Vijayawada

Largest city of the belt and the historic commercial capital of the Krishna delta; seat of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation and headquarters of NTR district. Wikipedia notes the city now spans NTR, Krishna and Guntur districts, with the core in NTR. POPULATION CONFLICT (unresolved): Wikipedia gives 1,021,806 for the 2011 city; citypopulation.de's Census-2011 Krishna table gives 1,143,232; a figure of 1,034,358 also circulates for the municipal corporation. The gap is presumably city proper versus agglomeration but no source consulted says so. TRADE HISTORY: Wikipedia records diamond mines found near Vijayawada on the banks of the Krishna in the early 16th century under the Qutb Shahi dynasty, and describes the modern city as a major agricultural trading hub - the Nunna mango market is called one of the largest in Asia - with trading and exporting markets for agricultural and industrial goods and a petroleum storage and bottling role. This is the richest town in the region for Arya Vysya institutional presence, though only directory-level evidence for individual institutions could be obtained. | ALSO: TIER 1 + TIER 3. Municipal corporation (municipality 1888, selection grade 1960, upgraded to corporation 1981). District HQ of NTR district. POPULATION CONFLICT - three published 2011 figures: 1,021,806 (Wikipedia city infobox), 1,039,518 (Vijayawada Municipal Corporation article), 1,143,232 (citypopulation.de, M Corp incl. outgrowths). Corporation area 61.88 km2; 64 wards as of 2021. | ALSO: Alternate 2011 figure for the corporation area (527,307 male / 512,211 female). Duplicate record retained deliberately to preserve the source conflict. | ALSO: Third published 2011 figure, status 'MC'. 2001 population 851,282. Duplicate record retained deliberately to preserve the source conflict.