Place · fortress city · India
Ballari
Also known as Bellary
The historic city of Ballari (Bellary) in Ballari district, Karnataka, 70 kilometres from Hampi (Vijayanagara). The town was a key Vijayanagara-period fortress (14-16 century) and later the Nizam Shahi, Qutb Shahi, Marathi and British East India Company administrative centre. The 1565 Battle of Talikota (which destroyed the Vijayanagara Empire) was fought 60 kilometres north. Ballari was the Madras Presidency's westernmost district headquarters and the headquarters of the Madras Native Infantry's 1857 uprising sector. The 2012 Ballari iron-ore mining scandal (Supreme Court-ordered cessation of mining following the 2009 Lokayukta Santosh Hegde report) exposed one of modern India's largest environmental and corruption cases. The city sits at the centre of the Deccan iron-ore mining belt.
- Function
- Trade & production
- Patron dynasty
- Vijayanagara · British Raj · Indian Union
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 15.139, 76.921
Connections (1)
- Site adjacencyAnantapur
Anantapur and Ballari (Bellary) sit 100 kilometres apart on the Rayalaseema-Bayalaseema border of modern Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Both cities were key Vijayanagara-period commercial-fortress centres (Anantapur founded 1364 CE, Ballari serving as a Vijayanagara fortress) and later Hyder Ali-Tipu Sultan garrisons before falling to British East India Company rule in 1799 after the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War. The 2014 Andhra bifurcation placed Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh and Ballari in Karnataka, but historically they were part of the same Vijayanagara trade network.
Sources
Standard reference; district gazetteer and Wikipedia.
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