Konda Reddy Fort, Mantralayam and Orvakal Rock Garden, Kurnool are tourist places of interest in the district.

[6]: 3 The Ketavaram rock paintings are dated back to the Paleolithic era (located at a distance of 18 km (11 mi) from Kurnool).

[7] Jurreru Valley, Katavani Kunta[8] and Yaganti in the Nandyal district have some important rock arts and paintings in their vicinity, which are dated back to 35,000 to 40,000 years ago.

The earliest rulers of this region were Nandas, as suggested by place names such as Nandavaram, Nandyal, Mahanandi.

They were defeated by Mauryas around 323 A.D. After that the region passed into the hands of Satavahanas, Pallavas, Cholas, Rashtrakutas during the course of time till 973 A.D.

Reddy and Vijayanagar kingdoms fought several wars for the control of this region, with Vijayanagara kings succeeding finally.

During the reign of Vijayanagar king Achyuta Deva Raya in 1530 A.D. the fort of Kurnool was built.

The Vijayanagar kingdom was defeated in the battle of Tallikota in 1565 A.D. As a result, part of this region was given over to Bijapur sultanate.

Munro subjugated over 80 Palegars, instituted revenue collection system through which he secured the finances.

According to the 2011 census Kurnool district has a population of 4,053,463,[6] roughly equal to the nation of Liberia[11] or the US state of Oregon.

They include, 78 government, 2,398 mandal and zilla parishads, 1 residential, 1,355 private, 33 model, 53 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV), 140 municipal and 121 other types of schools.

[17] Kurnool district occupies an area of approximately 7,977 square kilometres (3,080 sq mi).

[19] The district is divided into 3 revenue divisions: Adoni, Kurnool and Pattikonda, which are further subdivided into a total of 26 mandals, each headed by a sub-collector.

[29] Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design & Manufacturing, Kurnool (IIITDMK) fully funded by Ministry of Education commenced academic activities from 2015, as per the provisions of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation act of 2014.

[31] Mantralayam on the banks of the Tungabhadra River is famous for the devotees of Raghavendra Swamy, a saint who lived in the 17th century.

[33] Sanjeevaiah Sagar also known as The Gajuladinne Project is a dam on the Handri river situated about 20 km from Yemmiganur.

[34] Many attractions in adjacent Nandyal district such as Belum caves, Srisailam, Yaganti can be explored with Kurnool as base.

[36] Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy represented several assembly constituencies of the undivided district during his political career.