Kakinada is the sixth largest city of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and serves as the district headquarters of the Kakinada District. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. J.N.T.U. College of Engineering Kakinada, established in 1946, is the oldest and popular Government college in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The First Polytechnic college of Andhra Pradesh, Andhra Polytechnic was established here in 1946. It was also the origin point of Buckingham Canal where goods used to be transported by boats during the British rule. It was once home for Asia's largest sea port. Many people from the city migrated from this sea port to countries like Burma, Mauritius, Fiji and various southeast Asian countries to work there as workers where they were called as Coringas.

The Buckingham Canal is a 796 kilometres (494.6 mi)-long fresh water navigation canal, that parallels the Coromandel Coast of South India from Kakinada City in the Kakinada district of Andhra Pradesh to Village near Chidambaram, Cuddalore District of Tamil Nadu, India. The canal connects most of the natural backwaters along the coast to Chennai (Madras) port.