Times, June 8, 2014: "Chandrababu Naidu becomes first chief minister of new Andhra Pradesh".
16. ↑ As it happened: Jagan Mohan Reddy swearing-in ceremony | In maiden speech, he promises to cleanse administration in a year. The Hindu, May 30, 2019, accessed June 1, 2019 . 
17. ↑ Census of India 2011: Primary Census Abstract - Andhra Pradesh .
18. ↑ Masula, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram upgraded into corporations. The Hindu, December 10, 2015, accessed September 9, 2018 . 
19. ↑ VNW Analystic Services: State Domestic Product of India 2010-11. ( Memento from July 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
20. ^ Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab. Retrieved August 12, 2018 . 
21. ↑ ^{a b} Government of Andhra Pradesh, Directorate of Economics and Statistics: Page no longer available , search in web archives: Gross domestic state product Andhra Pradesh at current prices
22. ↑ Bio-Revolution in India In: Umweltinstitut.org , June 13, 2018, accessed on October 14, 2018.
23. ^ Government of Andhra Pradesh: Strategy Paper on Infrastructure

Coordinates: 16 ° 30 '  N , 80 ° 36'  E