ANANTAPUR, a town and district of India, in the Madras presidency. The town has a station on the Madras railway, 62 m. S.E. from Bellary. Pop. (1901) 7938.
The district of Anantapur was constituted in 1882 out of the unwieldy district of Bellary. It has an area of 5557 sq. m., and in its northern and central portions is a high plateau, generally undulating, with large granite rocks or low hill ranges rising here and there above its surface. In the southern portion of the district the surface is more hilly, the plateau there rising to 2600 ft. above the sea. There is a remarkable fortress rock at Gooty, 2171 ft. above the sea, and a similar but larger rock at Penukonda, with an elevation equal to that of Bangalore, about 3100 ft. Gooty fortress was a stronghold of the Mahrattas, but was taken from them by Hyder Ali. In 1789 it was ceded by Tippoo to the nizam, and in 1800 the nizam ceded the district of Anantapur with others to the British in payment for a subsidiary British force. The population in 1901 was 788,254, showing an increase of 8% in the decade. The principal crops are millet, rice, other food grains, pulse, oil seeds and cotton. There are several steam factories for pressing cotton. Two railways traverse the district.