Andhra Pradesh's projected administrative capital, Visakhapatnam, is the state's largest and most populated city. It is located among the Eastern Ghats and the Bay of Bengal's shore. After Chennai, it is India's second-largest city on the east coast and the 4th-largest in South India. It is the capital of the Visakhapatnam region and is one of the 4 smart cities in Andhra Pradesh designated under the Smart Cities Mission.

Visakhapatnam was founded in the 6th century BCE as part of the Kalinga Kingdom and was afterward governed by the Vengi, Pallava, and Eastern Ganga kingdoms. According to archaeological evidence, the current city was erected during the 11th and 12th centuries, with power shifting between the Chola dynasty and the Gajapati Kingdom until the Vijayanagara Empire conquered it in the 15th century. After the collapse of the Vijayanagara kingdom and the Gajapatis in the 16th century, the Jeypore Kingdom conquered the western coast of North Andhra, encompassing Visakhapatnam, and it stayed a component of it until the coming of the British in 1711.

Until the royal state was disbanded in 1947, the Maharaja of Jeypore was known as the Maharaja of Visakhapatnam. By the end of the eighteenth century, European nations had encouraged trade activities in the town, and it was under French colonial administration. In 1804 the East India Company took control, and the country continued under British colonial authority until 1947 when India gained freedom.