Central Province 1

Central Province

Central Provice Flag — **Central Province Flag**

The Central Province is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka, the first level administrative division of the country. The Central Province is primarily in the central mountainous terrain of Sri Lanka. It is the 6^th largest province by area and is home to nearly 2.52 million people (In 2017). It is bordered by North Central Province to the north, Uva Province to the east, North Western Province to the west and Sabaragamuwa Province to the south and west. The province's capital is Kandy.

The cities of Matale and Nuwara Eliya are in the Central Province. The province is famous for its production of Ceylon tea, planted by the British in the 1860s after a devastating disease killed all the coffee plantations in the province. The Central Province attracts many tourists, with hill station towns such as Gampola, Hatton and Nuwara Eliya.

History

Though three successive European powers invaded Sri Lanka during the 16^th to the 19^th century, the Central Province maintained its independence until the early 19^th century when the British conquered Kandy. The British then established a colonial headman ranking system in 1824, which came into effect in 1832.

Colonial head mudaliyars

Sir Christofel de-Silva (1824-1842)
Don William Gunawardene De-Saram III (1842-1856)
Sir Hendrick Ekanayake (1856-1860)
Sir Alexander-James Divakara Mohotti (1860-1888)
Don Agaris Divakara Mohotti (1888-1924)

The Mudaliyar Office was abolished in 1924 and the last of the colonial headman retired from their positions and gave up the rule to the British officers in 1926. All headman positions were then passed down to the newly elected governor general of Central Province. This was established in 1929 as a way for the British to directly rule the provinces.

Climate

The climate is cool, and many areas above 1,500 metres often have chilly nights. The western slopes are very wet, some places have almost 7,000 mm of rain per year. The eastern slopes are parts of the mid dry zone as it is receiving rain only from North-Eastern monsoon. The temperatures range from 24^oC at Kandy to just 16^oC in Nuwara Eliya, which is 1,889 m above sea level. The highest mountains in Sri Lanka are in the Central Province. The terrain is mostly mountainous, with deep valleys cutting into it. The two main mountain regions are the central massif and the Knuckles range to the east of Kandy. The population is a mixture of Sinhalese, Tamil and the Moors. Many tea plantation workers are Indian Tamils, brought over to Sri Lanka by the British in the 19^th century.

Administrative divisions

Central Province is divided into three districts and 36 divisional secretariats;

Districts

Kandy District	- Kandy
Matale District	- Matale
Nuwara Eliya District	- Nuwara Eliya

External links

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