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Provinces of Sri Lanka

First-level administrative divisions of Sri Lanka

Summary

First-level administrative divisions of Sri Lanka

Field	Value
name	Districts
පළාත
மாகாணம்
map	[[File:Sri Lanka provinces.svg	250px]]
category	First level administrative division
territory	Sri Lanka
start_date	1 October 1833
current_number	9
population_range	1,061,315–5,851,130
area_range	3,684–10,472 km2
government	Provincial council
subdivision	District

පළාත மாகாணம்

Provinces (; ) are the first level administrative divisions of Sri Lanka. Currently, Sri Lanka is divided into 9 provinces. Each province is further divided into districts, which are further divided into divisional secretariats.

The provinces were first established by the British rulers of Ceylon in 1833. Over the next century, most of the administrative functions of the provinces were transferred to the districts, the second level administrative division of the country. By the middle of the 20th century, the provinces had become mostly ceremonial. This changed in 1987 when, following several decades of increasing demand for decentralization, the 13th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka established provincial councils.

History

British Ceylon

After the British took control of the entire island of Ceylon in 1815, it was divided into three ethnic-based administrative structures: Low Country Sinhalese, Kandyan Sinhalese and Tamil. In 1829, the British established the Colebrooke–Cameron Commission to review the colonial government of Ceylon, including its administrative structures. The commission recommended that the existing three ethnic based administrations be unified into a single administration divided into five geographic provinces.

Central Province – composed of the central Kandyan Provinces.
Eastern Province – composed of the maritime districts of Batticaloa and Trincomalee, and the Kandyan provinces of Bintenna and Tamankaduwa.
Northern Province – composed of the maritime districts of Jaffna, Mannar and Vanni, and the Kandyan province of Nuwara Kalawiya.
Southern Province – composed of the maritime districts of Galle, Hambantota, Matara and Tangalle, and the Kandyan provinces of Lower Uva, Saffragam and Wellassa.
Western Province – composed of the maritime districts of Colombo, Chilaw and Puttalam, and the Kandyan provinces of Three Korales, Four Korales, Seven Korales and Lower Bulathgama.

Over the next fifty years, four additional provinces were created, bringing the total number up to nine:

North Western Province – created in 1845 from northern parts of the Western Province (districts of Chilaw, Puttalam and Seven Korales).
North Central Province – created in 1873 from southern parts of the Northern Province (district of Nuwara Kalawiya) and north western parts of the Eastern Province (district of Tamankaduwa).
Uva Province – created in 1886 from parts of the Central Province, Eastern Province (district of Bintenna) and Southern Province (district of Wellassa).
Sabaragamuwa Province – created in 1889.

Sri Lanka

North Eastern Province

The number of provinces remained static until September 1988 when, in accordance with the Indo-Lanka Accord, President J. R. Jayewardene issued proclamations enabling the Northern and Eastern provinces to be one administrative unit administered by one elected council, creating the North Eastern Province. The proclamations were only meant to be a temporary measure until a referendum was held in the Eastern Province on a permanent merger between the two provinces. However, the referendum was never held and successive Sri Lankan presidents issued proclamations annually extending the life of the "temporary" entity.

The merger was controversial and bitterly opposed by Sinhalese-speaking people, in particular. On 14 July 2006, after a long campaign against the merger, the JVP filed three separate petitions with the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka requesting a separate Provincial Council for the East. On 16 October 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that the proclamations issued by President Jayewardene were null and void and had no legal effect. The North Eastern Province was formally de-merged into the Northern and Eastern provinces on 1 January 2007.

List of provinces

All population data is from the most recent census of Sri Lanka, in 2012.

Province	Area map	Provincial
capital	Established	Land
area
in km2 (mi2)	Inland
water
area
in km2 (mi2)	Total
area
in km2 (mi2)	Population
(2012)	Population
density
per km2
(per mi2)	Total	62705 km2	2905 km2	65610 km2	20,359,439	324.686054 /km2
Central Province, Sri Lanka Central	[[File:Sri Lanka Central Province locator map.svg	100px	alt=Area map of Central Province of Sri Lanka]]	Kandy		5575 km2	99 km2	5674 km2	2,571,557	{{Convert	461.26583	/km2	/sqmi	0	adj=ri0	sortable=on}}
Eastern Province, Sri Lanka Eastern	[[File:Sri Lanka Eastern Province locator map.svg	100px	alt=Area map of Eastern Province of Sri Lanka]]	Trincomalee		9361 km2	635 km2	9996 km2	1,555,510	{{Convert	166.169213	/km2	/sqmi	0	adj=ri0	sortable=on}}
North Central Province, Sri Lanka North Central	[[File:Sri Lanka North Central Province locator map.svg	100px	alt=Area map of North Central Province of Sri Lanka]]	Anuradhapura		9741 km2	731 km2	10472 km2	1,266,663	{{Convert	130.034185	/km2	/sqmi	0	adj=ri0	sortable=on}}
Northern Province, Sri Lanka Northern	[[File:Sri Lanka Northern Province locator map.svg	100px	alt=Area map of Northern Province of Sri Lanka]]	Jaffna		8290 km2	594 km2	8884 km2	1,061,315	{{Convert	128.023522	/km2	/sqmi	0	adj=ri0	sortable=on}}
North Western Province, Sri Lanka North Western	[[File:Sri Lanka North Western Province locator map.svg	100px	alt=Area map of North Western Province of Sri Lanka]]	Kurunegala		7506 km2	382 km2	7888 km2	2,380,861	{{Convert	317.194378	/km2	/sqmi	0	adj=ri0	sortable=on}}
Sabaragamuwa Province	[[File:Sri Lanka Sabaragamuwa locator map.svg	100px	alt=Area map of Sabaragamuwa, Sri Lanka]]	Ratnapura		4921 km2	47 km2	4968 km2	1,928,655	{{Convert	391.92339	/km2	/sqmi	0	adj=ri0	sortable=on}}
Southern Province, Sri Lanka Southern	[[File:Sri Lanka Southern Province locator map.svg	100px	alt=Area map of Southern Province of Sri Lanka]]	Galle		5383 km2	161 km2	5544 km2	2,477,285	{{Convert	460.205276	/km2	/sqmi	0	adj=ri0	sortable=on}}
Uva Province	[[File:Sri Lanka Uva locator map.svg	100px	alt=Area map of Uva, Sri Lanka]]	Badulla		8335 km2	165 km2	8500 km2	1,266,463	{{Convert	151.945171	/km2	/sqmi	0	adj=ri0	sortable=on}}
Western Province, Sri Lanka Western	[[File:Sri Lanka Western Province locator map.svg	100px	alt=Area map of Western Province of Sri Lanka]]	Colombo		3593 km2	91 km2	3684 km2	5,851,130	{{Convert	1628.48038	/km2	/sqmi	0	adj=ri0	sortable=on}}

Notes

References

Bibliography

References

Law, Gwillim. (2010). "Provinces of Sri Lanka". statoids.com.
"Introduction". [[Government of Sri Lanka]].
"The Colebrooke-Cameron Reforms". [[Library of Congress]].
Mills, Lennox A.. (1933). "Ceylon Under British Rule 1795–1932". [[Oxford University Press]]/[[Humphrey S. Milford]].
Samarasinghe, L. M.. (21 March 2003). "River basins as administrative divisions". [[Daily News (Sri Lanka)]].
"Sinhala Colonisation in the Hereditary Tamil Regions of the Island of Sri Lanka". Tamil Nation.
Karalliyadda, S. B.. (4 February 2009). "Independence Struggle for a Hundred and Thirty Three Years". [[Daily News (Sri Lanka)]].
Selvanayagam, S. S.. (17 October 2006). "North-East merger illegal: SC". [[The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)]].
Sambandan, V. S.. (14 November 2003). "Sri Lanka's North-East to remain united for another year". [[The Hindu]].
"Table 1.1: Area of Sri Lanka by province and district". Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka.
"Census of Population and Housing of Sri Lanka, 2012 – Table A1: Population by district, sex and sector". Department of Census & Statistics, Sri Lanka.

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