title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: The fourth-generation introduces another 107 new species of Pokémon (starting with Turtwig and ending with Arceus), bringing the number of Pokémon species to 493. This generation is the first to have 3D graphics in the main series game, although it is still a mixture of both 3D graphics and sprites. New gameplay concepts include a restructured move-classification system, online multiplayer trading and battling via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, the return (and expansion) of the second generation's day-and-night system, the expansion of the third generation's Pokémon Contests into "Super Contests", and the new region of Sinnoh, which has an underground component for multiplayer gameplay in addition to the main overworld. Secret Bases also appear in Sinnoh but can only be created and housed in Sinnoh's underground. "HeartGold" and "SoulSilver" also introduced the Pokéathlon to the Johto region, which consists of many Pokémon based sporting events making use of the stylus.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: Spin-off games in the fourth generation include the "Pokémon Stadium" follow-up "Pokémon Battle Revolution" for Wii (which has Wi-Fi connectivity as well), "" and "" for Nintendo DS, and their sister game, "" all for the Nintendo DS, a co-starring role for Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Lucario, and a Pokémon Trainer (who uses Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard for fighting) in the 2008 Wii fighter "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" as well as a great adventure for Pikachu and friends in .


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: The fifth generation of "Pokémon" began on September 18, 2010, with the release of "Pokémon Black" and "White" in Japan. They were then released in North America, Europe, and Australia in March 2011. They have released on the Nintendo DS, the same console as its predecessing generation.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: The games take place in the Unova region. New features include the C-Gear, a feature where players can use Wi-Fi options and customizations; two new battle methods ("Triple Battles", where three Pokémon are sent out at once, and Rotation Battles, where three Pokémon are also sent out at the same time, but the trainer can switch one Pokémon out of the three that are present); "Battle Tests", where trainers battle each other to see who has stronger Pokémon; the Pokémon Musicals (similar to Pokémon Contests), which have trainers use their Pokémon to dance in a theater with other Pokémon; and the ability to not waste Technical Machines (TMs), also when found the first time.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: This generation introduced a total of 156 new Pokémon (beginning with Victini and ending with Genesect), the most of any generation so far. It was also the first generation where the first new Pokémon in National Pokédex order (Victini) is not a starter. It also introduced another new feature, the seasons, which two Pokémon (Deerling and Sawsbuck) represent. Unlike previous generations, which would introduce some species of Pokémon that were evolutionary relatives of older-generation Pokémon, the fifth generation's selection was all-original, in an attempt to make the primary versions feel like a brand-new game.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: The other main series games, and the additions to "Black" and "White", titled "Pokémon Black 2" and "White 2", are direct sequels. They take place in the Unova region two years later and were released in Japan on June 23, 2012, and in North America, Australia, and Europe in October of that year for Nintendo DS. They are somewhat different of their predecessors; there are different protagonist trainers, and many of the other important characters have changed as well. The games also introduced a new feature, the "Pokémon World Tournament", where trainers can battle gym leaders and champions from older regions, including Unova. The games also broke the tradition of releasing a third version as an addition to the primary versions.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: Spin-off fifth generation games include sequels "Pokémon Rumble Blast" and "" for Nintendo 3DS, "" for Wii, and "Pokémon Rumble U" for Wii U, a downloadable game. Others include "" (a typing game) and "Pokémon Conquest" (a crossover game) for Nintendo DS, and downloadable reference applications "Pokédex 3D", "Pokédex 3D Pro" (for Nintendo 3DS), and "Pokédex for iOS" (for iOS devices), which allows players to view information of Pokémon species while they have 3D models. Various fifth generation Pokémon have appeared in "Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS" and "Wii U" and "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" including Reshiram and Zekrom, Klinklang, Axew, Druddigon, and more.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: On December 24, 2012, Japanese magazine "Nintendo Dream" posted a greetings card sent out by Game Freak. In the card, Junichi Masuda exclaimed that during 2013, they intend to further evolve the world of Pokémon. On December 29, 2012, a new "Pokémon Black 2" and "White 2" commercial aired in Japan, and ending with a message, informing Pokémon fans that the latest news would be announced on January 8, 2013. On January 4, 2013, both the Japanese and English Pokémon website confirmed that an announcement would be made on January 8. On January 7, 2013, the Japanese website explained that the Nintendo president, Satoru Iwata would hold a 10-minute "Pokémon Direct" video conference to announce the big Pokémon news. On January 8, 2013, Satoru Iwata announced the sixth generation of Pokémon, with the new paired games, "Pokémon X" and "Y", which were released on the Nintendo 3DS on October 12, 2013, worldwide. The "X" and "Y" games are rendered in full 3D; however, only select parts of the game can be displayed in stereoscopic 3D. The video introduced the player characters, the starter Pokémon; Grass-type Chespin (Japanese: ), the Fire-type Fennekin (Japanese: ), and the Water-type Froakie (Japanese: ), and two other Pokémon, not named until later; a bird-like Pokémon called having a shape similar to the letter Y and a deer-like Pokémon called with X-shapes in its eyes. A month later, Sylveon (Japanese: ), a new evolved form of Eevee belonging to the games' new Fairy-type was revealed and is currently the last Eeveelution to be revealed.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: This generation introduced a total of 72 new Pokémon, the new Fairy type, Mega Evolution, the Kalos region, Trainer customization, Super Training, and three new battle modes: Sky Battles, Horde Encounters, and Inverse Battle. This generation is also the first to be compatible with Pokémon Bank.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: Greninja, the final evolved form of Froakie, would later go on to represent the sixth generation of Pokémon in the hit fighting game, "Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS" and "Wii U".


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: On May 7, 2014, Nintendo revealed the games "Pokémon Omega Ruby" and "Alpha Sapphire" in a teaser trailer, remakes of the third generation games "Pokémon Ruby" and "Sapphire". They were released worldwide in November 2014.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: On August 26, 2014, "Pokkén Tournament" was announced and was released on July 16, 2015, in Japanese arcades and was released on March 18, 2016, worldwide for Wii U. It was developed by Bandai Namco Entertainment. In July 2016, Niantic and Nintendo released a free-to-play augmented reality game titled "Pokémon Go" which was released for Android and iOS devices.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: During a Nintendo Direct presentation on February 26, 2016, two new "Pokémon" titles were announced, titled "Pokémon Sun" and "Moon". The games were released on the Nintendo 3DS on November 18, 2016, in Japan, North America, and Australia, and in Europe on November 23, 2016. The games were the first since the second generation to be backwards-compatible with other titles, including "Pokémon X" and "Y"; "Pokémon Omega Ruby" and "Alpha Sapphire"; and the Virtual Console re-releases of "Pokémon Red", "Blue" and "Yellow". On June 6, 2017, "Pokémon Ultra Sun" and "Ultra Moon" were announced. The two games offer new additions to the story of "Pokémon Sun" and "Moon", including new features, and was released worldwide on the Nintendo 3DS on November 17, 2017. On May 29, 2018, two new "Pokémon" games in the main "Pokémon" franchise, , were announced. They are remakes of "Pokémon Yellow" with gameplay mechanics borrowed from "Pokémon Go" and were released worldwide on the Nintendo Switch on November 16, 2018.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: In total, this generation introduced 88 new Pokémon, Alolan forms, trials, Z-moves, Poké Pelago, and Festival Plaza. It was also the first one to introduce Pokémon mid-generation, with five new Pokémon making their debut in "Pokémon Ultra Sun" and "Ultra Moon", and two new Pokémon debuting in "Let's Go, Pikachu!" and "Let's Go, Eevee!"


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: During E3 2017, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company announced that Game Freak was developing a new core "Pokémon" role-playing game set to release for the Nintendo Switch in "2018 or later." The game is the eighth generation of "Pokémon".


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: Along with the announcement of it was confirmed that another core "Pokémon" role-playing game would be released in late 2019. It was clarified that the 2019 game was the one mentioned during E3 2017, not the "Let's Go" games. Game director Junichi Masuda stated that it would also "follow in the tradition of "Pokémon X" and "Y" and "Pokémon Sun" and "Moon"". The CEO of The Pokémon Company, Tsunekazu Ishihara, also confirmed that the upcoming core title would not have influences from "Pokémon Go" like "Let's Go, Pikachu!" and "Let's Go, Eevee!" had.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: On February 27, 2019, on the 23rd anniversary of the franchise, "Pokémon Sword" and "Shield" were confirmed for Nintendo Switch, which were released worldwide on November 15, 2019. "Pokémon Sword and Shield" takes place in the Galar region introducing new Pokémon, Galarian forms, the Champion Cup, Dynamax, Gigantamax forms, Max Raid battles, and Pokémon Camp.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: On January 9, 2020, two expansion packs titled "The Isle of Armor" and "The Crown Tundra" were announced. "The Isle of Armor" was released on June 17, 2020, and "The Crown Tundra" was released on October 22, 2020.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: On November 26, 2020, at the Macy's Thanksgiving parade, "Pokémon" teased its 2021 25th anniversary logo and details for its special celebration "soon".


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: On February 26, 2021, "Brilliant Diamond" and "Shining Pearl" were announced, remakes of the fourth generation games "Pokémon Diamond" and "Pearl" developed by ILCA and set to release later that year. On the same day, "" was announced, a prequel to "Diamond" and "Pearl". "Brilliant Diamond" and "Shining Pearl" were released on November 19, 2021, while "Pokémon Legends: Arceus" was released on January 28, 2022.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: This generation introduced a total of 96 new Pokémon with 81 revealed in "Sword and Shield", 8 revealed in the expansion packs, and 7 revealed in "Pokémon Legends: Arceus".


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: On February 27, 2022, "Pokémon Scarlet" and "Violet" were announced for the Nintendo Switch, with a late 2022 release date. The games were released on November 18, 2022.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: One of the consistent aspects of most "Pokémon" games—spanning from "Pokémon Red" and "Blue" on the Game Boy to the Nintendo 3DS games "Pokémon Ultra Sun" and "Ultra Moon"—is the choice of one of three different Pokémon at the start of the player's adventures; these three are often labeled "starter Pokémon". Players can choose a Pokémon type — Grass-type, Fire-type, or Water-type Pokémon indigenous to that particular region. For example, in "Pokémon Red" and "Blue", the player has the choice of starting with Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle. The exception to this rule is "Pokémon Yellow", where players are given a Pikachu, an Electric-type mouse Pokémon, famous for being the mascot of the Pokémon media franchise; unique to "Pokémon Yellow", the three starter Pokémon from "Red" and "Blue" can be obtained during the quest by a single player.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: Another consistent aspect is that the player's rival will always choose the type that has a type advantage over the player's chosen Pokémon as their starter Pokémon (excluding "Sun" and "Moon" and "Sword" and "Shield".). For instance, if the player picks the Fire-type Charmander, the rival will always pick the Water-type Squirtle. This does not affect the first battle between the rivals, as they can only use Normal-type attacks at this point, meaning that they cannot exploit weaknesses. The exception to this is again "Pokémon Yellow", in which the rival picks Eevee, a Normal-type Pokémon with multiple evolutions. "Sun" and "Moon" also is an exception is this rule, as the rival picks the starter weak toward the player's starter, with the Pokémon that has the type advantage going to a trainer in the Champion battle.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: However, in "Pokémon Black" and "White", there are two rivals; one picks the Pokémon with a type advantage over the player's chosen Pokémon, while the other chooses the Pokémon with the type disadvantage. In "Pokémon Diamond", "Pearl" and "Platinum", another Trainer chooses the Pokémon with a type disadvantage to the player's chosen Pokémon, but never battles the player; instead, this character battles alongside the player as a tag partner in certain situations.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: The situation is similar in "Pokémon X" and "Y", but there are four rivals. Two of them receive the starter Pokémon in an arrangement similar to "Pokémon Black" and "White", but the other two have completely different Pokémon.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: Several "Pokémon" PC games were released for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh. Games from the franchise were also released in Japan for Sega consoles Pico and Advanced Pico Beena. Pokémon are also in "" for Nintendo 64DD as pasteable stickers, and they also appear in "Picross NP Vol. 1" for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: In the "Super Smash Bros." series, Pikachu, Ivysaur, Squirtle, Charizard, Jigglypuff, Pichu, Mewtwo, Lucario, Greninja, and Incineroar have been playable characters. Pikachu and Jigglypuff are introduced in "Super Smash Bros." for the Nintendo 64, and appear in every installment of the franchise. Pichu and Mewtwo feature as playable characters in "Super Smash Bros. Melee" for the GameCube. In "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" for the Wii, Mewtwo and Pichu are not featured as playable characters, although Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard make their first playable appearances as part of the Pokémon Trainer character, while Lucario appears as a separate character. Greninja made its first appearance in "Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS" and "Wii U", Charizard is a standalone character, and Mewtwo returns as a downloadable content character. All of the Pokémon that are playable in previous "Smash Bros." games return in the Nintendo Switch game "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate", which also features Incineroar. Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard are again playable as a part of the Pokémon Trainer character in "Ultimate". Some of the Pokémon also appear as Spirits. Rayquaza is featured as a boss enemy in "Super Smash Bros. Brawl". The series features Poké Balls as items, which, when used by a player, make a random Pokémon appear including Piplup, Bonsly, and Munchlax, with various effects on the game, and "Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS" and "Wii U" have Master Balls, which function like Poké Balls but only summon a rare Pokémon (like Mew, Palkia, and Genesect) or Goldeen. Several Pokémon also appear as stage hazards/in stages, including Rayquaza, Ho-Oh and Manaphy.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: After the first five months of release, the Game Boy games sold almost 3 million copies. They have been credited as a factor in the Game Boy maintaining strong sales in Japan well beyond the typical lifespan of a game system. The series has sold over 279 million units (inclusive of spin-off titles; 210 million for the mainline Pokémon games) as of February 29, 2016, giving it the distinction of being one of the best-selling video game series in history. Guinness World Records awarded the "Pokémon" series eight records in "Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008", including "Most Successful RPG Series of All Time", "Game Series With the Most Spin-Off Movies" and "Most Photosensitive Epileptic Seizures Caused by a TV Show". , the series has sold over units.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: The "Pokémon" video game series is the basis of the "Pokémon" franchise, which includes the "Pokémon" anime, the "Pokémon Trading Card Game", the "Pokémon" manga, and various toys. The anime series has run for over 900 episodes, accompanied by 19 feature films, with a twentieth in production. The trading card game and its expansion sets have grown to around 3,000 unique cards in total, and continue to draw a healthy player base to its official international tournaments. The extent of global toy and merchandise sales since 1996 cover broad markets and high quantities.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: IGN ranked "Pokémon" as the 17th greatest desired game series: "the basic gameplay premise boasts solid, addictive play mechanics, and several of the handheld RPGs deserve to be in every gamer's collection. GamesRadar listed "Pokémon" as the No. 1 Nintendo game "not made by Nintendo", stating that having to catch each Pokémon made the games addictive.


title: Pokémon (video game series)

text: On September 28, 2018, Junichi Masuda revealed that during the early years of developing "Pokémon" games that "game data was nearly lost in a computer crash". Masuda described it as "the most nerve-racking moment in development", saying "“We were developing the game on these Unix computer stations called the Sun SPARCstation 1. We’re developing, and they’re these Unix boxes, and they crashed quite a bit".


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: Guillermo del Toro Gómez (; born October 9, 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and actor. He directed the Academy Award–winning fantasy films "Pan's Labyrinth" (2006) and "The Shape of Water" (2017), winning the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture for the latter.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: Throughout his career, del Toro has shifted between Spanish-language films—such as "Cronos" (1993), "The Devil's Backbone" (2001), and "Pan's Labyrinth—"and English-language films, including "Mimic" (1997), "Blade II" (2002), "Hellboy" (2004), "" (2008), "Pacific Rim" (2013), "Crimson Peak" (2015), "The Shape of Water" (which he later novelized), "Nightmare Alley" (2021), and the stop-motion animated film "Pinocchio" (2022).


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: As a producer or writer, he worked on the films "The Orphanage" (2007), "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" (2010), "The Hobbit" film series (2012–2014), "Mama" (2013), "The Book of Life" (2014), "" (2018), "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" (2019), and "The Witches" (2020). In 2022, he created an anthology horror series for Netflix titled "Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities", featuring a collection of classical horror stories.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: With Chuck Hogan, he co-authored "The Strain" trilogy of novels (2009–2011), later adapted into a comic-book series (2011–15) and a live-action television series (2014–17). With DreamWorks Animation, he created the Netflix animated series "" (2016–18), "" (2018–19), and "" (2020), the three installments of the "Tales of Arcadia" trilogy (as well as a Sequel Movie), based on the 2015 novel he co-wrote with Daniel Kraus. Also with DreamWorks, he executive produced "Puss in Boots" (2011), "Kung Fu Panda 2" (2011), "Rise of the Guardians" (2012), and "Kung Fu Panda 3" (2016).


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: Del Toro's work has been characterized by a strong connection to fairy tales and horror, with an effort to infuse visual or poetic beauty in the grotesque. He has had a lifelong fascination with monsters, which he considers symbols of great power. He is also known for his use of insectile and religious imagery, the themes of Catholicism and celebrating imperfection, underworld and clockwork motifs, practical special effects, dominant amber lighting, and his frequent collaborations with actors Ron Perlman and Doug Jones.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: Del Toro is close friends with fellow Mexican filmmakers Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and they are collectively known as "The Three Amigos of Cinema." He was included in "Time" magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018, and he received a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2019.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: Del Toro was born in Guadalajara, the son of Guadalupe Gómez and automotive entrepreneur Federico del Toro Torres, both of Spanish descent. Raised in a strict Catholic household, he studied at the Centro de Investigación y Estudios Cinematográficos, at the University of Guadalajara. While there he published his first book, a biography of Alfred Hitchcock, a director he has long praised and admired.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: When del Toro was about eight years old, he began experimenting with his father's Super 8 camera, making short films with "Planet of the Apes" toys and other objects. One short focused on a "serial killer potato" with ambitions of world domination; it murdered del Toro's mother and brothers before stepping outside and being crushed by a car. Del Toro made about 10 short films before his first feature, including one titled "Matilde", but only the last two, "Doña Lupe" and "Geometria", have been made available. He wrote four episodes and directed five episodes of the cult series "La Hora Marcada", along with other Mexican filmmakers such as Emmanuel Lubezki and Alfonso Cuarón.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: His first feature was supposed to be stop-motion, and he and his team built sets and about 100 puppets over a three-year period prior to filming. Vandals burglarized the studio one night and destroyed the puppets and sets, which put an end to his project as del Toro decided to switch to a live-action film, "Cronos".


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: Del Toro studied special effects and make-up with special-effects artist Dick Smith. He spent 10 years as a special-effects make-up designer and formed his own company, Necropia. He also co-founded the Guadalajara International Film Festival. Later in his directing career, he formed his own production company, the Tequila Gang.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: In 1997, at the age of 33, Guillermo was given a $30 million budget from Miramax Films (then owned by Disney during time) to shoot another film, "Mimic". He was ultimately unhappy with the way Miramax treated him during production, which led to his friend James Cameron almost coming to blows with Miramax co-founder and owner Harvey Weinstein during the 70th Academy Awards.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: Del Toro has directed a wide variety of films, from comic book adaptations ("Blade II", "Hellboy" and its sequel "") to historical fantasy and horror films, two of which are set in Spain in the context of the Spanish Civil War under the authoritarian rule of Francisco Franco. These two films, "The Devil's Backbone" and "Pan's Labyrinth", are among his most critically acclaimed works. They share similar settings, protagonists and themes with the 1973 Spanish film "The Spirit of the Beehive", widely considered to be the finest Spanish film of the 1970s.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: Del Toro views the horror genre as inherently political, explaining, "Much like fairy tales, there are two facets of horror. One is pro-institution, which is the most reprehensible type of fairy tale: Don't wander into the woods, and always obey your parents. The other type of fairy tale is completely anarchic and antiestablishment."


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: He is close friends with two other prominent and critically praised Mexican filmmakers Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro González Iñárritu. The three often influence each other's directorial decisions, and have been interviewed together by Charlie Rose. Cuarón was one of the producers of "Pan's Labyrinth", while Iñárritu assisted in editing the film. The three filmmakers, referred to as the "Three Amigos" founded the production company Cha Cha Cha Films, whose first release was 2008's "Rudo y Cursi".


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: In April 2008, del Toro was hired by Peter Jackson to direct the live-action film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit". On May 30, 2010, del Toro left the project due to extended delays brought on by MGM's financial troubles. Although he did not direct the films, he is credited as co-writer in "", "" and "".


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: On December 1, 2008, del Toro expressed interest in a stop-motion remake of Roald Dahl's novel "The Witches" in collaboration with Alfonso Cuarón. On June 19, 2018, it was announced that Del Toro and Cuarón would instead be attached as executive producers on the remake with Robert Zemeckis helming the project and writing.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: On June 2, 2009, del Toro's first novel, "The Strain", was released. It is the first part of an apocalyptic vampire trilogy co-authored by del Toro and Chuck Hogan. The second volume, "The Fall", was released on September 21, 2010. The final installment, "The Night Eternal", followed in October 2011. Del Toro cites writings of Antoine Augustin Calmet, Montague Summers and Bernhardt J. Hurwood among his favourites in the non-literary form about vampires.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: On December 9, 2010, del Toro launched Mirada Studios with his long-time cinematographer Guillermo Navarro, director Mathew Cullen and executive producer Javier Jimenez. Mirada was formed in Los Angeles, California to be a collaborative space where they and other filmmakers can work with Mirada's artists to create and produce projects that span digital production and content for film, television, advertising, interactive and other media. Mirada launched as a sister company to production company Motion Theory.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: Del Toro directed "Pacific Rim", a science fiction film based on a screenplay by del Toro and Travis Beacham. In the film, giant monsters rise from the Pacific Ocean and attack major cities, leading humans to retaliate with gigantic mecha suits called "Jaegers". Del Toro commented, "This is my most un-modest film, this has everything. The scale is enormous and I'm just a big kid having fun." The film was released on July 12, 2013 and grossed $411 million at the box office.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: Del Toro directed "Night Zero", the pilot episode of "The Strain", a vampire horror television series based on the novel trilogy of the same name by del Toro and Chuck Hogan. FX has commissioned the pilot episode, which del Toro scripted with Hogan and was filmed in Toronto in September 2013. FX ordered a thirteen-episode first season for the series on November 19, 2013, and series premiered on July 13, 2014.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: After "The Strain"s pilot episode, del Toro directed "Crimson Peak", a gothic horror film he co-wrote with Matthew Robbins and Lucinda Cox. Del Toro has described the film as "a very set-oriented, classical but at the same time modern take on the ghost story", citing "The Omen", "The Exorcist" and "The Shining" as influences. Del Toro also stated, "I think people are getting used to horror subjects done as found footage or B-value budgets. I wanted this to feel like a throwback." Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska, and Charlie Hunnam starred in the film. Production began February 2014 in Toronto, with an April 2015 release date initially planned. The studio later pushed the date back to October 2015, to coincide with the Halloween season.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: Del Toro directed the Cold War drama film "The Shape of Water", starring Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, and Michael Shannon. Filming began on August 15, 2016 in Toronto, and wrapped twelve weeks later. On August 31, 2017, the film premiered in the main competition section of the 74th Venice International Film Festival, where it was awarded the Golden Lion for best film, making Del Toro the first Mexican director to win the award. The film became a critical and commercial success and would go on to win multiple accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Picture, with del Toro winning the Academy Award for Best Director.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: Del Toro collaborated with Japanese video game designer Hideo Kojima to produce "P.T.", a video game intended to be a "playable trailer" for the ninth "Silent Hill" game, which was cancelled. The demo was also removed from the PlayStation Network.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: At the D23 Expo in 2009, his Double Dare You production company and Disney announced a production deal for a line of darker animated films. The label was announced with one original animated project, "". However, del Toro moved his deal to DreamWorks Animation in late 2010. From 2016 to 2018, "Trollhunters" was released to great acclaim on Netflix and "is tracking to be its most-watched kids original ever."


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: In 2017, Del Toro had an exhibition of work at the Minneapolis Institute of Art titled "Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters", featuring his collection of paintings, drawings, maquettes, artifacts, and concept film art. The exhibition ran from March 5, 2017, to May 28, 2017.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: In 2019, del Toro appeared in Hideo Kojima's video game "Death Stranding", providing his likeness for the character Deadman.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: In December 2017, Searchlight Pictures announced that del Toro would direct a new adaptation of the 1946 novel "Nightmare Alley" by William Lindsay Gresham, the screenplay of which he co-wrote with Kim Morgan. In 2019, it was reported that Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette and Rooney Mara had closed deals to star in the film, which went into production in January 2020. It was released in December 2021 to positive reviews. The film received four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: In 2008, del Toro announced "Pinocchio", a dark stop-motion film based on the Italian novel "The Adventures of Pinocchio", co-directed by Adam Parrish King, with The Jim Henson Company as production company, and music by Nick Cave. The project had been in development for over a decade. The pre-production was begun by the studio ShadowMachine. In 2017, del Toro announced that Patrick McHale is co-writing the script of the film. In the same year, del Toro revealed at the 74th Venice International Film Festival that the film will be reimagined during the rise of Benito Mussolini, and that he would need $35 million to make it. In November 2017, it was reported that del Toro had cancelled the project because no studios were willing to finance it. In October 2018, it was announced that the film had been revived, with Netflix backing the project. Netflix had previously collaborated with del Toro on "Trollhunters". Many of the same details of the project remain the same, but with Mark Gustafson now co-directing rather than Adam Parrish King. It premiered at the BFI London Film Festival on October 15, 2022, and received a theatrical release on November 9th of the same year before a scheduled release on Netflix in December.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: Del Toro was married to Lorenza Newton, cousin of Mexican singer Guadalupe Pineda. They have two children. They started dating when both were studying at the Instituto de Ciencias in Guadalajara. Del Toro and Newton separated in early 2017, and divorced in September of the same year. He maintains residences in Toronto and Los Angeles, and returns to Guadalajara every six weeks to visit his family. In 2021, he married film historian Kim Morgan.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: Del Toro also owns two houses devoted exclusively to his collection of books, poster artwork, and other belongings pertaining to his work. He explains, "As a kid, I dreamed of having a house with secret passages and a room where it rained 24 hours a day. The point of being over 40 is to fulfill the desires you've been harboring since you were 7."


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: In 2009, del Toro signed a petition that called for the release of film director Roman Polanski, who was arrested in Switzerland in relation to his 1977 charge for drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: In a 2007 interview, del Toro described his political position as "a little too liberal". He pointed out that the villains in most of his films, such as the industrialist in "Cronos", the Nazis in "Hellboy", and the Francoists in "Pan's Labyrinth", are united by the common attribute of authoritarianism. "I hate structure. I'm completely anti-structural in terms of believing in institutions. I hate them. I hate any institutionalized social, religious, or economic thing."


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: Del Toro was raised Catholic. In a 2009 interview with Charlie Rose, he described his upbringing as excessively "morbid", saying, "I mercifully lapsed as a Catholic... but as Buñuel used to say, 'I'm an atheist, thank God.'" He insists that he is spiritually "not with Buñuel" and that he is "once a Catholic, always a Catholic, in a way." He concluded, "I believe in Man. I believe in mankind, as the worst and the best that has happened to this world." He has also responded to the observation that he views his art as his religion by saying, "It is. To me, art and storytelling serve primal, spiritual functions in my daily life. Whether I'm telling a bedtime story to my kids or trying to mount a movie or write a short story or a novel, I take it very seriously." Nevertheless, he became a "raging atheist" after seeing a pile of human fetuses while volunteering at a Mexican hospital. He has claimed to be horrified by the way the Catholic Church complied with Francoist Spain, down to having a character in his film quote what actual priests would say to Republican faction members in concentration camps. Upon discovering the religious beliefs of C.S. Lewis, del Toro has stated that he can no longer relate to Lewis and his work, despite having done so beforehand. He describes Lewis as "too Catholic" for him, despite the fact that Lewis was never a Catholic.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: However, del Toro is not entirely disparaging of Catholic Christianity, and his background continues to influence his work. While discussing "The Shape of Water", del Toro discussed the Catholic influence on the film, stating, "A very Catholic notion is the humble force, or the force of humility, that gets revealed as a god-like figure toward the end. It's also used in fairy tales. In fairy tales, in fact, there is an entire strand of tales that would be encompassed by the title 'The Magical Fish.' And [it's] not exactly a secret that a fish is a Christian symbol." In the same interview, he still maintained that he does not believe in an afterlife, stating "I don't think there is life beyond death, I don't. But I do believe that we get this clarity in the last minute of our life. The titles we achieved, the honors we managed, they all vanish. You are left alone with you and your deeds and the things you didn't do. And that moment of clarity gives you either peace or the most tremendous fear, because you finally have no cover, and you finally realize exactly who you are."


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: In 2010, del Toro revealed that he was a fan of video games, describing them as "the comic books of our time" and "a medium that gains no respect among the intelligentsia." He has stated that he considers "Ico" and "Shadow of the Colossus" to be masterpieces.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: He cites "Gadget Invention, Travel, & Adventure", "Cosmology of Kyoto", "Asteroids" and "Galaga" as his favorite games.


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: Del Toro's favorite film monsters are Frankenstein's monster, the Alien, Gill-man, Godzilla, and the Thing. Frankenstein in particular has a special meaning for him, in both film and literature, as he claims he has a "Frankenstein fetish to a degree that is unhealthy," and that it's "the most important book of my life, so you know if I get to it, whenever I get to it, it will be the right way." He lists "Brazil", "Nosferatu", "Freaks" and "Bram Stoker's Dracula" among his favourite films. He also cited Japanese anime "Doraemon" as "the greatest kids series ever created".


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: Del Toro is also highly interested in Victorian culture. He said, "I have a room of my library at home called 'The Dickens room'. It has every work by Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins and many other Victorian novelists, plus hundreds of works about Victorian London and its customs, etiquette, architecture. I'm a Jack the Ripper aficionado, too. My museum-slash-home has a huge amount of Ripperology in it."


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: Around 1997, del Toro's father, Federico del Toro Torres, was kidnapped in Guadalajara. Del Toro's family had to pay twice the amount originally asked for as a ransom. Immediately after learning of the kidnapping, fellow filmmaker James Cameron, a friend of del Toro since they met during the production of 1993's "Cronos", withdrew over $1 million in cash from his bank account and gave it to del Toro to help pay the ransom. After the ransom was paid, Federico was released, having spent 72 days kidnapped. The culprits were never apprehended, and the money of both Cameron and del Toro's families was never recovered. The event prompted del Toro, his parents, and his siblings to move abroad. In a 2008 interview with "Time" magazine, he said this about the kidnapping of his father: "Every day, every week, something happens that reminds me that I am in involuntary exile [from my country]."


title: Guillermo del Toro

text: In 2012, del Toro participated in the "Sight & Sound" film polls of that year. Held every ten years to select the greatest films of all time, contemporary directors were asked to select ten films of their choice.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the north-west, Chhattisgarh to the north, Odisha to the north-east, Tamil Nadu to the south, Karnataka to the west and the Bay of Bengal to the east. It has the second longest coastline in India after Gujarat, of about . Andhra State was the first state to be formed on a linguistic basis in India on 1 October 1953. On 1 November 1956, Andhra State was merged with the Telugu-speaking areas (ten districts) of the Hyderabad State to form United Andhra Pradesh. ln 2014 these merged areas of Hyderabad State are bifurcated from United Andhra Pradesh to form new state Telangana . Present form of Andhra similar to Andhra state.but some mandalas like Bhadrachalam still with Telangana. Amaravati serves as the capital of present Andhra with the largest city being Visakhapatnam.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Andhra Pradesh was once a major Buddhist pilgrimage site in the country and a Buddhist learning center which can be seen in many sites in the state in the form of monastery ruins, chaityas and stupas. It is also known for being the land of Koh-i-Noor and other globally known diamonds from Kollur Mine. It is also a major producer of rice known as the "Rice bowl of India". Its official language is Telugu; one of the classical languages of India, the fourth most spoken language in India and the 13th-most spoken language in the world. Andhra Pradesh's second official language is Urdu.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Early inhabitants were known as the Andhras, tracing their history back to the Vedic period, when they were mentioned in the 8th century BCE Rigvedic text Aitareya Brahmana. According to the Aitareya Brahmana, the Andhras left North India from the banks of the Yamuna river and migrated to South India.<ref name="Devi 1990 https://archive.org/details/dancedialectsofi0000ragi/page/n241 66"></ref> The Assaka Mahajanapada (700–300 BCE) was an ancient kingdom located between the Godavari and Krishna rivers in southeastern India. Accounts that people in the region are descended from the Viswamitra are found in the "Ramayana", the "Mahabharata" and the Puranas. The region also derives its name from the Satavahanas, who are also known as Andhras, the earliest kings of Andhra Pradesh and India.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: People of the said era supported local art and culture by building temples and sculptures of the Buddhist monuments in the state. It was ruled by the Mauryan Empire, Satavahana dynasty, Salankayanas, Andhra Ikshvakus, Pallavas, Vishnukundinas, Eastern Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Cholas, Kakatiyas, Vijayanagara Empire, Gajapati Empire, Mughal Empire, Deccan sultanates, Qutb Shahi dynasty, and Asaf Jahis. In the 3rd century BCE, Andhra was a vassal kingdom of Ashoka, but after his death Andhra became powerful and extended its empire to the whole of Maratha country and beyond.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Andhra Pradesh comprises three major regions namely Rayalaseema in the south-west, Coastal Andhra bordering the Bay of Bengal in the east and Uttarandhra at north-east. The state has 26 districts, 6 in Uttarandhra, 12 in Coastal Andhra and 8 in Rayalaseema. The state also borders a union territory, Yanam – a district of Puducherry, which lies to the south of Kakinada in the Godavari delta on the eastern side of the state. The economy of Andhra Pradesh is the 8th largest in India, with a gross state domestic product (GSDP) of and has the country's 17th-highest GSDP per capita of . Andhra Pradesh ranks 27th among Indian states in Human Development Index (HDI). It has a jurisdiction over almost of territorial waters.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Andhra Pradesh hosted 121.8 million visitors in 2015, a 30% growth in tourist arrivals over the previous year, making it the third most-visited state in India. The Tirumala Venkateswara Temple in Tirupati is one of the world's most visited religious sites, with 18.25 million visitors per year. The region is also home to a variety of other pilgrimage centres, such as the Pancharama Kshetras, Mallikarjuna Jyotirlinga and Kodanda Rama Temple. The state's natural attractions include the beaches of Visakhapatnam, hill stations such as the Araku Valley and Horsley Hills, and the deltas of Konaseema in the Godavari river, and Diviseema in the Krishna river.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: A group of people named Andhras was mentioned in Sanskrit texts such as Aitareya Brahmana (800–500 BCE). According to "Aitareya Brahmana" of the Rig Veda, the Andhras left north India from banks of River Yamuna and settled in south India. The Satavahanas have been mentioned by the names "Andhra", "Andhrara-jateeya" and "Andhrabhrtya" in the Puranic literature. They did not refer themselves as "Andhra" in any of their coins or inscriptions; it is possible that they were termed as Andhras because of their ethnicity or because their territory included the Andhra region.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The Assaka Mahajanapada, one of the sixteen Vedic Mahajanapadas, included Andhra, Maharashtra and Telangana. Archaeological evidence from places such as Amaravati, Dharanikota, and Vaddamanu suggests that the Andhra region was part of the Mauryan Empire. Amaravati might have been a regional centre for the Mauryan rule. After the death of Emperor Ashoka, Mauryan rule weakened around 200 BCE and was replaced by several smaller kingdoms in the Andhra region.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The Satavahana dynasty dominated the Deccan region from the 1st century BCE to the 3rd century CE. The later Satavahanas made Dharanikota and Amaravathi their capital, which according to the Buddhists is the place where Nagarjuna, the philosopher of Mahayana lived in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. The Andhra Ikshvakus, with their capital at Vijayapuri, succeeded the Satavahanas in the Krishna River valley in the latter half of the 2nd century. Pallavas, who were originally executive officers under the Satavahana kings, were not a recognised political power before the 2nd century CE and were swept away by the Western Chalukyan invasion, led by Pulakesin II in the first quarter of the 7th century CE. After the downfall of the Ikshvakus, the Vishnukundinas were the first great dynasty in the 5th and 6th centuries, and held sway over the entire Andhra country, including Kalinga and parts of Telangana. They played an important role in the history of Deccan during the 5th and 6th century CE, with Eluru, Amaravathi and Puranisangam.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The Salankayanas were an ancient dynasty that ruled the Andhra region between Godavari and Krishna with their capital at Vengi (modern Pedavegi) from 300 to 440 CE. The Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi, whose dynasty lasted for around five hundred years from the 7th century until 1130 CE, eventually merged with the Chola dynasty. They continued to rule under the protection of the Chola dynasty until 1189 CE when the kingdom succumbed to the Hoysalas and the Yadavas. The roots of the Telugu language have been seen on inscriptions found near the Guntur district and from others dating to the rule of Renati Cholas in the fifth century CE.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Kayastha chiefs descended from North Indian Kayasthas ruled over vast swathes of land in Andhra country, and they are recorded in Andhra history dating back to the 13th century . Kakatiyas ruled Andhra Pradesh state for nearly two hundred years and constructed several forts. They were succeeded by the Musunuri Nayaks. Musunuri Nayaks led a confederation of Nayakas to overthrow the rule of the Delhi Sultanate in Telugu lands.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The Reddi kingdom (1325–1448 CE) was established by Prolaya Vema Reddi in the early 14th century, who ruled from present day Kondaveedu. Prolaya Vema Reddi was part of the confederation of states that started a movement against the invading Turkic Muslim armies of the Delhi Sultanate. They constructed Kondaveedu Fort , which they ruled between 1328 and 1428, before it was taken over by the Gajpathis of Orissa, and later ravaged by the Muslim rulers of the Bahmani kingdom in 1458. The Vijayanagara emperor Krishnadevaraya captured it in 1516. The Golconda Sultans fought for the fort in 1531, 1536 and 1579, and Sultan Quli Qutb Shah captured it in 1579, renaming it "Murtuzanagar". It was reconquered by Vijayanagara who overthrew sultanate rule across the entirety of modern-day Andhra Pradesh (excluding Telangana). After this rebellion, the Bahmani sultans launched no further military campaigns outside their kingdoms, because the Maratha empire soon emerged as the strongest power in India. Efforts are in progress to classify Kondaveedu Fort as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The Vijayanagara Empire originated in the Deccan Plateau region in the early 14th century. It was established in 1336 by Harihara Raya I and his brother Bukka Raya I of the Sangama Dynasty. The empire's patronage enabled fine arts and literature to reach new heights in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, and Sanskrit, while Carnatic music evolved into its current form. During the Vijayanagara Empire, the Pemmasani Nayaks controlled parts of Andhra Pradesh and had large mercenary armies that were the vanguard of the Vijayanagara Empire in the sixteenth century. The Lepakshi group of monuments are culturally and archaeologically significant as it is the location of shrines dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu, and Veerabhadra which were built during the Vijayanagara Kings' period (1336–1646). The temples are the location of mural paintings of the Vijayanagara kings, Dravidian art, and inscriptions. Near the temple complex is a large granite Nandi bull. On a hillock known as "Kurma Saila" ('tortoise-shaped hill') are other temples to Papanatheswara, Raghunatha, Srirama, and Durga.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The Government of Andhra Pradesh has taken the initiative for including the "Lepakshi Group of Monuments" among the UNESCO World Heritage sites in India.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Harihara and Bukka, who served as treasury officers of the Kakatiyas of Warangal, founded the Vijayanagara Empire. In 1347 CE, an independent Muslim state, the Bahmani Sultanate, was established in south India by Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah in a revolt against the Delhi Sultanate. The Qutb Shahi dynasty held sway over the Andhra country after the resolution of Vijayanagar empire by joint action of Mughals, Bijapur and Golconda sultanates.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: In the early nineteenth century, Northern Circars was ceded to the British East India Company and became part of the Madras Presidency. Eventually, this region emerged as the Coastal Andhra region. Later the Nizam rulers of Hyderabad ceded five territories to the British that eventually became the Rayalaseema region. The Nizams retained control of the interior provinces as the princely state of Hyderabad, acknowledging British rule in return for local autonomy. However, Komaram Bheem, a tribal leader, started his fight against the erstwhile Asaf Jahi Dynasty for the liberation of Hyderabad State. Meanwhile, the French occupied Yanam, in the Godavari delta, and (save for periods of British control) would hold it until 1954. In 1947, Vizianagaram was the largest Hindu princely state in Andhra Pradesh.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: In 1839 just before the British Raj, a cyclone struck Coringa, East Godavari district and toppled buildings, as a result 20,000 ships were destroyed and over 300,000 people were killed.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: India became independent from the British Raj in 1947. The 7th Nizam wanted to retain the independence of the Princely Hyderabad State from India, but the people of the region launched a movement to join the Indian Union. The state of Hyderabad was integrated into the Indian Union with Operation Polo in 1948.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: In an effort to gain an independent state based on linguistic identity, and to protect the interests of the Telugu-speaking people of Madras State, Potti Sreeramulu fasted to death in 1952. As Madras became a bone of contention, in 1949 a JVP committee report stated: "Andhra Province could be formed provided the Andhras give up their claim on the city of Madras [now Chennai]". After Potti Sreeramulu's death, the Telugu-speaking area of Andhra State was carved out of Madras State on 1 October 1953, with Kurnool as its capital city. On the basis of the gentlemen's agreement of 1 November 1956, the States Reorganisation Act formed combined Andhra Pradesh by merging the Telugu-speaking areas of the already existing Hyderabad State. Hyderabad was made the capital of the new state. The Marathi-speaking areas of Hyderabad State merged with Bombay State and the Kannada-speaking areas were merged with Mysore State.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: In February 2014, the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act bill was passed by the Parliament of India for the formation of the Telangana state comprising ten districts. Hyderabad will remain as a joint capital for not exceeding ten years. The new state of Telangana came into existence on 2 June 2014 after approval from the President of India. Number of petitions questioning the validity of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 is long pending for the verdict since April 2014 before the Supreme Court constitutional bench.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: In 2017, Government of Andhra Pradesh began operating from the newly planned capital city Amaravati. In August 2020, Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly passed Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Act, 2020. The decision resulted in widespread protests by the farmers of Amaravati. The act has been challenged in Andhra Pradesh High Court, which ordered to maintain status quo until the court completes its hearing. On 22 November 2021, the government, led by Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, has withdrawn the act. The Chief Minister, however, said his government would bring a better and more complete bill.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The state has varied topography ranging from the hills of Eastern Ghats and Nallamala Hills to the shores of Bay of Bengal that support varied ecosystems, the rich diversity of flora and fauna. There are two main rivers namely, Krishna and Godavari, that flow through the state. The coastline of the state extends along the Bay of Bengal from Srikakulam to Nellore district with a length of 975 km (606 mi). The plains to the east of Eastern Ghats form the Eastern Coastal plains. The coastal plains are for the most part of delta regions formed by the Godavari, Krishna, and Penna rivers. The Eastern Ghats are discontinuous and individual sections have local names. The Eastern Ghats are a major dividing line in the state's geography. The Kadapa Basin formed by two arching branches of the Eastern Ghats is a mineral-rich area. The Ghats become more pronounced towards the south and extreme north of the coast. Most of the coastal plains are put to intense agricultural use. The Rayalaseema region has semi-arid conditions.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The Andhra Pradesh Forest Department deals with protection, conservation and management of forests. The total forest cover of the state after the bifurcation is left with an area of . The forest in the state can be broadly divided into four major biotic provinces. They are:


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Eastern Ghats region is home to dense tropical forests, while the vegetation becomes sparse as the Ghats give way to the Deccan Plateau, where shrub vegetation is more common. The vegetation found in the state is largely of dry deciduous types with a mixture of teak, "Terminalia", "Dalbergia", "Pterocarpus", "Anogeissus", etc.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The state has many sanctuaries, national parks and zoological parks, such as Coringa, Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary, Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve, Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary, Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park and Indira Gandhi Zoological Park. Atapaka Bird Sanctuary, Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary, Telineelapuram and Telukunchi Bird Sanctuaries and Pulicat Lake Bird Sanctuary attract many migratory birds. The state possesses some rare and endemic plants like "Cycas beddomei", "Pterocarpus santalinus", "Terminalia pallida", "Syzygium alternifolium", "Shorea talura", "Shorea tumburgia", "Psilotum nudum", etc. The diversity of fauna includes tigers, panthers, hyenas, black bucks, cheetals, sambars, sea turtles and a number of birds and reptiles. The estuaries of the Godavari and Krishna rivers support rich mangrove forests with fishing cats and otters as keystone species.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The climate of Andhra Pradesh varies considerably, depending on the geographical region. Summers last from March to June. In the coastal plain, the summer temperatures are generally higher than the rest of the state, with temperature ranging between . July to September is the season for tropical rains. About one-third of the total rainfall is brought by the northeast monsoon. October and November see low-pressure systems and tropical cyclones form in the Bay of Bengal which, along with the northeast monsoon, bring rains to the southern and coastal regions of the state.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: November, December, January, and February are the winter months in Andhra Pradesh. Since the state has a long coastal belt the winters are not very cold. The range of winter temperature is generally . Lambasingi in Visakhapatnam district is also nicknamed as the "Kashmir of Andhra Pradesh" due to its relatively cool climate as compared to others and the temperature ranges from .


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Census of India, the residual state had a population of with a population density of . According to the Polavaram ordinance bill 2014, 7 mandals of Khammam district in Telangana state merged with Andhra Pradesh to facilitate Polavaram project, due to which population of added to Andhra Pradesh. Thus the final population of Andhra Pradesh in the year 2014, as per census 2011 is , with a density of .


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The total population constitute, 70.4% of rural population with inhabitants and 29.6% of urban population with inhabitants. Children in the age group of 0–6 years are , constituting 10.6% of the total population, among them are boys and are girls. Visakhapatnam district has the largest urban population of 47.5% and Srikakulam district with 83.8%, has the largest rural population, among others districts in the state. The overall population of the state comprises 17.1% of Scheduled Caste and 5.3% of Scheduled Tribe population.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: There are male and female citizens—a sex ratio of 996 females per 1000 males, higher than the national average of 926 per 1000. The literacy rate of the state stands at 67.41%. However, post bifurcation from Telangana, the state is expected to reach 91.1% by 2021. West Godavari district has the highest literacy rate of 74.6% and Vizianagaram district has the least with 58.9%.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Andhra Pradesh ranks tenth of all Indian States in the Human Development Index scores with a score of 0.416. The National Council of Applied Economic Research district analysis in 2001 reveals that Krishna, West Godavari and Chittoor are the three districts in rural AP with the highest Human Development Index scores in ascending order.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Telugu is the official language of Andhra Pradesh, which is also the mother tongue of nearly 90% of the population. Rajahmundry is the cultural capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telugu language has roots originated from this region. The Minister of Tourism and Culture has declared Telugu a Classical Language. Urdu is the largest minority language and also the second official language of Andhra Pradesh.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Tamil, Kannada and Odia are also spoken mainly in the border-areas. Lambadi, Koya, Savara, Konda, Gadaba and a number of other languages are spoken by the Scheduled Tribes of the state.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The majority of the people in Andhra Pradesh are Hindus while Muslims constitute a sizeable minority. According to the 2011 census, the major religious groups in the state are Hindus (90.87%), Muslims (7.32%) and Christians (1.38%). Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains and the people who declined to state their religion make up the remaining portion of population.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Venkateswara Temple at Tirupati is the world's second-richest temple and is visited by millions of devotees throughout the year. Andhra Pradesh is home to Shankaracharya of Pushpagiri Peetham. Other Hindu saints include Sadasiva Brahmendra, Bhaktha Kannappa, Yogi Vemana and Pothuluru Veerabrahmendra.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Buddhism spread to Andhra Pradesh early in its history. The Krishna river valley was "a site of extraordinary Buddhist activity for almost a thousand years." The ancient Buddhist sites in the lower Krishna valley, including Amaravati, Nagarjunakonda and Jaggayyapeta "can be traced to at least the third century BCE, if not earlier."


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The region played a central role in the development of Mahayana Buddhism, along with the Magadha-area in northeastern India. A. K. Warder holds that "the Mahāyāna originated in the south of India and almost certainly in the Andhra country." According to Xing, "Several scholars have suggested that the Prajnaparamita probably developed among the Mahasamghikas in Southern India probably in the Andhra country, on the Krishna River." The Prajñāpāramitā Sutras belong to the earliest Mahayana Sutras.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: It has a total of 26 districts, twelve in Coastal Andhra region, six in Uttarandhra and eight in the Rayalaseema region.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: There are a total of 31 cities which include, 16 municipal corporations and 14 municipalities. There are two cities with more than one million inhabitants, namely Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: When the state was first created, Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu, became the Chief Minister. After the unification with Telangana, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy became the first Chief Minister. He later served as the President of India.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The Indian National Congress (INC), the Praja Socialist Party and the Krishi Lok Party were the major parties in the 1950s. Later the Communist Party of India (CPI) became the dominant opposition party. In the 1967 state assembly elections, all socialist parties were eliminated and the CPI lost opposition party status.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The INC ruled the state from 1956 to 1982. In 1983, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) won the state elections and N. T. Rama Rao became the Chief Minister of the state for the first time. This broke the long-time single party monopoly enjoyed by the INC. The 1989 elections ended the rule of Rao, with the INC returning to power with Marri Chenna Reddy at the helm. He was replaced by Janardhan Reddy in 1990, who was replaced by Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy in 1992.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: In 1994, Andhra Pradesh gave a mandate to the Telugu Desam Party again, and Rao became the Chief Minister again. Nara Chandrababu Naidu, Rao's son-in-law, came to power in 1995 with the backing of a majority of the MLAs. The Telugu Desam Party won both the assembly and Lok Sabha election in 1999 under the leadership of Chandrababu Naidu. Thus Naidu held the record for the longest-serving Chief Minister (1995 to 2004).


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: In 2004, Congress returned to power with a new chief ministerial face, YS Rajashekara Reddy, better known as YSR. He also won the 2009 elections, but shortly afterward was killed in a helicopter crash in September of that year. He was succeeded by two other Congressmen, namely Konijeti Rosaiah and Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy, the last resigning over the impending division of Telangana.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: In the last elections held in the unified state in 2014, the TDP got a mandate in their favour in the residuary (new) state. After Telangana became a separate state, N. Chandrababu Naidu , the chief of the TDP became the Chief Minister on 8 June 2014, for the new state of Andhra Pradesh.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: As of 2014, the Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh is the lower house of the state with 175 members and the Legislative Council is the upper house with 58 members. In the Parliament of India, Andhra Pradesh has 11 seats in the Rajya Sabha, and 25 seats in the Lok Sabha. There are a total of 175 Assembly constituencies in the state. East Godavari district has the highest number of constituencies with 19 and Vizianagaram district has the least with 9 assembly seats. Whereas, the legislative council of the state has 58 seats, which is one-third of total assembly seats.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: In the 2019 elections, YSR's son Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy of the YSR Congress Party (founded in 2011) became the Chief Minister with a resounding mandate by winning 151 out of 175 seats.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Andhra Pradesh was ranked eighth among other Indian states in terms of GSDP for the financial year 2014–2015. The GSDP at current prices was and at constant prices was . The domestic product of agriculture sector accounts for and industrial sector for . The service sector of the state accounts more percentage of the GSDP with a total of . In the 2010 list by "Forbes" magazine, several people from Andhra Pradesh were among the top 100 richest Indians.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Andhra Pradesh's economy is mainly based on agriculture and livestock. Four important rivers of India, the Godavari, Krishna, Penna, and Tungabhadra flow through the state and provide irrigation. 60 percent of the population is engaged in agriculture and related activities. Rice is the major food crop and staple food of the state. It is an exporter of many agricultural products and is also known as "Rice Bowl of India". The state has three Agricultural Economic Zones in Chittoor district for mango pulp and vegetables, Krishna district for mangoes, Guntur district for chilies.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Besides rice, farmers also grow jowar, bajra, maize, minor millet, coarse grain, many varieties of pulses, oil seeds, sugarcane, cotton, chili pepper, mango nuts and tobacco. Crops used for vegetable oil production such as sunflower and peanuts are popular. There are many multi-state irrigation projects under development, including Godavari River Basin Irrigation Projects and Nagarjuna Sagar Dam.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Livestock and poultry is also another profitable business, which involves rearing cattle in enclosed areas for commercial purposes. The state is also a largest producer of eggs in the country and hence, it is nicknamed as "Egg Bowl of Asia".


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Fisheries contribute 10% of total fish and over 70% of the shrimp production of India. The geographical location of the state allows marine fishing as well as inland fish production. The most exported marine exports include "Vannamei shrimp"


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Andhra Pradesh is investing in building infrastructure in the state such as highways and making every service of the government digital. National Highway 16 passes through Andhra Pradesh. The highways in the state are also being widened. APSFL is an initiative of the government of Andhra Pradesh to set up an optical fiber network throughout the thirteen districts of Andhra Pradesh. This network provides internet connectivity, telephony and IPTV with fiber to private and corporate users of Andhra Pradesh. The state also has seaports such as Visakhapatnam Port, Kakinada Port, Krishnapatnam Port for import and export and a shipyard for building ships at Visakhapatnam. Major airports in the state are Visakhapatnam, Rajahmundry, Vijayawada, with Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Vijayawada being international airports.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The industrial sector of the state includes some of the key sectors like pharmaceutical, automobile, textiles etc. Sricity located in Chittoor district is an integrated business city which is home to firms including PepsiCo, Isuzu Motors, Cadbury India, Kellogg's, Colgate-Palmolive, Kobelco etc. The PepsiCo firm has its largest plant in India at Sri City. The state is also emerging as destination for the automobile industry which already hosts companies including Ashok Leyland in Krishna district, Hero Motors in Chittoor district, Kia Motors in Anantapur district.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The state is also emerging in information technology and biotechnology. The IT/ITES revenues of Visakhapatnam is at in 2012–2013. The development of IT in Tier-II and Tier-III cities like Vijayawada, Kakinada and Tirupati is also improving. In the fiscal year 2012–2013, Vijayawada's IT/ITeS revenues were . Tirupati with and Kakinada with stand next. For the benefit of state, that is, after separating Telangana from Andhra, people of Andhra protested for special status during January in 2017.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Andhra Pradesh is one of the storehouses of mineral resources in India. Andhra Pradesh with varied geological formations, contain rich and variety of industrial minerals and building stones.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Andhra Pradesh is listed at the top in the deposit and production of mica in India. Minerals found in the state include limestone, reserves of oil and natural gas, manganese, asbestos, iron ore, ball clay, fire clay, gold diamonds, graphite, dolomite, quartz, tungsten, steatitic, feldspar, silica sand. It has about one-third of India's limestone reserves and is known for large exclusive deposits of barytes and galaxy granite in the international market.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Mining is identified as one of the growth engines for the overall development of industry and infrastructure. The Tummalapalle Uranium mine in Andhra has confirmed of ore and there are indications that it could hold reserves totaling three times its current size. of metal grade Bauxite deposits in proximity to Visakhapatnam Port.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Reliance Industries struck nine trillion cubic feet of gas reserves in the KG basin, off the Andhra Pradesh coast near Kakinada. Discovery of a large quantity of natural gas in KG Basin is expected to provide rapid economic growth. During 2016, nearly of methane hydrate deposits were explored in KG basin whose extraction was adequate to impart energy security for many decades to India.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The state is a pioneer nationwide in solar power generation. APGENCO is the power generating company owned by the state. The state has become power surplus with excess power generation being exported to other states. The state is abundantly endowed with solar power and high head PHES sites to convert the solar power available during the day time in to round the clock power supply. PHES projects also has synergy with the lift irrigation projects in storing water available during the monsoon season and supplying to the uplands throughout the year. Ultimate water and energy requirements of the state can be fully met by the combination of cheap solar power, PHES and irrigation projects economically harnessing renewable energy without much damage to the environment.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Thermal (natural gas and coal based) and renewable power plants totaling to 21,000 MW were installed in the state by 2015. Local power plants of 9,600 MW capacity only are supplying electricity in the state, which includes Simhadri Super Thermal Power Station (2000 MW) of NTPC, Vizag Thermal Power Station (1040 MW), Rayalaseema Thermal Power Station (1650 MW), Sri Damodaram Sanjeevaiah Thermal Power Station (2400 MW), and Narla Tata Rao Thermal Power Plant (1760 MW). Hydel power plants have a capacity of 1671 MW.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Kuchipudi, the cultural dance recognized as the official dance form of the state of Andhra Pradesh, originated in the village of Kuchipudi in Krishna district. It entered the Guinness World Records for performing "Mahabrinda Natyam" with a total of 6,117 dancers in Vijayawada.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Andhra Pradesh has thirteen geographical indications in categories of agricultural handicrafts, foodstuff and textiles as per "Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999". It increased to fifteen with the addition of Banaganapalle Mangoes and Bandar laddu. The other GI tagged goods are, Bobbili Veena, Budithi Bell and Brass Craft, Dharmavaram Handloom Pattu Sarees and Paavadas, Guntur Sannam, Kondapalli Toys, Machilipatnam Kalamkari, Mangalagiri Sarees and Fabrics, Srikalahasti Kalamkari, Tirupati Laddu, Uppada Jamdani Sari and Venkatagiri Sari.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Machilipatnam and Srikalahasti Kalamkari are the two unique textile art forms practised in India. There are also other notable handicrafts present in the state, like the soft limestone idol carvings of Durgi. Etikoppaka in Visakhapatnam district is notable for its lac industry, producing lacquered wooden.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The state has many museums, which features a varied collection of ancient sculptures, paintings, idols, weapons, cutlery, and inscriptions, and religious artifacts such as the Amaravati Archaeological Museum, Visakha Museum and Telugu Cultural Museum in Visakhapatnam displays the history of the pre-independence and the Victoria Jubilee Museum in Vijayawada with a large collection of artifacts.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Nannayya, Tikkana and Yerrapragada form the trinity who translated the Sanskrit epic "Mahabharata" into Telugu language. Nannayya wrote the first treatise on Telugu grammar called "Andhra Shabda Chintamani" in Sanskrit, as there was no grammatical work in Telugu prior to that. Pothana is the poet who composed the classic "Srimad Maha Bhagavatamu", a Telugu translation of "Sri Bhagavatam". Vemana is notable for his philosophical poems. The Vijayanagara emperor Krishnadevaraya wrote Amuktamalyada. Telugu literature after Kandukuri Veeresalingam is termed as Adhunika Telugu Sahityam (Modern Telugu literature). He is known as "Gadya Tikkana" and was the author of Telugu social novel, "Satyavati Charitam". Jnanpith Award holders from the state include Viswanatha Satyanarayana. The Andhra Pradesh native and revolutionary poet Sri Sri brought new forms of expressionism into Telugu literature.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The print media in the state consists mainly of Telugu and English newspapers. "Eenadu", "Sakshi", "Andhra Jyothi", and Tel.J.D.Patrika Vaartha all these are Telugu newspapers. English newspapers include Deccan Chronicle and The Hans India.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Many composers of Carnatic music like Annamacharya, Kshetrayya, Tyagaraja, and Bhadrachala Ramadas were of Telugu descent. Modern Carnatic music composers and singers like Ghantasala and M. Balamuralikrishna are also of Telugu descent. The Telugu film industry hosts many music composers and playback singers such as S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, P. Susheela, S. Janaki and P. B. Sreenivas. Folk songs are very important and popular in the many rural areas of the state. Forms such as the "Burra katha" and "Poli" are still performed today. "Harikathaa Kalakshepam (or Harikatha)" involves the narration of a story, intermingled with various songs relating to the story. Harikatha was originated in Andhra. "Burra katha" is an oral storytelling technique with the topic be either a Hindu mythological story or a contemporary social issue. "Rangasthalam" is an Indian theatre in the Telugu language, based predominantly in Andhra Pradesh. Gurajada Apparao wrote the play "Kanyasulkam" in 1892, often considered the greatest play in the Telugu language. C. Pullaiah is cited as the father of Telugu theatre movement.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The Telugu film industry is largely based in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam. The Telugu film culture (also known as "Tollywood") is the second-largest film industry in India next to the Bollywood film industry. Film producer D. Ramanaidu holds a Guinness Record for the most films produced by a person. In the years 2005, 2006 and 2008, the Telugu film industry produced the largest number of films in India, exceeding the number of films produced in Bollywood. The industry holds the Guinness World Record for the largest film production facility in the world.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Telugu people's traditional sweet Pootharekulu originated from Atreyapuram village of East Godavari district.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The state has several beaches in its coastal districts such as Rushikonda, Mypadu, Suryalanka etc.; caves such as, Borra Caves, Indian rock-cut architecture depicting Undavalli Caves and the country's second longest caves- the Belum Caves. The valleys and hills include, Araku Valley, Horsley Hills, Papi Hills etc. Arma Konda peak located in Visakhapatnam district is the highest peak in Eastern Ghats.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The state is home to various religious pilgrim destinations such as Tirumala Temple, Simhachalam Temple, Annavaram temple, Srisailam temple, Kanaka Durga Temple, Amaravati, Srikalahasti, Shahi Jamia Masjid in Adoni, Gunadala Church in Vijayawada, Buddhist centres at Amaravati, and Nagarjuna Konda, Khadri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple, Kadiri.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The state is well connected to other states through road and rail networks. It is also connected to other countries by means of airways and seaports as well. With a long seacoast along the Bay of Bengal, it also has many ports for sea trade. The state has one of the largest railway junctions at Vijayawada and one of the largest seaports at Visakhapatnam.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The state has a total road network of , of which of National highways, of state highways and of district roads. NH 16, with a highway network of around in the state, is a part of Golden Quadrilateral Project undertaken by National Highways Development Project. It also forms part of AH 45 which comes under the Asian Highway Network.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The state government owned Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) is the major public bus transport, which runs thousands of buses connecting different parts of the state. Pandit Nehru Bus Station (PNBS) in Vijayawada is one of the largest bus terminals in Asia. From 30 January 2019, all the vehicles in the state are registered as AP–39, followed by an alphabet and four digits.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Andhra Pradesh has a total broad-gauge railway route of and has no metre-gauge railway. The rail density of the state is 16.59 per , compared to an all India average of 20. The Howrah–Chennai main line which runs through the state is proposed to be upgraded into a high-speed rail corridor through the Diamond Quadrilateral project of the Indian Railways.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The railway network spans two zones, further subdivided into divisions – Vijayawada, Guntur and Guntakal railway divisions of South Central Railway zone, and Waltair railway division of East Coast Railway zone. There is a demand for creating a unified zone for the state based out of Visakhapatnam.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: There are three A1 and twenty-three A-category railway stations in the state. has been declared the cleanest railway station in the country. The railway station of Shimiliguda was the first highest broad gauge railway station in the country.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: A new railway zone South Coast Railway Zone (SCoR) has been announced as the newest railway zone of the Indian Railways and is headquartered at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The formal notification for operationalization of this Zone is yet to be issued. When created it will include Waltair Division of East Coast Railway zone and Vijayawada Division,


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Visakhapatnam Airport is the only airport in the state with operating international flights while Vijayawada Airport at Gannavaram has launched an international flight to Singapore, recently. The state has four other domestic airports, Rajahmundry Airport, Kadapa Airport, Kurnool Airport a privately owned, public use airport at Puttaparthi, and Tirupati Airport located in the city of Tirupati. There are also 16 small airstrips located in the state.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Andhra Pradesh has one of the country's largest port at Visakhapatnam in terms of cargo handling. The other famous ports are Krishnapatnam Port (Nellore), Gangavaram Port and Kakinada Port. Gangavaram Port is a deep seaport which can accommodate ocean liners up to 200,000–250,000 DWT. There are 14 notified non-major ports at Bheemunipatnam, S.Yanam, Machilipatnam, Nizampatnam, and Vadarevu.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Andhra Pradesh has an overall literacy rate of 67.41% as per the 2011 Indian census. The primary and secondary school education is imparted by government, aided and private schools, managed and regulated by the School Education Department of the state. There are urban, rural and residential schools. As per the child info and school information report (2018–19), there were a total of students, enrolled in schools respectively. The Directorate of Government Examinations of the state administers and conduct the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination. More than students have appeared for the 2019 SSC exam and recorded an overall pass percentage of 94.88% with a 100% pass percentage in 5,464 schools. The mediums of instruction are primarily Telugu and English with a very few opting for Urdu, Hindi, Kannada, Odia and Tamil.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Higher education in the state is administered by the Department of Higher Education. The central universities are All India Institute of Medical Sciences, IIM Visakhapatnam, IIT Tirupati, NIT Tadepalligudem, IIITDM Kurnool, Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy, NIDV, Central University of Andhra Pradesh, IIIT Sri City, IISER Tirupati, Agriculture University, Guntur and IIFT Kakinada. The Government of Andhra Pradesh established Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT) in 2008 to cater to the education needs of the rural youth of Andhra Pradesh. As per the University Grants Commission, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, GITAM, KL University and Vignan University, MBU University are the Deemed Universities in the state. There are 18 state universities in the districts providing higher education in horticulture, law, medical, technology, Vedic and veterinary. Andhra University is the oldest of the universities in the state, established in 1926.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Research institutes have been set up by the central state government. Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL), National Institute of Oceanography, Visakhapatnam (NIO), School of Planning and Architecture at Vijayawada is an autonomous research institute under Ministry of Human Resource Development of Government of India, National Atmospheric Research Laboratory carry out fundamental and applied research in atmospheric and space sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Tirupati, Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research, Visakhapatnam Central Tobacco Research Institute, Rajahmundry under control of ICAR (Indian Council of Agriculture Research) conducts fundamental and applied research on tobacco for the benefit of the farming community, Indian Institute of Oil Palm Research (IIOPR) at Pedavegi near Eluru in West Godavari district serves as a centre for conducting and co-ordinating research on all aspects of oil palm conservation, improvement, production, protection, post-harvest technology and transfer of technology, CCRH Regional Research Institute at Gudivada, Clinical Research Institute at Tirupati and National Institute of Oceanography at Visakhapatnam are some of them. Agriculture Research Institute (Acharya NG Ranga Agriculture University) KADIRI.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Satish Dhawan Space Centre, also known as Sriharikota Range (SHAR), at barrier island of Sriharikota in Tirupati district is a satellite launching station operated by Indian Space Research Organisation. It is India's primary orbital launch site. India's lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-1 was launched from the centre at 6:22 AM IST on 22 October 2008.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: The Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh is the governing body which looks after the infrastructure development in cricket, field hockey, association football, skating, Olympic weightlifting, chess, water sports, tennis, badminton, table tennis, cycling, etc.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Cricket is one of the most popular sports in the state. The ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam is the home to Andhra Pradesh cricket team. The venue regularly hosts international as well as domestic matches. Notable cricketers from Andhra Pradesh include former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin, Maharajkumar of Vizianagram, M. V. Narasimha Rao, M. S. K. Prasad, VVS Laxman, Tirumalasetti Suman, Arshad Ayub, Ambati Rayudu, Venkatapathy Raju, Sravanthi Naidu, Yalaka Venugopal Rao, Hanuma Vihari and Srikar Bharat.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Dandamudi Rajagopal Rao, the first 12 times National heavy weight lifting Champion, hails from krishna district.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Karnam Malleswari, the first female Indian to win an Olympic medal, hails from Srikakulam district. She won the bronze medal on 19 September 2000, in the category with a lift of .


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Krishnam Raju Gadiraju of Bhimavaram, is a four-time world record holder. He is a speedsolver and unicyclist.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Pullela Gopichand is a former Indian badminton player. He won the All England Open Badminton Championships in 2001, becoming the second Indian to win after Prakash Padukone.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Srikanth Kidambi, a badminton player, is the first ever Indian to reach the World Championships final in 2021 in the men's singles and win a silver medal.


title: Andhra Pradesh

text: Cherukuri Lenin (1985 or 198624 October 2010) was an Indian archer and coach who won a silver medal at the Asian Grand Prix in Malaysia and was a national archery coach.


title: American Revolutionary War

text: The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of the United States, fighting began on April 19, 1775, followed by the Lee Resolution on July 2, 1776, and the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The American Patriots were supported by the Kingdom of France and, to a lesser extent, the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Empire, in a conflict taking place in North America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean.


title: American Revolutionary War

text: Established by royal charter in the 17th and 18th centuries, the American colonies were largely autonomous in domestic affairs and commercially prosperous, trading with Britain and its Caribbean colonies, as well as other European powers via their Caribbean entrepôts. After British victory over the French in the Seven Years' War in 1763, tensions between the motherland and her 13 colonies arose over trade, policy in the Northwest Territory, and taxation measures, including the Stamp Act and Townshend Acts. Colonial opposition led to the Boston Massacre in 1770 which largely fostered the idea of independence from Britain. While the earlier taxation measures were repealed, Parliament adopted the Tea Act in 1773, a measure that led to the Boston Tea Party on December 16. In response, Parliament imposed the so-called Intolerable Acts in mid-1774, closing the Boston Harbor, revoking Massachusetts' charter, and placing the colony under control of the British government.


title: American Revolutionary War

text: The measures stirred unrest throughout the colonies, 12 of which sent delegates to Philadelphia in early September 1774 to organize a protest as the First Continental Congress. In an appeal to Britain's George III seeking peace, the Congress drafted a Petition to the King but also threatened a boycott of British goods known as the Continental Association if the Intolerable Acts were not withdrawn. Despite attempts to achieve a peaceful solution, fighting began, after the Westminster Massacre in March, with the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775, and in June Congress authorized the creation of a Continental Army with George Washington as commander-in-chief. Although the "coercion policy" advocated by the North ministry was opposed by a faction within Parliament, both sides increasingly viewed conflict as inevitable. The Olive Branch Petition sent by Congress to George III in July 1775 was rejected, and in August Parliament declared the colonies in a state of rebellion.


title: American Revolutionary War

text: Following the loss of Boston in March 1776, Sir William Howe, the new British commander-in-chief, launched the New York and New Jersey campaign. He captured New York City in November, before Washington won small but significant victories at Trenton and Princeton, which restored Patriot confidence. In summer 1777, Howe succeeded in taking Philadelphia, but in October a separate force under John Burgoyne was forced to surrender at Saratoga. This victory was crucial in convincing powers like France and Spain that an independent United States was a viable entity. The Continental Army then went into winter quarters in Valley Forge, where General von Steuben drilled it into an organized fighting unit.


title: American Revolutionary War

text: France provided the US informal economic and military support from the beginning of the rebellion, and after Saratoga the two countries signed a commercial agreement and a Treaty of Alliance in February 1778. In return for a guarantee of independence, Congress joined France in its global war with Britain and agreed to defend the French West Indies. Spain also allied with France against Britain in the Treaty of Aranjuez (1779), though it did not formally ally with the Americans. Nevertheless, access to ports in Spanish Louisiana allowed the Patriots to import arms and supplies, while the Spanish Gulf Coast campaign deprived the Royal Navy of key bases in the south.


title: American Revolutionary War

text: This undermined the 1778 strategy devised by Howe's replacement, Sir Henry Clinton, which took the war into the Southern United States. Despite some initial success, by September 1781 Cornwallis was besieged by a Franco-American force in Yorktown. After an attempt to resupply the garrison failed, Cornwallis surrendered in October. Although the British wars with France and Spain continued for another two years, Britain's forces in America were generally confined to several harbors and western forts, while fighting in North America largely ceased. In April 1782, the North ministry was replaced by a new British government which accepted American independence and began negotiating the Treaty of Paris. With the treaty's ratification on September 3, 1783, Britain accepted American independence, and the war officially ended. The Treaties of Versailles resolved separate conflicts with France and Spain.


title: American Revolutionary War

text: The French and Indian War, part of the wider global conflict known as the Seven Years' War, ended with the 1763 Peace of Paris, which expelled France from its possessions in New France. Acquisition of territories in Atlantic Canada and West Florida, inhabited largely by French or Spanish-speaking Catholics, led the British authorities to consolidate their hold by populating them with English-speaking settlers. Preventing conflict between settlers and Native American tribes west of the Appalachian Mountains would also avoid the cost of an expensive military occupation.


title: American Revolutionary War

text: The Proclamation Line of 1763 was designed to achieve these aims by refocusing colonial expansion north into Nova Scotia and south into Florida, with the Mississippi River as the dividing line between British and Spanish possessions in the Americas. Settlement beyond the 1763 limits was tightly restricted, while claims by individual colonies west of this line were rescinded, most significantly Virginia and Massachusetts who argued their boundaries extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific.


title: American Revolutionary War

text: Ultimately the vast exchange of territory destabilized existing alliances and trade networks between settlers and Native Americans in the west, while it proved impossible to prevent encroachment beyond the Proclamation Line. With the exception of Virginia and others "deprived" of their rights in the western lands, the colonial legislatures generally agreed on the principle of boundaries but disagreed on where to set them, while many settlers resented the restrictions. Since enforcement required permanent garrisons along the frontier, it led to increasingly bitter disputes over who should pay for them.


title: American Revolutionary War

text: Although directly administered by the Crown, acting through a local Governor, the colonies were largely governed by native-born property owners. While external affairs were managed by London, colonial militia were funded locally but with the ending of the French threat in 1763, the legislatures expected less taxation, not more. At the same time, the huge debt incurred by the Seven Years' War and demands from British taxpayers for cuts in government expenditure meant Parliament expected the colonies to fund their own defense.


title: American Revolutionary War

text: The 1763 to 1765 Grenville ministry instructed the Royal Navy to stop the trade of smuggled goods and enforce customs duties levied in American ports. The most important was the 1733 Molasses Act; routinely ignored prior to 1763, it had a significant economic impact since 85% of New England rum exports were manufactured from imported molasses. These measures were followed by the Sugar Act and Stamp Act, which imposed additional taxes on the colonies to pay for defending the western frontier. In July 1765, the Whigs formed the First Rockingham ministry, which repealed the Stamp Act and reduced tax on foreign molasses to help the New England economy, but re-asserted Parliamentary authority in the Declaratory Act.


title: American Revolutionary War

text: However, this did little to end the discontent; in 1768, a riot started in Boston when the authorities seized the sloop "Liberty" on suspicion of smuggling. Tensions escalated further in March 1770 when British troops fired on rock-throwing civilians, killing five in what became known as the Boston Massacre. The Massacre coincided with the partial repeal of the Townshend Acts by the Tory-based North Ministry, which came to power in January 1770 and remained in office until 1781. North insisted on retaining duty on tea to enshrine Parliament's right to tax the colonies; the amount was minor, but ignored the fact it was that very principle Americans found objectionable.


title: American Revolutionary War

text: Tensions escalated following the destruction of a customs vessel in the June 1772 Gaspee Affair, then came to a head in 1773. A banking crisis led to the near-collapse of the East India Company, which dominated the British economy; to support it, Parliament passed the Tea Act, giving it a trading monopoly in the Thirteen Colonies. Since most American tea was smuggled by the Dutch, the Act was opposed by those who managed the illegal trade, while being seen as yet another attempt to impose the principle of taxation by Parliament. In December 1773, a group called the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawk natives dumped 342 crates of tea into Boston Harbor, an event later known as the Boston Tea Party. Parliament responded by passing the so-called Intolerable Acts, aimed specifically at Massachusetts, although many colonists and members of the Whig opposition considered them a threat to liberty in general. This led to increased sympathy for the Patriot cause locally, as well as in Parliament and the London press.


title: American Revolutionary War

text: Over the course of the 18th century, the elected lower houses in the colonial legislatures gradually wrested power from their Royal Governors. Dominated by smaller landowners and merchants, these Assemblies now established ad hoc provincial legislatures, variously called Congresses, Conventions, and Conferences, effectively replacing Royal control. With the exception of Georgia, twelve colonies sent representatives to the First Continental Congress to agree on a unified response to the crisis. Many of the delegates feared that an all-out boycott would result in war and sent a Petition to the King calling for the repeal of the Intolerable Acts. However, after some debate, on September 17, 1774, Congress endorsed the Massachusetts Suffolk Resolves and on October 20 passed the Continental Association; based on a draft prepared by the First Virginia Convention in August, this instituted economic sanctions against Britain.


title: American Revolutionary War

text: While denying its authority over internal American affairs, a faction led by James Duane and future Loyalist Joseph Galloway insisted Congress recognize Parliament's right to regulate colonial trade. Expecting concessions by the North administration, Congress authorized the extralegal committees and conventions of the colonial legislatures to enforce the boycott; this succeeded in reducing British imports by 97% from 1774 to 1775. However, on February 9 Parliament declared Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion and instituted a blockade of the colony. In July, the Restraining Acts limited colonial trade with the British West Indies and Britain and barred New England ships from the Newfoundland cod fisheries. The increase in tension led to a scramble for control of militia stores, which each Assembly was legally obliged to maintain for defense. On April 19, a British attempt to secure the Concord arsenal culminated in the Battles of Lexington and Concord which began the war.


title: American Revolutionary War

text: After the Patriot victory at Concord, moderates in Congress led by John Dickinson drafted the Olive Branch Petition, offering to accept royal authority in return for George III mediating in the dispute. However, since the petition was immediately followed by the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, Colonial Secretary Lord Dartmouth viewed the offer as insincere; he refused to present the petition to the king, which was therefore rejected in early September. Although constitutionally correct, since George could not oppose his own government, it disappointed those Americans who hoped he would mediate in the dispute, while the hostility of his language annoyed even Loyalist members of Congress. Combined with the Proclamation of Rebellion, issued on August 23 in response to the Battle at Bunker Hill, it ended hopes of a peaceful settlement.


title: American Revolutionary War

text: Backed by the Whigs, Parliament initially rejected the imposition of coercive measures by 170 votes, fearing an aggressive policy would simply drive the Americans towards independence. However, by the end of 1774 the collapse of British authority meant both Lord North and George III were convinced war was inevitable. After Boston, Gage halted operations and awaited reinforcements; the Irish Parliament approved the recruitment of new regiments, while allowing Catholics to enlist for the first time. Britain also signed a series of treaties with German states to supply additional troops. Within a year it had an army of over 32,000 men in America, the largest ever sent outside Europe at the time.