SwaPrep presents · A chapter in Geography
From a broken wall of hills to the widest deltas in India — this is the journey across the land whose shape decides where Andhra Pradesh farms, mines, and lives.
7 acts · 14 scenes · scroll to play↓
I
On June 2, 2014, Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated under the AP Reorganisation Act, losing Hyderabad to Telangana. The residual state kept 13 districts — reorganized into 26 in 2022 — and, more importantly, kept its geographic wealth: an extensive coastline, the great river deltas, and a mineral-rich interior. What remained is a land of extremes, stretching from the tribal hills of Uttarandhra to the drought-prone Rayalaseema plateau and the fertile coastal deltas between them.
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All of Andhra Pradesh resolves into three physiographic regions. The Coastal Plains are low-lying alluvial flats covering roughly 35 per cent of the state, rarely rising above 100 metres. The Eastern Ghats run through the middle as discontinuous hill ranges — about 25 per cent of the area, climbing from 300 to 1,500 metres. And the Deccan Plateau of Rayalaseema, an undulating semi-arid tableland at 300 to 600 metres, takes the largest share at around 40 per cent.
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II
The Eastern Ghats run some 1,750 kilometres along peninsular India, and Andhra Pradesh holds about 40 per cent of their total area — the largest share of any state. Yet in AP this wall is not continuous: the Godavari, the Krishna and the Pennar have each cut clean through it, leaving a chain of broken ranges instead of an unbroken ridge. The hills average 600 to 900 metres and wear a cover of dry deciduous forest.
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Each broken segment of the wall has its own name and character. The Nallamala Hills of Kurnool, Nandyal and Prakasam hold the Srisailam temple and India's largest Tiger Reserve. The Seshachalam Hills of Tirupati and Annamayya carry Tirumala, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, and the precious Red Sanders. Further north, the Ananthagiri Hills around Araku in Visakhapatnam grow coffee and hide the Borra Caves, while the Palakonda range watches over the tribal country of Srikakulam and Vizianagaram. The Velikonda range walls the eastern flank of the Cuddapah basin, and Horseley Hills in Chittoor rises to about 1,265 metres as a hill station.
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The state's highest ground gathers in its tribal northeast. Jindhagada Peak in ASR district stands at about 1,690 metres — the highest point in Andhra Pradesh — with Arma Konda just behind it at roughly 1,680 metres in the same district. Galikonda in Visakhapatnam reaches about 1,643 metres, while far to the south Horseley Hills tops out near 1,265 metres and the Seshachalam range near 1,000.
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III
Between the hills and the sea runs the Andhra Plain — the Circars — stretching from Srikakulam in the north to Nellore in the south. At the deltas it spreads 100 to 130 kilometres inland, making it the widest coastal plain in India. Built grain by grain from the alluvium of the Godavari, the Krishna and the Pennar, it is extremely fertile and forms the state's main rice-growing belt.
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The Godavari builds one of India's largest deltas across East Godavari and Konaseema districts, splitting into the Gautami Godavari in the north and the Vasishta Godavari in the south. At its seaward edge stands the Coringa mangrove forest, the second largest in India. This is the state's primary rice and coconut country.
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The Krishna delta spreads across Krishna and NTR districts with parts of Guntur and West Godavari — fertile rice and sugarcane land anchored by Machilipatnam, the historic port. Between the Krishna and Godavari deltas lies Kolleru Lake, a Ramsar site. Far to the south, the smaller Pennar delta in SPSR Nellore ends at Pulicat Lake, the second largest brackish lagoon in India, where aquaculture is a significant livelihood.
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IV
Inland from the hills, the journey climbs onto the Deccan Plateau of Rayalaseema — the interior districts of Kurnool, Nandyal, Anantapur, Sri Sathya Sai, YSR Kadapa, Annamayya and Chittoor. At 300 to 600 metres, this is semi-arid country receiving only 550 to 750 millimetres of rain a year. Anantapur, at about 550 millimetres, is the driest district in Andhra Pradesh.
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Beneath Rayalaseema lies the Cuddapah Basin, a crescent-shaped formation about 1.9 billion years old — one of the oldest geological structures in India — rich in limestone, barytes and uranium. The plateau's soils tell the same two-tone story: black cotton soil along the Guntur–Kurnool belt, and red soil across most of the rest of Rayalaseema.
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V
Four water bodies define the state's map. Kolleru, between West Godavari and Krishna, is the largest freshwater lake in AP and a Ramsar site. Pulicat, shared between Nellore and Tamil Nadu, is India's second largest brackish lagoon. And on the Krishna river stand the two great man-made waters: the Srisailam Reservoir between Nandyal and Kurnool with its massive hydroelectric capacity, and Nagarjuna Sagar between Guntur and Palnadu, one of the largest man-made lakes anywhere.
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The land's character changes with its soil. Alluvial soil in the coastal deltas grows rice, sugarcane and coconut, while the black regur of the Krishna–Guntur belt and Kurnool carries cotton, chillies and tobacco. Red soil — covering most of the Rayalaseema interior — supports millets, groundnut and pulses. Laterite in the Visakhapatnam hills allows limited coffee and pepper, and the sandy coastal strip yields coconut and cashew.
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VI
Geography hardens into identity in AP's three cultural regions. Uttarandhra — Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Parvathipuram Manyam, ASR, Visakhapatnam and Anakapalli — is the hilly, tribal northeast living on rice and fishing. Coastal Andhra, the belt from Kakinada to Nellore, holds the fertile deltas: the rice bowl and the most urbanized stretch of the state. Rayalaseema, the eight districts from Kurnool to Chittoor, is the semi-arid, drought-prone plateau whose wealth lies in its minerals.
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VII
APPSC tests this chapter through matchings, so memorize the pairs. Hill ranges to districts: Nallamala with Kurnool and Nandyal, Seshachalam with Tirupati, Ananthagiri with Visakhapatnam's Araku. Deltas to their signatures: Godavari with the Coringa mangroves, Krishna with Kolleru Lake, Pennar with Pulicat Lake. Jindhagada Peak at about 1,690 metres in ASR district is the most frequently asked single fact, and the Cuddapah Basin — 1.9 billion years old, holding limestone, barytes and uranium — anchors the geology questions. For comparatives, keep the three-region contrast sharp: Rayalaseema dry and mineral-rich, Coastal Andhra fertile and urban, Uttarandhra hilly and tribal.
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End of chapter
Hill ranges, peaks, deltas, lakes, and district links — the matching tables in the full notes are where the marks live. Open them, then test yourself.
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