Andhra Pradesh
Telugu: ఆంధ్ర ప్రదేశ్
is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third among all states in India. The State has the second-longest coastline of 972 km (604 mi) among all the States in India. The primary official language of Andhra Pradesh is Telugu and Urdu is the secondary official language in some places, while other languages spoken in Andhra Pradesh are Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, Oriya. 10281 persons declare English as their first language in Andhra Pradesh according to the 2001 census.
Andhra Pradesh lies between 12°41' and 22°N latitude and 77° and 84°40'E longitude, and is bordered by Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Orissa in the north, the Bay of Bengal in the East, Tamil Nadu to the south and Karnataka to the west. Andhra Pradesh is historically called the "Rice Bowl of India". More than 77% of its crop is rice; Andhra Pradesh produced 17,796,000 tonnes of rice in 2006. Two major rivers, the Godavari and the Krishna, run across the state. The small enclave (30 square kilometres (12 sq mi)) of Yanam, a district of Puducherry, lies in the Godavari Delta in the northeast of the state.
On 1 November 1956, the States Reorganization Act formed Andhra Pradesh by merging Telugu-speaking areas of Hyderabad State(Telangana) and the already existing Andhra State.
