Guntur (pronunciation^ⓘ), natively spelt as Gunturu, is a city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of Guntur district. The city is part of the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region and is located on the Eastern Coastal Plains approximately 14 miles (23 km) south-west of the state capital Amaravati. According to data from the 2011 Census of India, Guntur had a population of 743,354 in that year, making it the third-most-populous city in the state, and occupies 159.46 square kilometres (61.57 square miles) of land. The city is the heartland of the state, located in the center of Andhra Pradesh and making it a central part connecting different regions.

The city is home to numerous state government offices and agencies. being part of the district capital and being in close proximity to the state capital Amaravati. The city is about 1100 miles south of the national capital New Delhi. It is classified as a Y-grade city as per the Seventh Central Pay Commission. It is the 24th most densely populated city in the world and 11th in India. Guntur is estimated to have current population of around 0.9 million.

Guntur serves as a major hub for the export of chilli, cotton and tobacco, and has the largest chilli-market yard in Asia. It is also a major hub for transport, education, medicine and commercial activities in the state. Ancient temples and sites near the city include Kondaveedu Fort, Amareswaraswamy temple, and Undavalli Caves, and Sri Bramarambha Malleswara Swamy Temple at Pedakakani.

In Sanskrit documents, Guntur was referred to as Garthapuri; in Telugu, "Guntlapuri" means "a place surrounded by water ponds". The settlement might have been near a pond (Telugu: "gunta"); hence "gunta uru" means "pond village". Another source refers to "kunta", a land-measuring unit, which may have transformed to "kunta uru" and later to "Guntur".

The ancient Vedic puranas, going back to the Treta Yuga and Dvapara Yuga, mention Sitanagaram and the Guttikonda caves near Guntur.

The region was historically known for Buddhism; the first Kalachakra ceremony was performed by Gautama Buddha. Agastyeshwara temple is one of the oldest temples in the city; according to a local legend, Agastya built it in the Treta Yuga around a swayambhu linga. Inscriptions on the side of Naga Muchalinda, a sculpture unearthed in 2018 in the compound of the temple, are in Naga Lipi, an ancient script from the third century CE. Based on this discovery, Emani Sivanagi Reddy, archaeologist and Buddhist scholar believes this region served as a Buddhist site contemporary to Nagarjunakonda.

The earliest reference to Guntur is found in inscriptions by Ammaraja I (922–929 CE), the Vengi Chalukyan king. According to an inscription in Sri Narasimha Swami temple at Ramachandra Agraharam, Tirumala Dasa Mahapatra—the local ruler of the Gajapathi king Kapileswara Gajapathi—gave donations to the temple of Mulastha Mallikarjuna Deva in 1485 CE.

Prior to the British Raj, Guntur has been ruled by the Satavahanas, Andhra Ikshvakus, Vishnukundinas, Pallavas, Vengi Chalukyas, Kakatiya kings, Reddy kings, Gajapathi kings, and Vijayanagar kings, Nizams of Hyderabad, French India, and the British East India Company. The British East India Company took over the Kondaveedu Fort in 1788 and abandoned it in the early 19th century in favour of Guntur, which was made the headquarters of a district named after it.^{[citation needed]} The district was abolished in 1859 and reconstituted in 1904.^{[citation needed]}