Pottuvil (; ) is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in the

Ampara District Ampara District (; ) is one of the 25 Districts of Sri Lanka, districts of Sri Lanka, the second-level administrative divisions of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a Government Agent (Sri Lanka), Distric ...

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, ...

, located in the Eastern Province on the eastern coast of the Island. It is situated north of the popular tourist destination

Arugam Bay Arugam Bay (; ), known locally as "Arugam Kudah", is situated on the Indian Ocean in the dry zone of Sri Lanka's southeast coast, and a historic settlement of the ancient Batticaloa Territory (Mattakallappu Desam). Arugam Kudah's literal Tamil t ...

Name

The romanized form ''Pothuwila'' and also ''Pothuvila'' are also common in English-language writings of Sinhalese writers, and on many webpages. Most Sinhala newspaper articles and Facebook pages refer to "Pothuvila", පොතුවිල.

History

This town is mentioned in the Pali Chronicle known as the Cūḷavaṃsa, and the Vanni Raajaavalaiya. "Bodhivāla" is mentioned in the Cūḷavaṃsa (Chapter lvii, 54) in the context of the

Principality of Ruhuna The Principality of Ruhuna (Sinhala language , Sinhala: , ), also referred to as the Kingdom of Ruhuna, is a region of present-day Southern and Eastern Sri Lanka. It was the center of a flourishing civilisation and the cultural and economic centre ...

campaigns of Vijayabahu I. Archaeologists like Ellawala Medhananda Thero, and historians have discussed the place name while linguists recognize the change of "b" to "p" and the clear evolution of the modern name "Pothuvila" from Bodhivāla. "Vāla" means "water" (or also periphery) in compound usage as in "Aalavaala" (Sanskrit), a basin of water found at the root of a tree. "vāla" is also a type of

jasmine Jasmine (botanical name: ''Jasminum'', pronounced ) is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family of Oleaceae. It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania. Jasmines are wid ...

, ''Pavonia odorata'' grown in temples. Pottuvil was affected by the

2004 Indian Ocean tsunami On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+07:00, UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 struck with an epicenter, epicentre off the west coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The Submarine earthquake, undersea ...

. The town's population in 2007 was 33,625.

Demographics

Pottuvil is a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

majority town.

Tamils The Tamils ( ), also known by their endonym Tamilar, are a Dravidian peoples, Dravidian ethnic group who natively speak the Tamil language and trace their ancestry mainly to the southern part of the Indian subcontinent. The Tamil language is o ...

are the second largest group in the town. Other smaller groups are the Sinhalese and Indian Tamils.

Ethnicity in Pottuvil Town (2012)

''Sourc
statistics.gov.lk
'

Economy

Agriculture is generally seen as the basic economic route of the town, as well as

animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, animal fiber, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, management, production, nutrition, selective breeding, and the raising ...

, coastal and inland

fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a., fishing grounds). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farm ...

, tourism, and trade. It is evident that there are plenty of natural resources here. Paddy fields,

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

es,

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

s and springs are parts of the town's landscape. Paddy is the main crop in the area. Coconut cultivation is carried out on a small scale in the coastal villages of Komari, Manarasena, Victor Garden, Hitayapuram, Urani and Ullai. In addition, chilli is the main vegetable crop. The city is also known for its beaches and the world-famous

for surfing. The nearby beaches are also known as Ullai Beach.

Climate

Pottuvil has 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 ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''As'') with warm to hot temperatures and a significant amount of rainfall. The climate is characterized by a distinct

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 ...

from October to February. The wet season features cooler temperatures than the rest of the year.

Notes

References

{{coord, 6, 52, N, 81, 49, E, region:LK_type:city, display=title Towns in Ampara District Pottuvil DS Division