The Ketavaram rock paintings are dated back to the Paleolithic era. Jurreru Valley, Katavani Kunta and Yaganti in the district have some important rock arts and paintings in their vicinity, which are dated back to 35,000 to 40,000 years ago. Belum Caves are geologically and historically important caves in the district. There are indications that Jain and Buddhist monks were occupying these caves centuries ago. Many Buddhists relics were found inside the caves. These relics are now housed in Museum at Anantapur. Archaeological survey of India found remnants of vessels and other artifacts of pre-Buddhist era and has dated the remnants of vessels found in the caves to 4500 BC. Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, the 6th President of India has served as Member of Parliament from Nandyal constituency. He previously served as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, serving as an MLA from the Dhoneassembly constituency. In 1970, part of Kurnool district was split off to become part of Prakasam district. Kurnool District is a part of the Red Corridor.
According to the 2011 census Kurnool district has a population of 4,053,463, roughly equal to the nation of Liberia or the US state of Oregon. This gives it a ranking of 54th in India. The district has a population density of. Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 14.65%. Kurnool has a sex ratio of 984 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 59.97%. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes made up 18.2% and 2% of the population respectively
Kurnool district has three Revenue divisions viz., Kurnool, Nandyal, Adoni divisions. The district has 54 mandals and 53 Panchayat Samitis under these revenue divisions. It also has a Municipal Corporation of Kurnool and 4 municipalities namely, Nandyal, Adoni, Yemmiganur and Dhone. There are 899 gram panchayats that include 7 notified and 862 non-notified, alongside 920 revenue villages and 615 hamlets. G. Veerapandian is the present district collector.
Mandals
The mandals are listed with respect to their revenue divisions in the following table: Kurnool District has 3 Revenue Divisions viz., Kurnool, Nandyal, Adoni divisions.
The total road length of state highways in the district is.
Education
The primary and secondary school education is imparted by government, aided and private schools, under the School Education Department of the state. As per the school information report for the academic year 2015–16, there are a total of 4,179 schools. They include, 78 government, 2,398 mandal and zilla parishads, 1 residential, 1,355 private, 33 model, 53 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya, 140 municipal and 121 other types of schools. The total number of students enrolled in primary, upper primary and high schools of the district are 631,740.
