Andhra Pradesh is a state situated on the south-eastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Hyderabad. The State has the second longest coastline (972 km) among all the States in India.
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 (12 sq mi (30 km�)) of the Yanam district of Puducherry (Pondicherry) state lies in the Godavari Delta in north-east of the state.
Historically the region comprising the state was known as Andhraapatha, Andhradesa, Andhraavani, and Andhra vishaya. Andhra Pradesh was formed by merging Telugu speaking areas of Hyderabad State and Andhra State on November 1, 1956.
