This city was ruled by several dynasties including famous Kalingas during 7th century, Chankya's during 8th century, Rajahmundry Reddy kings, Cholas, Golkonda Nawabs etc., Archaeological sources, however, reveal that the temple was possibly built between the 11th and 12th centuries AD by the Chola king, Kulottunga. A shipping merchant, Sankarayya Chetty, built one of the mandapams, or pillared halls of the temple. Though it no longer exists - it may have been washed away about 100 years ago by a cyclonic storm - elderly residents of Vizag talk of visits to the ancient shrine by their grandparents.
Rama also met Jambavan, a bear man, who helped him in his battle with Ravana. It was here, too, that Bheema defeated the demon Bakasura - the Pandava's huge stone club can be seen in the
Godavari, has also been mentioned in Hindu and Buddhist texts from the 5th and 6th centuries BCE, as well as by Sanskrit grammarians, Panini and Katyayana in the 4th century BCE.This city was ruled by several dynasties: the Kalingas during the 7th century, the Chankyas during the 8th century, and later the Rajahmundry Reddy kings, the Cholas, the Qutb Shahis of Golconda, the Mughal Empire, and the Nizams of Hyderabad.
¨ 260 BCE: Ashoka conquered the Kalinga empire (of which Vizag was a part).
¨ 208: Chandra Sri Satakarni was king of this region.
¨ 11th century:
¨ 13th century:
¨ 1515:
¨ Mid-17th century: A factory was founded in "
¨ 1652: Foundation of the most powerful zamindari family of the area, the Pusapatis of Vizianagaram.
¨ 1689: The Britush factory was occupied by the forces of Aurangzeb.
¨ 1735: Duth Colony was established.
¨ 1765: The territory of the
¨ 1904: Railway from
¨ 1923 :
¨ 1926:
¨ 1933: Visakhapatnam Port established.
¨ 1942: Japanese war planes attack Vizag.
¨ 1947: Eastern Naval Command established its base here. Before 1947 the Royal Navy had a base in HMIS Sircars.
¨ 1949: Scindia Shipyard started. Later nationalised and called Hindustan Shipyard.
¨ 1953: The Boat Repair Shop expanded into a Base Repair Organisation (BRO) and shifted to the location at the mouth of the northwest channel.
¨ 1957: A petroleum refinery by Caltex, currently owned by HPCL.
¨ 1965: Two survey ships, "Jumna" and "Investigator", were permanently rebased at
¨ 1971: INS Rajput of the Indian Navy destroys the Pakistani submarine Ghazi in the Indo-Pak War off the coast of
¨ 1981: Visakhapatnam Steel Plant commenced operations.
Pronunciation? (also Viúâkhapaanamu, shortened and anglicized: Vizag or Vizagapatnam or waltair) is a port city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh(Coastal Andhra Pradesh). It is located on the eastern shore of
Alternatively, it sometimes goes by its now mostly defunct colonial British name, Waltair. During the colonial era, the city had at its hub the Waltair railway station, and that part of the city still goes by the name of Waltair. It is also popularly referred to as "Vizag", a shortening of its full name. It is sometimes also referred to as the "City of
Andhra University, a prominent seat of education in Andhra Pradesh, is located here.
Vizag is primarily an industrial city, apart from being a tourist destination. Tourists are attracted by its unspoilt beaches, nearby scenic Araku Valley and Borra caves, the 11th-century Simhachalam temple and ancient Buddhist sites spread across the area, the development of IT sector is fastnening the city view and growth of it. The city boasts a submarine museum, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, at
From being a tiny fishing village in the nineteenth century, Vizag has grown into an industrial hub. In the 1970s and the 1980s the city grew rapidly with a lot of investment in the state-owned Hindustan Shipyard Limited, Vizag Steel and other major industries. Economic liberalization in the 1990s brought a modest growth to the city but not as much as it did to the state capital,
It has a small airport and daily flights from
There has been a rise in the real estate prices, mainly attributed to the Telangana movement for a separate Telangana state; some speculate on Vizag becoming the next capital. Recently various software companies such as Encore
Another improtant landmark in the eduation map of
Coming down to the primary, high school and college level,
There is a wide diversity in which, there are schools for different boards like ICSE, CBSE and State. There are co-educational as well as separate schools for boys and girls. There are also schools for the physically and mentally challenged. Few popular schools are -
Ø St. Aloysius Anglo-Indian High School
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Ø St
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Ø Sri Satya Sai Vidya Vihar
Ø Mahendra Infotech
Ø MATRIX The
Ø Tiny
The city's growth has mostly been due to its heavy industries (both state-owned and private), such as:
Ø HPCL – Oil Refinery (Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited)
Ø Visakhapatnam Steel Plant Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL)Vizag Steel Plant
Ø Bharat Heavy Plate and Vessels Ltd (BHPV).
Ø Hindustan Shipyard Limited
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Ø Coromandel Fertilizers
Ø National Thermal Power Corporation
Ø Rain Calcining Limited
Ø Essar Pelletization Plant (Recently a major expansion occurred. The iron ore now used by this plant comes via a pipeline 267km long from Bailadila, helping reduce transportation costs substantially.)
Ø HSBC
Ø Book and Host Online Services (Official IN Registrar)
Its traditional importance in ship-building is confirmed by the fact that
Vizag city has about 50 small and medium software and call centre units, of which about 10 units started their operations during the year 2005-06; the foremost being HSBC followed by Encore India. Software exports from the
Despite being on the coast, Vizag was little affected by the disastrous December, 2004 Tsunami, although the tsunami did wash the stock of some fish warehouses out to sea. Vizag was recently expanded into Greater Visakha, incorporating the steel plant and previous areas on the outskirts, such as Gajuwaka and Madhurawada, into the city limits. This also increased Vizag's population by approximately 500,000 people. Vizag recently hosted the Presidential Fleet, which was attended by the His Excellency, the President of India, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. The Navy showed its prowess, and watching it was a treat for the locals of Vizag. Recently such companies as Encore
References:
Ø http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visakhapatnam
Ø http://www.visakha.org/index.cfm
Ø http://www.vizagcityonline.com/indexfirst.htm
Ø http://visakhapatnam.nic.in/distglance.htm