Cuddapah

Cuddapah, later called Kadapa, lay at a pass between the Nallamala and Palkonda hills, south of the Penna River. The Telugu name Gadapa means threshold, reflecting its role on routes from the dry Rayalaseema uplands toward Tirumala and the coastal plain. Red and black ferrous soils extended around the city, while forests covered much of the surrounding hills.

After the Kakatiyas and the Delhi conquest, the Vijayanagara rulers dominated the region from the fourteenth century. Pemmasani Timma Nayudu, governing in the 1420s, fortified the area, built reservoirs and endowed temples. His works supported cultivation and made Kadapa a local center within the Vijayanagara order. The Nayaka and Golkonda rulers later added their own fortifications and landholdings.

In 1594 Golkonda forces captured Gandikota and extended Qutb Shahi authority over the district. The Marathas seized Kadapa in 1740 before Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan controlled it between 1784 and 1792. The Treaty of Seringapatam then transferred it to the Nizam, whose authority gave way to the British in 1800. Each regime relied on the same hills, tanks and road junction, making administration and dry-season movement the city’s persistent strengths.