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Kadapa city was a part of the Chola Empire from the 11th to 14th century. It became part of Vijayanagar Empire in the latter part of 14th century. The region was under the control of Gandikota Nayaks, governors of Vijayanagar for two centuries. The most illustrious ruler was Pemmasani Thimma Nayudu (1422 CE) (Pemmasani Nayaks) who developed the region and constructed many tanks and temples. Muslims of Golkonda conquered the region in 1565 CE when Mir Jumla raided Gandikota fort and defeated Chinna Thimma Nayudu by treachery[2]. Later the British took control of Kadapa in 1800 CE. Although the town is an ancient one, it was probably extended by Neknam Khan, the Qutb Shahi commander, who called the extension "Neknamabad".[3] The name "Neknamabad" was used for the town for some time but slowly fell into disuse and the records of the 18th century refer to the rulers not as Nawabs of Nekanamabad but nawabs of Kadapa. Except for some years in the beginning, Kadapa was the seat of the Mayana Nawabs in the 18th century. With the British occupation of the tract in 1800 CE it became the headquarters of one of the four subordinate collectors under the principal collector by name Major Munro. Relics of the rule of the Kadapa Nawabs are found in the town. Most prominent among these are two towers and the dargahs. The city has plenty of temples in and around the city and also has three churches. It has got lots of historical places to visit. Ontimitta is one of the famous place in Kadapa. Ontimitta is called as Yeka Shila Nagaram.

Kadapa, the lovely city of Andhra Pradesh, has loads of interesting places to visit. Be it archeological museums, prehistoric temples or the natural beauty, this historically significant city comprises many attractions that can mesmerize any beholder with their charm. On your tour to Cuddapah, you can glimpse the assorted culture of the city along with its lively people. Given below is information on the major tourist attractions of the city, which will help you in forming an itinerary for sightseeing tours.

The name Kurnool is said to be derived from Kandenavolu or Kandanavolu (a Telugu name by which it is referred to in the inscriptions and literature of the past). According to the legend, in the time of the Western Chalukyas of Badami in the 11th century AD, the Vadderas who carted stones for the construction of the temples at Alampur (also known as Dakshina Kasi in Mahaboobnagar District), used the site on which the city now stands as a resting place before crossing the Tungabhadra. Here, they greased their cart-wheels with oil, which was supplied by some of the local oil mongers. They called the place Kandenametta.

Villages have existed at this site for more than 2,000 years.

The Chinese traveller Xuanzang, on his way to Kanchi, came through Kurnool.

Aurangazeb, the last Mogul King to rule India, conquered the Deccan in 1687 and left his governors, the Nizams, to rule the Andhra centres of Hyderabad and Kurnool. Both the Nizam of Hyderabad and Nawab of Kurnool declared independence and became sole rulers of their territories. Nawab Alaf Khan Bahadur was the first ruler of Kurnool and his descendants ruled it for over 200 years. In the early 18th century, the Nawabs merged with the sultan of Mysore and fought the British Empire.

Mantralayam is famous for the ‘Samadhi' of the well-known Vaishnaviite saint, Sri Raghavendra Teertha.

Followers of the saint consider him to be an incarnation of Bhakta Prahallada, who was saved by Vishnu in the avatar of Narasimha. Shri Raghavendra Swamy is said to have performed many miracles during his lifetime and has a large following even today.

Nellore was known by the name of Vikrama Simhapuri till 13th century. The district had an important role during the emergence of the Telugu language and the formation of the state of Andhra Pradesh. It had been under the rule of Maurya Dynasty, Kharavela of Chedi dynasty, Satavahanas, Kakatiyas, Pallavas, Cholas, Eastern Gangas of Kalinga Empire , Telugu Cholas, Pandyas and other dynasties.
The city derives its name from the Tamil, “nelli” which means rice, as paddy cultivation is the predominant occupation in this region. Nothing certain is known of the History of Nellore before the time of the Cholas. The Neolithic age in Nellore is more obscure than the Paleolithic age. It is not clear to what extent this district was occupied by the Dravidians. It is supposed that Nellore was situated in Dandakaranya forests into which the Aryas first penetrated as adventurous sages with the rise of the Mauryan Empire. Nellore came under Mauryan influence and was part of the Ashokan Empire in the 3rd century B.C. It was next included in the Pallava Dominion between the fourth and sixth century A.D.
Before the district was taken over the British it was ruled by the Nawabs. During the British rule the district was at peace and did not undergo any major political changes.
The period after Indian independence brought about major political changes in the district. Until 1 October 1953, the district was part of the Madras (now Chennai) state but on 1 November, 1956 when the states were recognised on the basis of linguistic differences, the state of Andhra Pradesh came into existence. During that time Nellore played an important role in the formation of the state and Potti Sriramulu, a Telugu patriot and activist had given a lot of effort to set up Andhra Pradesh.

Nizamabad was formerly known as Induru and Indrapuri. It was ruled by the king Indra Vallabha Panthya Varsha Indra Som, of the Rashtrakuta Dynasty, in the 8th century, and took its name from him. In 1905 the railway line between Secundrabad and Manmad was constructed. The railway station was named after then ruler of the Nizam state Nizam-ul-Mulk as Nizamabad. The railway line connects Hyderabad and Mumbai. It is like North-South corridor. Has the distance of 161 km (100 mi) from Hyderabad and 640 km (400 mi) from Mumbai.
The Nizam Sagar dam was constructed in the year 1923 across the Manjira River at the village of (Achampeta) Achampet. It irrigates 250,000 acres (1,000 km2; 390 sq mi) of land in Nizamabad district.

Nizamabad is in the north of Andhra Pradesh in the district of Nizamabad. It has many towns like Bodhan, Armuru, Kamareddy and Banswada, In Bodhan town there is Nizam Sugar Factory. In early years it was the biggest in the Asian continent. Bodhan is a town with a mixture of people from many cultural and religious backgrounds, consisting primarily of Hindus and Muslims as well as Christians and other religious communities. Once it was the capital at the time of the Rashtrakuta Empire.

Recently, Telangana University was established at Nizamabad, which serves the three districts of Adilabad, Medak and Nizamabad.

It has Sri Varahalakshmi Narasimha Swamy as the presiding deity. Simhachalam temple is known as the second richest temple (after Tirupati) earning a revenue of Rs. 520 million. The statue of the deity gives "nijaroopa darshan" (holy appearance in true form) for only 12 hours in a year i.e on Akshaya Tritiya day, the rest of the time the statue is covered with sandalwood paste. The darshan described as chandana yatra or chandanotsavam falls every year in Vaisakha masa (May).
The deity at Simhachalam, the lion-man incarnation of Lord Mahavishnu is usually covered with sandalwood paste. The original shape of the deity in the tribhanga posture has two hands with the head of a lion on a human torso.An inscription dated as far back as 1098 AD of the Chola king Kuloththunga provides some clue as to its antiquity. Another inscription shows a queen of the Velavadu chief Ganga (1137-56 AD) covering the image with gold while a third inscription says the eastern Ganga King Narasimha built the central shrine in 1267 A.D. With more than 252 inscriptions describing the antecedents of the temple, it is a historically important monument.
Sri Krishna Deva Raya after defeating Prataparudra Gajapathi visited the shrine twice in 1516 AD and 1519 AD and offered numerous villages for maintenance of bhogam (worship) along with valuable jewellery of which an emerald necklace is still in the temple. For the last two centuries the family of the Raja of Vizianagaram have been the temple's trustees.

This region of Andhra Pradesh was part of Kalinga region at first and later a part of Gajapati kingdom of Orissa up to mediaeval period.It was in the 'Kutubshahi' ruling in 1687 Srikakulam (Gulshanabad) was a village and formed as fauzdhari-center for their money transactions for the areas of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Vishakhapatnam, and some parts of Orissa. The word Gulshanabad derives from Persian words Gulistan\Gulshan that means Rose garden and abad (creation). It was developed as town in the Muslim ruling, even today you can find more than 10,000 Muslims living in this town following their culture,tradition and values. Srikakulam has also been head quarter for revenue collection under Nizam state of Hyderabad since 1707. Nizams of Hyderabad assigned Gulshanabad (Srikakulam), Rajahmundry, Eluru and Mustafanagar (Kondapalli) districts to French India in 1753. French imperialists were driven out from these districts by British imperialists in 1756 during Anglo-French wars.

In 1759 the Fauzdhari ruling was ended and British ruling started, and Srikakulam town has been made part of Ganjam district and Palakonda and Rajam areas were included in Vizag district in the undivided Madras province. In 1936 the combined Madras-Orissa state was divided to Madras and Orissa and Parlakimidi Taluk was separated from combined Madras state, hence the Srikakulam was remained as Srikaklam taluk, Srikakulam town as Srikakulam municipality since 1857 under British rule. In 1947 after Indian independence, many including Potti Sriramulu fought for separate Andhra State. In 1948 many demanded for Srikakulam district as it was in combined vizag district. First 'chintada' village was proposed as district head-quarter by some central leaders. It was on 17 July 1950, a representation was given by Challa Narasimhu naidu, an eminent leader, Pullela Vemkataramanayya (P.V. Ramanayya), who was an Eminent Advocate and Public Prosecutor and also a Freedom Fighter to the then Revenue Minister H. Sitaramareddy on his visit to this area, and requested to select Srikakulam as District head-quarters at his camp office in Vizianagaram. Minister H. Sitaramareddy personally saw some places in srikakulam for selection. Then MLA of this area Garemalla Kumaraswami gave a speech on the dias of the meeting arranged on honour of the minister indicating that many important towns and capitals in the world were situated on the banks of rivers like England (Thames River), Srirangam (Kaveri), Agra (Yamuna), Kashi (Ganga), Rajamundry (Godavari), Vijayawada (Krishan) etc., and for Srikakulam it is Nagavali and convinced the minister Sitaramareddy. Along with Rokkam Ramamurty, Pullela Venkataramanyya (P.V. Ramanayya), Pasagada Suryanarayana, Baratam Venkataramanayya, Mangu Raghavarao followed Garemella Kumaraswami as group to convince and represent the request memorandum. The minister decided and selected Srikakulam as head-quarters after reaching Madras then state capital. Kimidi Kalavenkatarao ex-revenue minister in the combined Madras state had done a lot for formation of this District, who was the grandfather of present Vunukuru MLA Kalavenkatarao. On 15 August 1950, at about 4.00 p.m. the district was announced with Srikakulam town as headquarters and with three revenue divisions Palakonda, Srikakulam and Tekkali. At first, Parvatipuram revenue division was part of Srikakulam district and later transferred to Vizianagaram district. Mr. Night was the then collector in the combined Vizag Srikakulam and Mr. Janab Shek Ahammadh appointed as first district collector for separated Srikakulam. On 3 January 1951, the first District Board was formed and Rokkam Laxmi Narasimha Dora was elected as president.