Inscriptions indicate that the District was originally
a part of Kalinga Kingdom subsequently conquered by the Eastern
Chalukyas in the 7th Century, A.D. who ruled over it with their
Head Quarters at Vengi. This District was also under the occupation
of various rulers such as the Reddy Rajahs of Kondaveedu, the
Gajapathis of Orissa, the Nawabs of Golkonda and the Moghal Emperor
Aurangazeb through a Subedar. This territory passed on to French
occupation in view of succession dispute among Andhra Kings and
finally it came under the British Reign. There were no geographical
graftings till 1936 in which year, consequent on the formation
of Orissa State the Taluks namely Bissiom, Cuttack, Jayapore,
Koraput, Malkanagiri, Naurangapur, Pottangi and Ryagada in their
entirety and parts of Gunpur, Paduva and Parvathipur Taluks were
transferred to Orissa State. The Visakhapatnam District was reconstituted
with the remaining area and residuary portions of Ganjam District
namely Sompeta, Tekkali and Srikakulam Taluks in entirety and
portion of Parlakimidi, Ichchapuram, Berahmpur retained in Madras
presidency. With the passage of time, the reconstituted District
was found administratively unwieldy and therefore it was bifurcated
into Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam districts in the year 1950.
The residuary district of Visakhapatnam was further bifurcated
and the Taluks of Vizianagaram, Gajapathinagaram, Srungavarapukota
and portion of Bheemunipatnam Taluk were transferred to the newly
created Vizianagaram District in the year 1979.
Coming to etymology of the name Visakhapatnam, tradition
has it that some centuries ago a King of Andhra Dynasty encamped
on the site of the present Head Quarters Town of Visakhapatnam
on his piligrimage to Banaras and being pleased with the place,
had built a shrine in honour of his family deity called Visakeswara
to the South of the Lawsons Bay from which the district has derived
its name as Visakheswarapuram which subsequently changed to Visakhapatnam.
The encroachment of waves and currents of the sea supposed to
have swept away the shrine into off shore area.
PHYSICAL FEATURES
The District presents two distinct Geographic divisions. The strip
of the land along the coast and the interior called the plains
division and hilly area of the Eastern Ghats flanking it on the
North and West called the Agency Division. The Agency Division
consists of the hilly regions covered by the Eastern Ghats with
an altitutde of about 900 metres dotted by several peaks exceeding
1200 metres. Sankaram Forest block topping with 1615 metres embraces
the Mandals of Paderu, G. Madugula, Pedabayalu, Munchingput, Hukumpeta,
Dumbriguda, Araku Valley, Ananthagiri, Chinthapalli, G.K. Veedhi,
and Koyyuru erstwhile Paderu, Araku Valley and Chinthapalli taluks
in entirety. Machkhand River which on reflow becomes Sileru, drains
and waters the area in its flow and reflow and is tapped for Power
Generation. The other division is the plains division with altitude
no where exceeding 75 metres watered and drained by Sarada, Varaha
and Thandava Rivers and revulets Meghadrigedda and Gambheeramgedda.
Since no major Irrigation system exists significant sub regional
agronomic variations exist in this division. Along the shore lies
a series of salt and sandy swamps. The coast line is broken by
a number of bald head lands, the important of them being the Dolphin's
Nose which had afforded the establishment of Natural Harbour at
Visakhapatnam, Rushikonda(v) Polavaram Rock and the big Narasimha
Hill at Bheemunipatnam. Administratively, the District is devided
into 3 Revenue Divisions and 43 Mandals.
DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS
The population of the district is 38.32 lakhs as per 2001 Census
and this constituted 5.0% of the population of the state while
the Geographical area of the District is 11161 Sq. KM. which is
only 4.1% of the area of the State. Out of the total population
19.30 lakhs are Males and 19.02 lakhs are Females. The Sex Ratio
is 985 Females per 1000 Males. The District has Density of population
of 343 per Sq.Km. Agency area shows lesser Density and plain area
higher density. 39.90% of the population reside in the 10 Hirarchic
urban settlements while rest of the population is distributed
in 3082 villages. Scheduled Castes constituted 7.82% of the population
while Scheduled Tribes account for 14.55% of the population of
the district. The district has a work force of 16.03 lakhs constituting
about 41.83 of the population besides the marginal workers to
a tune of 2.97 lakhs as per 2001 Census. The cultivators constitute
36.31% Agricultural Labourers 23.60% and the balance of 40.09%
engage in Primary, Secondary and Teritory sectors as per 1991
census.
CLIMATE
The district has differing climatic conditions in different
parts of it. Near Coast the air is moist and relaxing, but gets
warmer towards the interior and cools down in the hilly areas
on account of elevation and vegetation. April to June are warmest
months. The Temperature (at Visakhapatnam Airport) gets down with
the onset of South West Monsoon and tumbles to a mean minimum
of 18.8o C by December after which there is revarsal trend till
the temperature reaches mean maximum of 37.4o C by the end of
May during 2002-2003.
RAINFALL
The District receives annual normal rainfall of 1202 MM., of which
south-west monsoon accounts for 53.9% of the normal while North-East
monsoon contributes 24.8% of the normal rainfall during 2001-2002.
The rest is shared by summer showers and winter rains. Agency
and inland Mandals receive larger rainfall from the Sourth West
Monsoon, while Coastal Mandals get similarly larger rainfall from
North-East monsoon. But both the monsoons play truant, variations
of South-west monsoon accounting for 15.3% of normal and North-west
monsoon to 33.2% of normal. Since the variation for most periods
is on the negative side of log `Y' and since even the years of
normal rainfall are characterised by long dry spells during one
or more parts of the crop season, the district experiences drought
conditions too often, as no major irrigation system exists to
cushion the vagaries of the monsoon.
Source
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