Timeline of Visakhapatnam's history

  • 260 BCE: Ashoka conquered the Kalinga empire (of which Visakhapatnam was a part).
  • 208: Chandra Sri Satakarni was king of this region.
  • 11th century: Simhachalam Temple built by Kulottunga I.
  • 13th century: Simhachalam Temple renovated and made southern imperial centre by the Ganga king Narasimha I of Orissa.
  • 1515: Krishna Deva Raya was ruler of the area comprising Visakhapatnam.
  • Mid-17th century: A factory was founded in "Vizagapatam" by the British East India Company.
  • 1689: The British factory was occupied by the forces of Aurangzeb.
  • 1735: Dutch Colony was established.
  • 1765: The territory of the Northern Circars, of which Visakhapatnam was a part, ceded to the British East India Company by the Nizam of Hyderabad. Following this, a British colony was established.
  • 1847: St. Aloysius High School was established; it is one of the oldest schools in India.
  • 1881: The title of Raja was conferred upon Sri Goday Narayana Gajapathi Rao, Zamindar of Anakapalle and other estates
  • 1893 : The St Joseph's Girls High School and Convent was established by the sisters of Annessey, France.It is the second oldest school in vizag.
  • 1904: Railway from Madras to Calcutta, passing through Vizagapatam, was opened.
  • 1902 : Andhra Medical College was founded by Maharaja Goday Narayana Gajapati Rao and Maharani Lady Goday Chittijanakiammah.
  • 1921 (14 September) - Arrest of the revolutionary Maulana Mohammad Ali at the Waltair (now Visakhapatnam) railway station while journeying to to Madras with Mahatma Gandhi. In the evening a public meeting was held on the beach where loads of foreign clothes were burnt. Umar Alisha, a Telugu poet, made a fiery speech against Ali's arrest.
  • 1926: Andhra University established.
  • 1931: Timpany School established.
  • 1933: Visakhapatnam Port established.
  • 1942: Japanese war planes attack Visakhapatnam.
  • 1947: Eastern Naval Command established its base here. Before 1947 the Royal Navy had a base in HMIS Sircars.
  • 1949: Scindia Shipyard started. Later nationalised and called Hindustan Shipyard.
  • 1953: The Boat Repair Shop expanded into a Base Repair Organisation (BRO) and shifted to the location at the mouth of the northwest channel.
  • 1957: A petroleum refinery by Caltex, currently owned by HPCL.
  • 1965: Two survey ships, Jumna and Investigator, were permanently rebased at Visakhapatnam.
  • 1968: Visakha Valley School established.
  • 1971: INS Rajput of the Indian Navy destroys the Pakistani submarine Ghazi in the Indo-Pakistan War off the coast of Visakhapatnam.
  • 1977: Indira Gandhi Zoological Park established near Madhurawada.
  • 1981: Visakhapatnam Steel Plant construction started.
  • 1989: VSEZ formerly known as VEPZ was established.
  • 1990: Visakhapatnam Steel Plant started its operations.
  • 1997: September 14 - A blast in HPCL with an official death toll of 22.