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Jaffna

Jaffna (Tamil: யாழ்ப்பாணம், romanized: Yāḻppāṇam, Sinhala: යාපනය, romanized: Yāpanaya) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. 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.[1] Jaffna is approximately six miles (9.7 kilometres) from Kandarodai which served as an emporium in the Jaffna peninsula from classical antiquity. Jaffna's suburb Nallur served as the capital of the four-century-long medieval Tamil Jaffna Kingdom.[2]

Jaffna
யாழ்ப்பாணம்
යාපනය
City
Jaffna
Coordinates: 09°39′53″N 80°01′00″E / 9.66472°N 80.01667°E / 9.66472; 80.01667Coordinates: 09°39′53″N 80°01′00″E / 9.66472°N 80.01667°E / 9.66472; 80.01667
CountrySri Lanka
ProvinceNorthern Province
DistrictJaffna
Government
 • TypeMunicipal Council
 • MayorE. Arnold (TNA)
Area
 • Total20.2 km2 (7.8 sq mi)
Elevation
5 m (16 ft)
Population
 (2012)
 • Total88,138
 • Density4,400/km2 (11,000/sq mi)
 [1]
Time zoneUTC+5:30 (Sri Lanka Standard Time Zone)
Websitejaffna.mc.gov.lk

Prior to the Sri Lankan Civil War, it was Sri Lanka's second most populous city after Colombo. 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.[3] 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, only to lose it to the British in 1796. During the civil war, the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) occupied Jaffna in 1986. The Indian Peace Keeping Force (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, Indian Tamils and other ethnic groups present in the city prior to the civil war. Most Sri Lankan Tamils are Hindus 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 mentions the place as Yalpaanayanpaddinam.[citation needed] The name also occurs on copper plates issued by Sethupathi kings of the same era.[4] The suffix -pattinam indicates the place to have been a seaport town.[5]

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.[6] The king who was delighted to the music played with the Yal by the Panan, presented him a sandy plain.[7] 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.[8] The Columbuthurai Commercial Harbor situated at Colombuthurai and the harbor known as ‘Aluppanthy’ situated previously at the Gurunagar area seem as its evidences.[9]

Jaffna is a corrupted version of Yalpanam. The colloquial form of Yalpanam is Yappanam. The Ya and Ja including pp and ff are easily interchangeable. As soon as it went into foreign language, it lost the Tamil ending m and consequently stood as Jaffna.[7]

History

Early historic period

Megalithic excavations reveal settlements of an early period in this region. The bronze Anaikoddai seal with Tamil-Brahmi and Indus script indicates a clan-based settlement of the last phase of the Iron Age in the Jaffna region.[10] Iron Age 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.[11][12] Excavated ceramic sequences in Kandarodai, similar to Arikamedu, revealed South Indian black and red ware, potteries and fine grey ware from 2nd to 5th BCE.[13] 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, Arabian Peninsula and the Far East.[14]

Jaffna and surrounding region was part of the chiefdom of Naga Nadu mentioned in the 5th century CE Tamil epic Manimekalai and the Pali chronicle Mahavamsa as inhabited by tribal Naga people, surmised as one of the earliest tribes of Sri Lanka. They had according to scholars fully assimilated to Tamil language and culture by the 9th century CE or earlier.[15]

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.[16] 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.[17] 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.[17] However, it met with simultaneous confrontations with the Vijayanagar empire that ruled from Vijayanagara, southern India, and a rebounding Kotte Kingdom from the southern Sri Lanka.[18] This led to the kingdom becoming a vassal of the Vijyanagar Empire as well as briefly losing its independence under the Kotte kingdom from 1450 to 1467.[17] The kingdom was re-established with the disintegration of Kotte kingdom and the fragmentation of Viyanagara Empire.[19] 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.[18][20][21]

Colonial history

The Portuguese established Jaffna city in 1621 as their colonial administrative center.[22] Prior to the military capitulation to the Portuguese Empire in 1619, the capital of the local Jaffna Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of the Aryacakravarti was Nallur,[22] which is close to the city limits of Jaffna.[23][24] The capital city was known in royal inscriptions and chronicles as Cinkainakar and in other sources as Yalpaanam in Tamil and Yapaapatuna in Sinhalese.[25]

 
Entrance of Jaffna Fort, which the Portuguese built, and which the Dutch renovated in 1680.

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.[26] De Oliveira moved the center of political and military control from Nallur to Jaffnapatao[27][broken footnote] (variously spelt as Jaffnapattan or Jaffnapattam), the Portuguese rendition of the native name for the former Royal capital.[28] 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.[29] Jaffnapatao was a small town with a fort, a harbour, Catholic chapels, and government buildings.[30] Portuguese merchants took over the lucrative trade of elephants from the interior and monopolised the import of goods from Colombo and India, disfranchising the local merchants.[29] The Portuguese era was a time of population movement to the Vannimais in the south, religious change, and as well as the introduction to the city of European education and health care.[29][31]

 
Bird's eye view of the city of Jaffnapatnam in 1658[32]

In 1658, Portuguese lost Jaffapatao to the Dutch East India Company (VOC) after a three-month siege.[25] 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 grew up. The Dutch rebuilt the fort and expanded it considerably. They also built Presbyterian churches and government buildings, most of which survived until the 1980s, but suffered damage or destruction during the subsequent civil war.[33][broken footnote] 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.[34]

Great Britain took over the Dutch possessions in Sri Lanka from 1796.[35] 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, Weslyan Methodist Mission, Saivite reformer Arumuka Navalar and others.[36][37] Under British rule, Jaffna enjoyed a period of rapid growth and prosperity,[35] as the British built the major roads and railway line connecting the city with Colombo, Kandy 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. [38]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 in 1975. Following further deterioration of political discourse, the Jaffna library was burnt down in 1981 by Police 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.[39] 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.[40] More than 200 civilians were also killed during attempt to take the city over by the IPKF.[41] 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.[clarification needed][42] Since the end of civil war in 2009, refugees have begun to return and visible reconstruction has taken place. The Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora 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 flat and lies at sea level. Within one mile (1.6 kilometres) 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).[43]

Climate

Jaffna features a tropical savanna climate with a dry season between February and August, and a wet season between September and January. Jaffna has the highest average temperature in Sri Lanka of 83 °F (28.3 °C). 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 and it varies from one place to the other and also from year to year. The average rainfall is approximately 1,300 millimetres or 50 inches in the western part of Jaffna peninsula.[43]

Climate data for Jaffna
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 35.0
(95.0)
35.6
(96.1)
37.8
(100.0)
38.7
(101.7)
37.8
(100.0)
36.7
(98.1)
36.1
(97.0)
35.8
(96.4)
36.7
(98.1)
35.0
(95.0)
35.8
(96.4)
32.2
(90.0)
38.7
(101.7)
Average high °C (°F) 28.5
(83.3)
29.9
(85.8)
31.8
(89.2)
33.4
(92.1)
33.3
(91.9)
32.7
(90.9)
32.6
(90.7)
32.4
(90.3)
32.1
(89.8)
30.8
(87.4)
29.3
(84.7)
28.3
(82.9)
31.3
(88.3)
Average low °C (°F) 23.0
(73.4)
22.6
(72.7)
23.4
(74.1)
25.6
(78.1)
26.9
(80.4)
26.9
(80.4)
26.2
(79.2)
25.9
(78.6)
25.7
(78.3)
24.7
(76.5)
23.9
(75.0)
23.6
(74.5)
24.9
(76.8)
Record low °C (°F) 16.6
(61.9)
16.2
(61.2)
16.6
(61.9)
21.0
(69.8)
21.2
(70.2)
21.1
(70.0)
22.4
(72.3)
20.4
(68.7)
21.5
(70.7)
20.0
(68.0)
18.2
(64.8)
17.8
(64.0)
16.2
(61.2)
Average rainfall mm (inches) 69.6
(2.74)
37.2
(1.46)
19.1
(0.75)
43.4
(1.71)
46.3
(1.82)
23.2
(0.91)
40.5
(1.59)
47.8
(1.88)
75.4
(2.97)
249.8
(9.83)
356.1
(14.02)
294.5
(11.59)
1,302.9
(51.30)
Average rainy days 4 2 2 4 3 2 3 3 5 11 15 13 67
Source 1: World Meteorological Organisation[44]
Source 2: Department of Meteorology (records up to 2007)[45]

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, Galle 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.[46] 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.[47] 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.[48] 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.[49]

See also List_of_mayors_of_Jaffna

Demography

Historically residents of Jaffna city were Tamils, Moors (Muslims), Europeans and Eurasian Burghers.[25] 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.[50] 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 and East, 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.[35] 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.

Historic Population of Jaffna 1880 to 2010[25][51][52]
Year 1880 1891 1901 1911 1921 1931 1946 1953 1963 1971 1981 1994 2007 2010
Population 4,000 43,179 33,879 40,441 42,436 45,708 62,543 77,811 94,670 107,184 118,224 149,000 83,563 84,416
Rank 2nd 3rd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 3rd 3rd 3rd 4th 14th
Source Est. Census Census Census Census Census Census Census Census Census Census Cen./Est. Est. Census

Suburbs of Jaffna

Religion

 
 
Left: Restored Muslim Mosque in a bombed out portion of the city. Right: St.James Church originally established in 1861, located in Gurunagar

Most Tamils are Hindus belonging the Shaivite 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 has a diocese headquartered in the city. All Moors were Muslims with the Sunni sect predominating with a small number of Shias prevalent amongst mercantile immigrants from North India or Pakistan. There is a small community of Tamil Buddhists who converted to Theravada Buddhism during the 20th century due to the efforts of Maha Bodhi Society.[53][broken footnote] Most Sinhalese were either Buddhists or Catholics.

There was a small community of nomadic wanderers known as Kuravar who visited Jaffna seasonally and spoke a dialect of Telugu or Tamil. Tamils were also divided along the caste system 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 city was founded as a trading town by European merchants. 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.[54] 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.[35] 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.[35] 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.[55][56]

Jaffna is 396 kilometres (246 miles) from Colombo. It is directly connected by railways and the roads system. The city was served by the Yal Devi train and other 5 trains daily from Colombo.[57] 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 to Jaffna via the Jaffna International Airport.[58][broken footnote] Since 2017 an express ferry service connects Jaffna with Delft islands.[59]

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.[58]

Literature and Media

Jaffna has had a media sector from the mid-1800s. The first known English and Tamil weekly called, Uthayatharakai in Tamil or Morning Star was published jointly in 1840 by American Ceylon Mission and the Weslyan 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 organisation to present their religious interests between 1876 and 1889 respectively. The first Tamil monthly was Sanmarkapothini which was published in 1884.[60]

These early journals were followed by number 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

Most 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.[33] 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.

Twin towns – sister cities

Sister City initiatives give opportunities for the cities' residents to become familiar with each other's cultures.[61]

The initiatives will facilitate the cultural, educational, municipal, business, professional and technical exchanges and projects among the sister cities.[61]

Its sister cities are:[61]

References

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  48. ^ "Jaffna Municipal Council election to be held soon". Tamilnet. 28 May 2009. from the original on 18 August 2011. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
  49. ^ . Ministry of Defence, Sri Lanka. 30 December 2010. Archived from the original on 14 September 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
  50. ^ Martyn 2002, p. 44
  51. ^ "2.4 Population of principal towns by sex, census years". (PDF). Department of Census and Statistics. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2011.
  52. ^ (PDF). Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 November 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2011.
  53. ^ Plunkett & Ellemor 2003, p. 277
  54. ^ Library 1880, p. 222
  55. ^ LTD, Lankacom PVT. "The Island". island.lk. from the original on 13 September 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  56. ^ "Jaffna wakes up to tourism but long way to go | The Sundaytimes Sri Lanka". sundaytimes.lk. from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  57. ^ . President requests patriotic citizens: Join us in building Northern rail track. 24 March 2009. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012.
  58. ^ a b Gunawardena 2004, p. 197
  59. ^ "Express ferry service between Jaffna and Delft Island". from the original on 24 January 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  60. ^ Katiresu 1905, p. 29
  61. ^ a b c "Jaffna becomes a Sister City of Sterling Heights, United States". Daily FT. 23 November 2016. from the original on 23 November 2016. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  62. ^ "Twin City Agreement signed between the City of Jaffna and City of Kingston in London". tamildiplomat.com. 19 October 2016. from the original on 28 February 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2017.

Sources

  • Abeysinghe, Tikiri (2005). Jaffna under the Portuguese. Colombo: Stamford Lake. ISBN 9789555520003. OCLC 75481767. from the original on 2 April 2023. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  • Alden, Dauril (1996), The Making of an Enterprise: The Society of Jesus in Portugal, Its Empire, and Beyond, 1540–1750, Stanford University Press, ISBN 0-8047-2271-4, from the original on 2 April 2023, retrieved 28 November 2020
  • Carpenter, C (2007), World and Its Peoples: Eastern and Southern Asia, Marshall Cavendish Corporation, ISBN 978-0-7614-7631-3, from the original on 2 April 2023, retrieved 28 November 2020
  • Chattopadhyaya, H.P. (1994), Ethnic Unrest in Modern Sri Lanka: An Account of Tamil-Sinhalese Race Relations, South Asia Books, ISBN 81-85880-52-2, from the original on 2 April 2023, retrieved 28 November 2020
  • Cohen, Roberta (2005), The Forsaken People:The case studies of the internally displaced, Brookings Institution Press, ISBN 0-8157-1514-5, from the original on 2 April 2023, retrieved 28 November 2020
  • De Silva, K.M.D (1981), A History of Sri Lanka, University of California, Berkeley, ISBN 0-520-04320-0, from the original on 2 April 2023, retrieved 28 November 2020
  • De Silva, R.K.; Beumer, W.G.M. (1997), Illustrations and Views of Dutch Ceylon 1602–1796: A Comprehensive Work of Pictorial Reference With Selected Eye-Witness Accounts, Brill Academic Publishers, ISBN 90-04-08979-9, from the original on 2 April 2023, retrieved 28 November 2020
  • Gunawardene, C. A. (2004), Encyclopedia of Sri Lanka, New Dawn Press, ISBN 1-932705-48-1, from the original on 2 April 2023, retrieved 28 November 2020
  • Katiresu, A. (2004) [1905], A hand book to the Jaffna Peninsula and a souvenir of the opening of the railway to the North, Asian Educational Services, ISBN 9788120618725, OCLC 56367740, from the original on 2 April 2023, retrieved 28 November 2020
  • Martyn, John (2002), Martyn's notes on Jaffna, Asian Educational Services, ISBN 81-206-1670-7, from the original on 2 April 2023, retrieved 28 November 2020
  • Pfaffenberger, Bryan (1982), Caste in Tamil culture:The Religious foundations of Sudra domination in Tamil Sri Lanka, Syracuse University, ISBN 0-915984-84-9, from the original on 2 April 2023, retrieved 28 November 2020
  • Peebles, Patrick (2006). The History of Sri Lanka. USA: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-33205-3. from the original on 2 April 2023. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  • Plunkett, B.; Ellemor, R (2003), Lonely Planet:Sri Lanka, Lonely Planet Publications, ISBN 1-74059-423-1, from the original on 2 April 2023, retrieved 28 November 2020
  • Rasanayagam, C. (1926), Ancient Jaffna, Asian Educational Services (1993 reprint)
  • Room, Adrian (2004), Placenames of the World: Origins and Meanings of the Names for 6,600 Countries, Cities, Territories, Natural Features and Historic Sites, McFarland & Company, ISBN 0-7864-2248-3, from the original on 2 April 2023, retrieved 28 November 2020
  • Sabaratnam, Lakshmanan (2001), Ethnic Attachments in Sri Lanka: Social Change and Cultural Continuity, Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 0-312-29348-8, from the original on 2 April 2023, retrieved 28 November 2020
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Further reading

  • Fabry, Philippe (2003). the Essential guide for Jaffna and its region. Negombo: Viator Publications. ISBN 955-8736-01-5.
  • Fernando, A. D. N. (1987). Peninsular Jaffna from ancient to medieval times, Its significant historical and settlement aspects. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.
  • Pujangga, Putra (1997). A requiem for Jaffna. London: Anantham Books. ISBN 1-902098-00-5.
  • Kanagasingam, Rajkumar (2007). German Memories in Asia. Bloomington, Indiana, USA: AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1-4343-1582-3.
  • Kannangara, E. T. (1984). Jaffna and the Sinhala Heritage. Homagama.
  • Tambiah, H. W.. (2004). The laws and customs of the Tamils of Jaffna. Colombo: Women's Education and Research Centre.

External links

jaffna, other, uses, disambiguation, tamil, ணம, romanized, yāḻppāṇam, sinhala, පනය, romanized, yāpanaya, capital, city, northern, province, lanka, administrative, headquarters, district, located, peninsula, same, name, with, population, 2012, lanka, 12th, most. For other uses see Jaffna disambiguation Jaffna Tamil ய ழ ப ப ணம romanized Yaḻppaṇam Sinhala ය පනය romanized Yapanaya is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka 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 1 Jaffna is approximately six miles 9 7 kilometres from Kandarodai which served as an emporium in the Jaffna peninsula from classical antiquity Jaffna s suburb Nallur served as the capital of the four century long medieval Tamil Jaffna Kingdom 2 Jaffna ய ழ ப ப ணம ය පනයCityClockwise from top Jaffna Public Library the Jaffna Pannai Kayts highway Nallur Kandaswamy temple Jaffna Fort Sangiliyan Statue Jaffna Palace ruinsJaffnaCoordinates 09 39 53 N 80 01 00 E 9 66472 N 80 01667 E 9 66472 80 01667 Coordinates 09 39 53 N 80 01 00 E 9 66472 N 80 01667 E 9 66472 80 01667CountrySri LankaProvinceNorthern ProvinceDistrictJaffnaGovernment TypeMunicipal Council MayorE Arnold TNA Area Total20 2 km2 7 8 sq mi Elevation5 m 16 ft Population 2012 Total88 138 Density4 400 km2 11 000 sq mi 1 Time zoneUTC 5 30 Sri Lanka Standard Time Zone Websitejaffna mc gov lkPrior to the Sri Lankan Civil War it was Sri Lanka s second most populous city after Colombo 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 3 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 only to lose it to the British in 1796 During the civil war the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam LTTE occupied Jaffna in 1986 The Indian Peace Keeping Force 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 Indian Tamils and other ethnic groups present in the city prior to the civil war Most Sri Lankan Tamils are Hindus 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 Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 2 1 Early historic period 2 2 Medieval period 2 3 Colonial history 2 4 Post colonial history 3 Geography 4 Climate 5 Governance 6 Demography 7 Suburbs of Jaffna 8 Religion 9 Economy and transportation 10 Education 11 Literature and Media 12 Notable buildings 13 Twin towns sister cities 14 References 15 Sources 16 Further reading 17 External linksEtymologyJaffna is known in Tamil as Yalpanam and earlier known as Yalpanapattinam A 15th century inscription of the Vijayanagara Empire mentions the place as Yalpaanayanpaddinam citation needed The name also occurs on copper plates issued by Sethupathi kings of the same era 4 The suffix pattinam indicates the place to have been a seaport town 5 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 6 The king who was delighted to the music played with the Yal by the Panan presented him a sandy plain 7 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 8 The Columbuthurai Commercial Harbor situated at Colombuthurai and the harbor known as Aluppanthy situated previously at the Gurunagar area seem as its evidences 9 Jaffna is a corrupted version of Yalpanam The colloquial form of Yalpanam is Yappanam The Ya and Ja including pp and ff are easily interchangeable As soon as it went into foreign language it lost the Tamil ending m and consequently stood as Jaffna 7 HistoryEarly historic period Megalithic excavations reveal settlements of an early period in this region The bronze Anaikoddai seal with Tamil Brahmi and Indus script indicates a clan based settlement of the last phase of the Iron Age in the Jaffna region 10 Iron Age 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 11 12 Excavated ceramic sequences in Kandarodai similar to Arikamedu revealed South Indian black and red ware potteries and fine grey ware from 2nd to 5th BCE 13 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 Arabian Peninsula and the Far East 14 Jaffna and surrounding region was part of the chiefdom of Naga Nadu mentioned in the 5th century CE Tamil epic Manimekalai and the Pali chronicle Mahavamsa as inhabited by tribal Naga people surmised as one of the earliest tribes of Sri Lanka They had according to scholars fully assimilated to Tamil language and culture by the 9th century CE or earlier 15 Medieval period Main article Jaffna kingdom 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 16 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 17 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 17 However it met with simultaneous confrontations with the Vijayanagar empire that ruled from Vijayanagara southern India and a rebounding Kotte Kingdom from the southern Sri Lanka 18 This led to the kingdom becoming a vassal of the Vijyanagar Empire as well as briefly losing its independence under the Kotte kingdom from 1450 to 1467 17 The kingdom was re established with the disintegration of Kotte kingdom and the fragmentation of Viyanagara Empire 19 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 18 20 21 Colonial history The Portuguese established Jaffna city in 1621 as their colonial administrative center 22 Prior to the military capitulation to the Portuguese Empire in 1619 the capital of the local Jaffna Kingdom also known as the Kingdom of the Aryacakravarti was Nallur 22 which is close to the city limits of Jaffna 23 24 The capital city was known in royal inscriptions and chronicles as Cinkainakar and in other sources as Yalpaanam in Tamil and Yapaapatuna in Sinhalese 25 Entrance of Jaffna Fort which the Portuguese built and which the Dutch renovated in 1680 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 26 De Oliveira moved the center of political and military control from Nallur to Jaffnapatao 27 broken footnote variously spelt as Jaffnapattan or Jaffnapattam the Portuguese rendition of the native name for the former Royal capital 28 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 29 Jaffnapatao was a small town with a fort a harbour Catholic chapels and government buildings 30 Portuguese merchants took over the lucrative trade of elephants from the interior and monopolised the import of goods from Colombo and India disfranchising the local merchants 29 The Portuguese era was a time of population movement to the Vannimais in the south religious change and as well as the introduction to the city of European education and health care 29 31 Bird s eye view of the city of Jaffnapatnam in 1658 32 In 1658 Portuguese lost Jaffapatao to the Dutch East India Company VOC after a three month siege 25 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 grew up The Dutch rebuilt the fort and expanded it considerably They also built Presbyterian churches and government buildings most of which survived until the 1980s but suffered damage or destruction during the subsequent civil war 33 broken footnote 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 34 Great Britain took over the Dutch possessions in Sri Lanka from 1796 35 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 Weslyan Methodist Mission Saivite reformer Arumuka Navalar and others 36 37 Under British rule Jaffna enjoyed a period of rapid growth and prosperity 35 as the British built the major roads and railway line connecting the city with Colombo Kandy 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 38 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 in 1975 Following further deterioration of political discourse the Jaffna library was burnt down in 1981 by Police 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 39 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 40 More than 200 civilians were also killed during attempt to take the city over by the IPKF 41 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 clarification needed 42 Since the end of civil war in 2009 refugees have begun to return and visible reconstruction has taken place The Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora 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 GeographyThe 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 flat and lies at sea level Within one mile 1 6 kilometres 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 43 ClimateJaffna features a tropical savanna climate with a dry season between February and August and a wet season between September and January Jaffna has the highest average temperature in Sri Lanka of 83 F 28 3 C 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 and it varies from one place to the other and also from year to year The average rainfall is approximately 1 300 millimetres or 50 inches in the western part of Jaffna peninsula 43 Climate data for JaffnaMonth Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec YearRecord high C F 35 0 95 0 35 6 96 1 37 8 100 0 38 7 101 7 37 8 100 0 36 7 98 1 36 1 97 0 35 8 96 4 36 7 98 1 35 0 95 0 35 8 96 4 32 2 90 0 38 7 101 7 Average high C F 28 5 83 3 29 9 85 8 31 8 89 2 33 4 92 1 33 3 91 9 32 7 90 9 32 6 90 7 32 4 90 3 32 1 89 8 30 8 87 4 29 3 84 7 28 3 82 9 31 3 88 3 Average low C F 23 0 73 4 22 6 72 7 23 4 74 1 25 6 78 1 26 9 80 4 26 9 80 4 26 2 79 2 25 9 78 6 25 7 78 3 24 7 76 5 23 9 75 0 23 6 74 5 24 9 76 8 Record low C F 16 6 61 9 16 2 61 2 16 6 61 9 21 0 69 8 21 2 70 2 21 1 70 0 22 4 72 3 20 4 68 7 21 5 70 7 20 0 68 0 18 2 64 8 17 8 64 0 16 2 61 2 Average rainfall mm inches 69 6 2 74 37 2 1 46 19 1 0 75 43 4 1 71 46 3 1 82 23 2 0 91 40 5 1 59 47 8 1 88 75 4 2 97 249 8 9 83 356 1 14 02 294 5 11 59 1 302 9 51 30 Average rainy days 4 2 2 4 3 2 3 3 5 11 15 13 67Source 1 World Meteorological Organisation 44 Source 2 Department of Meteorology records up to 2007 45 GovernanceThe Jaffna Municipal Council governs the City of Jaffna It was established under the Municipalities Ordinance Act of 1865 Although other cities such as Kandy Galle 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 46 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 47 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 48 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 49 See also List of mayors of JaffnaDemographyHistorically residents of Jaffna city were Tamils Moors Muslims Europeans and Eurasian Burghers 25 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 50 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 and East 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 35 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 Historic Population of Jaffna 1880 to 2010 25 51 52 Year 1880 1891 1901 1911 1921 1931 1946 1953 1963 1971 1981 1994 2007 2010Population 4 000 43 179 33 879 40 441 42 436 45 708 62 543 77 811 94 670 107 184 118 224 149 000 83 563 84 416Rank 2nd 3rd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 3rd 3rd 3rd 4th 14thSource Est Census Census Census Census Census Census Census Census Census Census Cen Est Est CensusSuburbs of JaffnaAriyalai Chundikuli Chunnakam Colombuthurai Gurunagar Kaithadi Kokkuvil Kondavil Kopay Nallur Navatkuli Passaiyoor Tellippalai Urumpirai VannarpannaiReligion Left Restored Muslim Mosque in a bombed out portion of the city Right St James Church originally established in 1861 located in Gurunagar Most Tamils are Hindus belonging the Shaivite 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 has a diocese headquartered in the city All Moors were Muslims with the Sunni sect predominating with a small number of Shias prevalent amongst mercantile immigrants from North India or Pakistan There is a small community of Tamil Buddhists who converted to Theravada Buddhism during the 20th century due to the efforts of Maha Bodhi Society 53 broken footnote Most Sinhalese were either Buddhists or Catholics There was a small community of nomadic wanderers known as Kuravar who visited Jaffna seasonally and spoke a dialect of Telugu or Tamil Tamils were also divided along the caste system but as an urban area class was more important than caste which was more pronounced in rural areas of Jaffna district Economy and transportationJaffna city was founded as a trading town by European merchants 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 54 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 35 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 35 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 55 56 Jaffna is 396 kilometres 246 miles from Colombo It is directly connected by railways and the roads system The city was served by the Yal Devi train and other 5 trains daily from Colombo 57 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 to Jaffna via the Jaffna International Airport 58 broken footnote Since 2017 an express ferry service connects Jaffna with Delft islands 59 EducationSee also List of schools in Northern Province Sri Lanka and University of Jaffna 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 58 Literature and MediaJaffna has had a media sector from the mid 1800s The first known English and Tamil weekly called Uthayatharakai in Tamil or Morning Star was published jointly in 1840 by American Ceylon Mission and the Weslyan 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 organisation to present their religious interests between 1876 and 1889 respectively The first Tamil monthly was Sanmarkapothini which was published in 1884 60 These early journals were followed by number 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 buildingsMost 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 33 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 Twin towns sister citiesSister City initiatives give opportunities for the cities residents to become familiar with each other s cultures 61 The initiatives will facilitate the cultural educational municipal business professional and technical exchanges and projects among the sister cities 61 Its sister cities are 61 Sterling Heights Michigan Kingston upon Thames 62 References a b Sri Lanka largest cities and towns and statistics of their population World Gazetteer Retrieved 21 April 2012 dead link Definition of Jaffna Dictionary com www dictionary com Archived from the original on 31 January 2023 Retrieved 18 January 2023 Improving Urban Services and Livability Across Sri Lanka Archived from the original on 23 September 2016 Retrieved 21 September 2016 Raghavan M D 1971 Tamil culture in Ceylon a general introduction Kalai Nilayam p 78 Kōvintacami Mu 1977 A Survey of the Sources for the History of Tamil Literature Annamalai University p 93 Archived from the original on 2 April 2023 Retrieved 27 November 2018 Raghavan M D 1 January 1971 Tamil culture in Ceylon a general introduction Kalai Nilayam a b Katiresu Subramanier 1 January 2004 A Hand Book to the Jaffna Peninsula and a Souvenir of the Opening of the Railway to the North Asian Educational Services ISBN 9788120618725 Archived from the original on 2 April 2023 Retrieved 28 November 2020 Rasanayagam C Rasanayagam Mudaliyar C 1 January 1993 Ancient Jaffna Being a Research into the History of Jaffna from Very Early Times to the Portuguese Period Asian Educational Services ISBN 9788120602106 ICTA Jaffna Divisional Secretariat Overview jaffna ds gov lk Archived from the original on 12 August 2017 Retrieved 12 August 2017 Mativaṇan Iraman Mahalingam N Civilization International Society for the Investigation of Ancient 1995 Indus script among Dravidian speakers 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History Culture Politics Duke University Press pp 73 74 ISBN 978 0822349822 Archived from the original on 2 April 2023 Retrieved 28 November 2020 de Silva A History of Sri Lanka p 91 92 a b c Peebles History of Sri Lanka p 31 32 a b de Silva A History of Sri Lanka p 132 133 Peebles History of Sri Lanka p 34 Kunarasa K The Jaffna Dynasty p 73 75 Codrington Humphry William Short history of Sri Lanka Dambadeniya and Gampola Kings 1215 1411 Lakdiva org Archived from the original on 4 June 2011 Retrieved 25 November 2007 a b Dauril Alden 1996harvnb error no target CITEREFDauril Alden1996 help Pfaffenberger 1982 p 35 See Map of Nallur and Jaffna fort Archived 8 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine a b c d Library 1880 p 221harvnb error no target CITEREFLibrary1880 help Abeysinghe 2005 pp 58 62 De Silva amp Beumer 1997 p 312harvnb error no target CITEREFDe Silva amp Beumer1997 help Room 2004 p 179 a b c Abeysinghe 2005 p 2 Martyn 2002 p 43 Pfaffenberger 1982 pp 35 36 Bird s eye view of the 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of the conflict zone in Sri Lanka From embargo to repression East West Center Washington D C ISBN 978 1 932728 72 9 Archived from the original on 3 March 2016 Retrieved 17 June 2008 Library of Universal Knowledge American Book Exchange 1880 p 221 Population of Jaffna city Further readingFabry Philippe 2003 the Essential guide for Jaffna and its region Negombo Viator Publications ISBN 955 8736 01 5 Fernando A D N 1987 Peninsular Jaffna from ancient to medieval times Its significant historical and settlement aspects Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Pujangga Putra 1997 A requiem for Jaffna London Anantham Books ISBN 1 902098 00 5 Kanagasingam Rajkumar 2007 German Memories in Asia Bloomington Indiana USA AuthorHouse ISBN 978 1 4343 1582 3 Kannangara E T 1984 Jaffna and the Sinhala Heritage Homagama Tambiah H W 2004 The laws and customs of the Tamils of Jaffna Colombo Women s Education and Research Centre External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jaffna Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Jaffna amp oldid 1148719234, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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