Vishakhapatnam, city and port in southeastern India, in Andhra Pradesh State, and capital of Vishakhapatnam District. Located on the Bay of Bengal, the city is a rail-spur terminus in the Eastern Ghats region and the principal shipbuilding center on the eastern coast. Other industries include fish freezing, sawmilling, coir (coconut fiber) and hemp processing, sugar milling, distilling, and shipping of manganese, fish, sugar, and oilseed. The city has a thermal power station. Several colleges affiliated with Andhra University (1926) are in Vishakhapatnam. The main campus is in nearby Waltair, a rail junction and resort, which also is the site of the affiliated Saint Joseph's College for Women. Simhachalam, a pilgrimage center northwest of the city, contains a 12th-century temple dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu. Vishakhapatnam was a mid-17th-century English trading post; it was bombed by the Japanese in 1942, during World War II. The name is also spelled Visakhapatam, and the city was formerly called Vizagapatam or Vizagapatnam. Population (1991) 752,037.Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001
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