HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Jaffna (, ; , ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th most populous city. Jaffna is approximately from Kandarodai which served as an emporium in the Jaffna peninsula from
classical antiquity Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural History of Europe, European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the inter ...
. Jaffna's suburb Nallur served as the capital of the four-century-long medieval Tamil
Jaffna Kingdom The Jaffna kingdom (, ; 1215–1619 CE), also known as Kingdom of Aryachakravarti, was a historical kingdom of what today is northern Sri Lanka. It came into existence around the town of Jaffna on the Jaffna peninsula and was traditionally t ...
. Prior to the Sri Lankan Civil War, it was Sri Lanka's second most populous city after
Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...
. The 1980s insurgent uprising led to extensive damage, expulsion of part of the population, and military occupation. Since the end of civil war in 2009, refugees and internally displaced people began returning to homes, while government and private sector reconstruction started taking place. Historically, Jaffna has been a contested city. It was made into a colonial port town during the Portuguese occupation of the Jaffna peninsula in 1619 who lost it to the Dutch, who would lose it to the
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
in 1796. During the civil war, the rebel
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eela ...
(LTTE) occupied Jaffna in 1986. The
Indian Peace Keeping Force Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990. It was formed under the mandate of the 1987 Indo-Sri Lankan Accord that aimed to end the Sri Lanka ...
(IPKF) briefly occupied the city in 1987. The LTTE again occupied the city from 1989 until 1995, when the Sri Lankan Army regained control. The majority of the city's population are Sri Lankan Tamils with a significant number of
Sri Lankan Moors Sri Lankan Moors (; Arwi: ; ; formerly Ceylon Moors; colloquially referred to as Sri Lankan Muslims) are an ethnic minority group in Sri Lanka, comprising 9.3% of the country's total population. Most of them are native speakers of the Tamil langua ...
, Indian Tamils and other ethnic groups present in the city prior to the civil war. Most Sri Lankan Tamils are
Hindus Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
followed by Christians, Muslims and a small Buddhist minority. The city is home to number of educational institutions established during the colonial and post-colonial period. It also has number of commercial institutions, minor industrial units, banks, hotels and other government institutions. It is home to many historical sites such as the popular Jaffna library that was burnt down and rebuilt and the Jaffna fort which was rebuilt during the Dutch colonial period.


Etymology

Jaffna is known in Tamil as ''Yalpanam'' and earlier known as ''Yalpanapattinam''. A 15th-century inscription of the
Vijayanagara Empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also known as the Karnata Kingdom, was a late medieval Hinduism, Hindu empire that ruled much of southern India. It was established in 1336 by the brothers Harihara I and Bukka Raya I of the Sangama dynasty, belongi ...
mentions the place as ''Yalpaanayanpaddinam''. The name also occurs on copper plates issued by Sethupathi kings of the same era. The suffix ''-pattinam'' indicates the place to have been a seaport town. The origin of the name can be traced to a legend about the town's etymology. A king (supposedly '' Ukkirasinghan'') was visited by the blind Panan musician, who was an expert in vocal music and one skilled in the use of instrument called Yal. The king who was delighted to the music played with the Yal by the Panan, presented him a sandy plain. The Panan returned to India and introduced some members of his tribe as impecunious as himself to accompany to this land of promise, and it is surmised that their place of settlement was that part of the city which is known at present as Passaiyoor and Gurunagar. The Columbuthurai Commercial Harbor situated at Colombuthurai and the harbor known as ‘''Aluppanthy''’ situated previously at the Gurunagar area seem as its evidences. The colloquial form of Yalpanam is Yappanam. The ''Ya'' and ''Ja'' including ''pp'' and ''ff'' are easily interchangeable. Jaffna is a version of Yalpanam that was adopted by non-Tamil speaking rulers and settlers. As soon as it went into foreign language, it lost the
Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
ending ''m'' and consequently stood as ''Jaffna''.


History


Early historic period

Megalith A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. More than 35,000 megalithic structures have been identified across Europe, ranging geographically f ...
ic excavations reveal settlements of an early period in this region. The bronze Anaikoddai seal with Tamil-Brahmi and
Indus script The Indus script, also known as the Harappan script and the Indus Valley script, is a corpus of symbols produced by the Indus Valley Civilisation. Most inscriptions containing these symbols are extremely short, making it difficult to judge whe ...
indicates a clan-based settlement of the last phase of the
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
in the Jaffna region.
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
urn burials including other Tamil-Brahmi inscribed potsherds found in Kandarodai, Poonakari and Anaikoddai in the Jaffna region, reflects the burial practices of older times. Excavated ceramic sequences in Kandarodai, similar to Arikamedu, revealed South Indian
black and red ware Black and red ware (BRW) is a South Asian earthenware, associated with the Neolithic phase, Harappa, Bronze Age India, Iron Age India, the Megalithic and the early historical period. Although it is sometimes called an archaeological culture, ...
, potteries and fine grey ware from 2nd to 5th BCE. Excavations of black and red wares (1000 BCE – 100 CE), grey wares (500 BCE – 200 CE), Sasanian–Islamic wares (200 BCE – 800 CE), Yue green wares (800 – 900 CE), Dusun stone wares (700 –1100 CE) and Ming Porcelains (1300 – 1600CE) conducted at the Jaffna Fort hints to maritime trade between the Jaffna Peninsula and
South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...
,
Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...
and the
Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...
. Jaffna and surrounding region was part of the chiefdom of Naga Nadu mentioned in the 5th century CE
Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
epic
Manimekalai ''Maṇimēkalai'' (, ), also spelled ''Manimekhalai'' or ''Manimekalai'', is a Tamil Buddhist epic composed by Kulavāṇikaṉ Seethalai Sataṉar probably somewhere between the 2nd century to the 6th century. It is an "anti-love story", a ...
and the
Pali Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Can ...
chronicle Mahavamsa as inhabited by tribal
Naga people Nagas are various Tibeto-Burman languages, Tibeto-Burman ethnic groups native to northeastern India and northwestern Myanmar. The groups have similar cultures and traditions, and form the majority of population in the Indian state of Nagaland ...
, surmised as one of the earliest tribes of
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
. They had according to scholars fully assimilated to
Tamil language Tamil (, , , also written as ''Tamizhil'' according to linguistic pronunciation) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. It is one of the longest-surviving classical languages in the world,. "Tamil is one of ...
and culture by the 9th century CE or earlier.


Medieval period

During the medieval times, the Kingdom of Aryacakravarti came into existence in the 13th century as an ally to the Pandyan Empire in South India. When the Pandyan Empire became weak due to Muslim invasions, successive Aryacakravarti rulers made the Jaffna kingdom independent and a regional power to reckon with in Sri Lanka.Peebles, ''History of Sri Lanka'', p.31-32 Nallur a suburb of Jaffna served as the capital of the kingdom. Politically, it was an expanding power in the 13th and 14th century with all regional kingdoms paying tribute to it. However, it met with simultaneous confrontations with the
Vijayanagar empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also known as the Karnata Kingdom, was a late medieval Hindu empire that ruled much of southern India. It was established in 1336 by the brothers Harihara I and Bukka Raya I of the Sangama dynasty, belonging to ...
that ruled from
Vijayanagara Vijayanagara () is a city located in Vijayanagara district of Karnataka state in India.Vijayanagara
, southern India, and a rebounding Kotte Kingdom from the southern Sri Lanka. This led to the kingdom becoming a
vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...
of the Vijyanagar Empire as well as briefly losing its independence under the Kotte kingdom from 1450 to 1467. The kingdom was re-established with the disintegration of Kotte kingdom and the fragmentation of Viyanagara Empire.Peebles, ''History of Sri Lanka'', p.34 It maintained very close commercial and political relationships with the Thanjavur Nayakar kingdom in southern India as well as the Kandyan and segments of the Kotte kingdom. This period saw the building of Hindu temples in the peninsula and a flourishing of literature, both in Tamil and Sanskrit.


Colonial history

The Portuguese established Jaffna city in 1621 as their colonial administrative center. Prior to the military capitulation to the
Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire was a colonial empire that existed between 1415 and 1999. In conjunction with the Spanish Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It achieved a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas, Africa ...
in 1619, the capital of the local
Jaffna Kingdom The Jaffna kingdom (, ; 1215–1619 CE), also known as Kingdom of Aryachakravarti, was a historical kingdom of what today is northern Sri Lanka. It came into existence around the town of Jaffna on the Jaffna peninsula and was traditionally t ...
, also known as the Kingdom of the Aryacakravarti was Nallur, which is close to the city limits of Jaffna. The capital city was known in royal inscriptions and chronicles as ''Cinkainakar'' and in other sources as ''Yalpaanam'' in
Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
and ''Yapaapatuna'' in Sinhalese. From 1590, Portuguese merchants and Catholic missionaries were active within the Jaffna kingdom. Impetus for a permanent fortified settlement happened only after 1619, when the expeditionary forces of the Portuguese Empire led by Filipe de Oliveira captured Cankili II, the last native king. De Oliveira moved the center of political and military control from Nallur to Jaffnapatao (variously spelt as Jaffnapattan or Jaffnapattam), the Portuguese rendition of the native name for the former Royal capital. Jaffnapatao was attacked number of times by A local rebel Migapulle Arachchi and his allied Thanjavur Nayakar expeditionary forces attacked Jaffnapatao a number of times, but the Portuguese defence of the city withstood the attacks. Jaffnapatao was a small town with a fort, a harbour, Catholic chapels, and government buildings. Portuguese merchants took over the lucrative trade of elephants from the interior and monopolised the import of goods from
Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...
and
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
, disfranchising the local merchants. The Portuguese era was a time of population movement to the
Vannimai The Vanni chieftaincies or Vanni tribes was a region between Anuradhapura and Jaffna, but also extending to along the eastern coast to Panama and Yala, during the Transitional and Kandyan periods of Sri Lanka. The heavily forested land was a c ...
s in the south, religious change, and as well as the introduction to the city of European education and health care. In 1658, Portuguese lost Jaffapatao to the
Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...
(VOC) after a three-month siege. During the Dutch occupation, the city grew in population and size. The Dutch were more tolerant towards native mercantile and religious activities than the Portuguese had been. Most of the Hindu temples that the Portuguese had destroyed were rebuilt. A community of mixed Eurasian
Dutch Burghers The Dutch Burghers are an ethnic group in Sri Lanka, of mixed Dutch, Portuguese Burgher and Sri Lankan descent. However, they are a different community when compared with Portuguese Burghers. Originally an entirely Protestant community, many Bur ...
grew up. The Dutch rebuilt the fort and expanded it considerably. They also built
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
churches and government buildings, most of which survived until the 1980s, but suffered damage or destruction during the subsequent civil war. During the Dutch period, Jaffna also became prominent as a trading town in locally grown agricultural products with the native merchants and farmers profiting as much as the VOC merchants. Great Britain took over the Dutch possessions in Sri Lanka from 1796. Britain maintained many of the Dutch mercantile, religious, and taxation policies. During the British colonial period, almost all the schools that eventually played role in the high literacy achievement of the Jaffna residents were built by missionaries belonging to American Ceylon Mission, Wesleyan Methodist Mission, Saivite reformer Arumuka Navalar and others. Under British rule, Jaffna enjoyed a period of rapid growth and prosperity, as the British built the major roads and railway line connecting the city with Colombo,
Kandy Kandy (, ; , ) is a major city located in the Central Province, Sri Lanka, Central Province of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the Sinhalese monarchy from 1469 to 1818, under the Kingdom of Kandy. The city is situated in the midst of ...
and the rest of the country. The prosperity of the city's citizens enabled them to underwrite the building of temples and schools, and the library and museum.


Post-colonial history

After Sri Lanka became independent in 1948 from Britain, the relationship between majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils worsened.Considered the heart of Tamil culture and literature in Sri Lanka, Jaffna was concentrated with growing Tamil nationalism, which called for autonomy for Tamils to protest the discrimination against them by the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lanka government and Sinhalese civilians since Sri Lanka gained independence from Britain in 1948. Residents of Jaffna city along with the rest of Tamil population of Sri Lanka were in the fore front of the political mobilisation behind Tamil nationalist parties. After the Tamil conference incident in 1974, the then mayor of Jaffna Alfred Duraiappah was assassinated by the leader of rebel LTTE,
Velupillai Prabhakaran Velupillai Prabhakaran (; ; ; 26 November 1954 – 18 May 2009) was a Sri Lankan guerrilla and a major figure of Tamil nationalism, being the founder and leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE was a militant organiza ...
in 1975. Following further deterioration of political discourse, the Jaffna library was burnt down in 1981 by
Police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...
and other miscreants. Failure of the political class to find an adequate compromise led to full-scale civil war starting in 1983 soon after the Black July pogrom. Sri Lankan military and police were using the Dutch era fort as their encampment which was surrounded by various Tamil militant groups. Bombardment from air and land of the city led to damage to civic and civilian properties, death and injury to civilians and destruction the economic potential of the city. In 1986, the Sri Lankan military withdrew from the city and it came under the full control of the LTTE. In 1987, the Indian forces brought to Sri Lanka under the auspices of the Indo- Sri Lankan peace accord led an operation to take the city from the rebels. It led to incidents like the Jaffna University Helidrop and Jaffna hospital massacre in which patients and medical workers were killed by the
Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...
. More than 200 civilians were also killed during attempt to take the city over by the IPKF. After the departure of the Indians, the city came under the control of the LTTE once more, but they were ousted in 1995 after a 50-day siege. The economic embargo of the rebel controlled territories in general also had a negative impact in Jaffna including lack of power, critical medicines and food. During the period of LTTE occupation, all Muslim residents were expelled in 1990 and forced evacuated all residents in 1995. Since the end of civil war in 2009, refugees have begun to return and visible reconstruction has taken place. The
Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora The Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora refers to the global diaspora of Sri Lankan Tamil origin. It can be said to be a subset of the larger Sri Lankan and Tamil diaspora. Like other diasporas, Sri Lankan Tamils are scattered and dispersed around the g ...
and business interests from Colombo have invested in commercial enterprises. Countries in Europe, US and India have shown an interest in investing in infrastructure projects and other economic activities.


Geography

The city is surrounded by Jaffna Lagoon to its west and south, Kokkuvil and Thirunelveli to the north, and Nallur to the east. Jaffna peninsula is made of limestone as it was submerged under sea during the Miocene period. The limestone is grey, yellow and white porous type. The entire land mass is mostly flat with terrain sloping slightly upwards towards the coasts. Except for a few towns, the landmass lies slightly above sea level. Within of the city center is the island of Mandativu which is connected by a causway. Palmyrah groves can be seen where land has not been used for construction. Other notable vegetation is a leafless shrub called ''talai'' (alae africana) and ''koddanai'' ( oleander).


Climate

Jaffna features a
tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry "winter") and ''As'' (for a dry "summer"). The driest month has less than ...
with a
dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The t ...
between February and August, and a
wet season The wet season (sometimes called the rainy season or monsoon season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Generally, the season lasts at least one month. The term ''green season'' is also sometimes used a ...
between September and January. Jaffna has the highest average temperature in Sri Lanka of . The temperature is highest in the months of April-May and August-September. The temperature is coolest in December-January. The annual rainfall is brought in by the North East
monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...
and it varies from one place to the other and also from year to year. The average rainfall is approximately in the western part of Jaffna peninsula.


Governance

The Jaffna Municipal Council governs the City of Jaffna. It was established under the ''Municipalities Ordinance Act of 1865''. Although other cities such as
Kandy Kandy (, ; , ) is a major city located in the Central Province, Sri Lanka, Central Province of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the Sinhalese monarchy from 1469 to 1818, under the Kingdom of Kandy. The city is situated in the midst of ...
,
Galle Galle (, ; , ) (formerly ) is a major city on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, south of Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern Province, Sri Lanka and is the capital of Galle District. Galle was known as ''Gi ...
and Colombo had elected municipal councils soon after the 1865 ordinance, Jaffna did not have an elected municipal council for many years. This reflected the desire of the British bureaucrats to govern the city directly rather than share power with a highly literate electorate. The first elected mayor of Jaffna Municipal council was Sam A. Sabapathy. During the civil conflict, number of mayors were assassinated such as Alfred Duraiappah, Sarojini Yogeswaran and Pon Sivapalan. There were 15 years without elections after 1983. The post civil war elections were held in 2009 after a gap of 11 years. The municipal council consists of 29 members. As the original municipal council building was destroyed during the civil war, a new building is to be constructed for the current municipal council in 2011. See also: List of mayors of Jaffna


Demography

Historically residents of Jaffna were Tamils, Moors (Muslims), Europeans and Eurasian Burghers. Over time the composition changed with Tamils and Moors predominating and Europeans and Burghers either assimilating or moving away. Europeans and the natives lived in separate sections of the city. Most houses were modest in size and the streets were kept clean. After the 1900s the population increased and Sinhalese from the south also settled in Jaffna. Prior to the civil war there were Moors, Sinhalese, Indian Tamils and other ethnic groups living in Jaffna. During colonial times, Jaffna was Ceylon's (Sri Lanka) second largest city. Post-independence the city was overtaken by the growth of settlements near Colombo. But even in 1981 Jaffna was the largest city outside the Greater Colombo area. The population of Jaffna, like the rest of the
North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...
and
East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...
, has been heavily affected by the civil war. Many of its Tamil residents have emigrated to the West or moved to the relative safety of
Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...
. The city's small Moor and Sinhalese population have either been forcibly expelled or fled. As a consequence the city's population is significantly lower than it was 30 years ago. Many of the city's residents who left during the civil war have settled down elsewhere and are unlikely to return. There have been reports, particularly after the end of the civil war in 2009, about resettling those residents who wish to return to Jaffna but there hasn't been any substantive effort to do so yet.


Suburbs of Jaffna

* Ariyalai * Chundikuli * Chunnakam * Colombuthurai * Gurunagar * Kaithadi * Kokkuvil * Kondavil * Kopay * Nallur * Navatkuli * Manipay * Passaiyoor * Tellippalai * Urumpirai * Vannarpannai * Chulipuram


Religion

Most Tamils are
Hindus Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
belonging the
Shaivite Shaivism (, , ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the supreme being. It is the second-largest Hindu sect after Vaishnavism, constituting about 385 million Hindus, found widely across South Asia (predominantly in ...
tradition but might also propitiate the village deities. Most Christians are Roman Catholics with a small but influential number of Protestants belonging to the Church of South India, the successor organisation of American Ceylon Mission and other colonial era Protestant churches. The
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
has a
diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...
headquartered in the city. All Moors were Muslims with the
Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...
sect predominating with a small number of
Shias Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood to ...
prevalent amongst mercantile immigrants from
North India North India is a geographical region, loosely defined as a cultural region comprising the northern part of India (or historically, the Indian subcontinent) wherein Indo-Aryans (speaking Indo-Aryan languages) form the prominent majority populati ...
or
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
. There is a small community of Tamil Buddhists who converted to
Theravada Buddhism ''Theravāda'' (; 'School of the Elders'; ) is Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed ''Theravādins'' ( anglicized from Pali ''theravādī''), have preserved their version of the Buddha's teaching or '' Dhamma'' in ...
during the 20th century due to the efforts of Maha Bodhi Society. Most Sinhalese were either Buddhists or Catholics. There was a small community of nomadic wanderers known as
Kuravar The Kuravar is an ethnic Tamil people, Tamil community native to the Kurinji mountain region of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, India. Etymology The "Kuravan" is a Tamil word which "guru avar" means "Leader" Ethnonym The "Kuravan" is a Tamil word ...
who visited Jaffna seasonally and spoke a dialect of Telugu or Tamil. Tamils were also divided along the
caste system A caste is a fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (endogamy), foll ...
but as an urban area class was more important than caste which was more pronounced in rural areas of Jaffna district.


Economy and transportation

Jaffna was founded as a trading town. Although a historic port used by the native Jaffna kingdom was already in existence when the Portuguese arrived, it was the European mercantile activity that made it prominent. In colonial times, production of clothes, items of gold and silver, processing of tobacco, rice and other related activities formed an important part of the economic activities. In modern times, the port was its principal source of revenue but it has declined drastically. Currently it survives as a fishing port. The city had a wide range of industries, including food processing, packaging, making of household items, and salt processing, but most ceased after 1995. Since then, most industrialists, entrepreneurs, and business people have relocated to the rest of Sri Lanka and abroad. After 2009, foreign governments within the EU, US, India, and investors from the south of the island and the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora have shown an interest in making investments in Jaffna district in general and Jaffna city in particular. Shopping malls such as the Cargills Square and hotels such as Jetwing Jaffna, Tilko Jaffna City Hotel have been built boosting the tourism industry in the city. Jaffna is from Colombo. It is directly connected by
railways Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to roa ...
and the roads system. The city was served by the Yal Devi train and other 5 trains daily from
Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...
. The primary railway station in the city is the Jaffna Railway Station. The A-9 highway connecting the city with the rest of the country was opened after the 2002 ceasefire. It is served by government and private sector coaches and buses. Commercial flights are available from Chennai, India and
Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...
to Jaffna via the Jaffna International Airport. Since 2017 an express ferry service connects Jaffna with Delft islands.


Education

Jaffna city has number of education institutions founded by the missionary efforts and Saivite revivalism during the British colonial period. Peter Percival a Wesleyan Missionary started several schools in Jaffna city including Jaffna Central College and Vembadi Girls’ High School. Prior to the civil war, the city had one of the highest literacy rates within Sri Lanka.


Literature and Media

Jaffna has had a media sector from the mid-1800s. The first known Tamil and English weekly ''Uthayatharakai'' (Morning Star) was published jointly in 1840 by the American Ceylon Mission and the Wesleyan church. In 1863, the ''Ceylon Patriot'' was published by a local advocate as a weekly. The Jaffna Catholic Guardian and the Hindu Organ were published by Roman Catholic and Hindu organisations to present their religious interests between 1876 and 1889 respectively. The first Tamil monthly was ''Sanmarkapothini'' which was published in 1884. These early journals were followed by a number of popular newspapers in Tamil such as ''Eelakesari'' and ''Eelanadu''. Jaffna was also the seen the publication of journals committed to the growth of modernistic and socially purposive literature such as ''Bharati'' and ''Marumalarchi'' in 1946. Now defunct English weekly '' Saturday Review'' was an influential news magazine that came out of Jaffna. During the civil war many publishers, authors and journalists were assassinated or arrested and the media heavily censored. Since the 2000s Jaffna is served by newspapers such as '' Uthayan'', ''Yarl Thinakkural'' and ''Valampurii''.


Notable buildings

Some historic buildings such as Temples, Saraswathy Mahal library and palaces in the royal city of Nallur and the rest of Jaffna peninsula were destroyed by the Portuguese colonials. Materials from destroyed buildings were used in the construction of the Jaffna fort and other fortifications. ''Cankilian Thopu'' or entrance of the palace of Cankili I and ''Mantri Manai'' or minister's palace are few of the pre-colonial buildings still standing in the royal quarters of Nallur. Within the Jaffna city proper, the Dutch fort is an imposing structure followed by many Dutch era homes, churches and civil buildings most of which were damaged during the civil war. There are number of British colonial era building such as the Indo-Sarasenic style clock tower and the Public library that are notable. Almost all Hindu temples in Jaffna including the socially important Nallur Kandaswamy temple were reconstructed during the Dutch and British period.


Notable individuals

See :People from Jaffna


Twin towns – sister cities

Sister City initiatives give opportunities for the cities' residents to become familiar with each other's cultures. The initiatives will facilitate the cultural, educational, municipal, business, professional and technical exchanges and projects among the sister cities. Its sister cities are: * Sterling Heights, Michigan *
Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* * * * * *


External links

* {{Authority control 1621 establishments in the Portuguese Empire Cities in Sri Lanka Populated places in Jaffna District Jaffna DS Division Nallur DS Division Populated places established in 1621 Provincial capitals in Sri Lanka