Introduction
Hospet is a city in Bellary District in northern Karnataka, India. It is on the Tungabhadra River, 12 km from the World Heritage site consisting of the ruins of the medieval city of Vijayanagara, former capital of the Vijayanagara Empire.

The city was built by Krishna Deva Raya, one of the rulers of Vijayanagara in memory of his mother Nagalambika. The city was named Nagalapura, however people referred to the city as Hosa Pete meaning New City. An area between Hampi and Hospet is still called Nagalapura. It was the entrance gate to the city of Vijayanagara for all travellers coming from Goa and West Coast.

The nearby Tungabhadra Dam was built in the twentieth century. A recent phenomenon in this region has been the boom of the iron-ore mining business. Due to great international demands for iron-ore, particularly from China, there has been considerable mining in this region. To an extent, the Tungabhadra Dam as well as the ruins of Hampi are now endangered by this development.

The town is located near many places of historic and mythic importance, many of which are described in the article on Vijayanagara. It was part of the original Vijayanagara metropolitan area.

Modern day Hospet is a developing city with an engineering college and an ayurvedic college

Geography
Hospet is located at 15°16'N 76°24'E? / ?15.27°N 76.4°E? / 15.27; 76.4. Hospet has an average elevation of 480 metres (1574 feet).

Transport
Hospet is served by a broad gauge railway to Hubli in the west and to Guntakal in the east. Metre gauge lines have disappeared under Project Unigauge. National Highway 13 (NH-13) connects Hospet town by road with other cities of India like Mangalore, Chitradurga, Bijapur, Solapur. Hospet town is connected to Hubli, Gadag, Gooty and Ankola by National Highway 63 NH-63.