The Sabaragamuwa Province (, , ) is one of the nine

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

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, ...

Ratnapura Ratnapura (, ; , ) ("City of Gems" in Sinhala and Tamil) is a major city in Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of Sabaragamuwa Province, as well as the Ratnapura District, and is a traditional centre for the Sri Lankan gem trade. It is loca ...

is the capital of the province.

History

The provinces of Sri Lanka were created by 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 the 19th century, but did not have any legal status until 1987 when the

13th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka (13A) is amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka, passed in 1987, which created Provincial Councils in Sri Lanka. This amendment also made Sinhala and Tamil the official languages o ...

established

provincial councils A province is a geographic region within Gaelic games, consisting of several counties of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and originally based on the historic four provinces of Ireland as they were set in 1610. Provincial councils A provin ...

. The province is named after its former indigenous inhabitants, namely the Sabara, an Indic term for

hunter-gatherer A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived Lifestyle, lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, esp ...

tribes, a term seldom used in ancient Sri Lanka. The

Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka The Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka (, ) is a public university in Belihuloya, Balangoda, Sri Lanka. It was founded on 20 November 1991 and consists of Nine faculties. History Palabaddala Monastic University This ancient university was ...

is located in the town of Belihuloya, and was founded in 1991.

Geography

The province has an area of 4,968 km² and a population of 1,918,880. Major towns include

and

Kegalle Kegalle (; ) is a large town in Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. It is located on the Colombo–Kandy road, approximately from Colombo, from Kandy, from Kurunegala and from Avissavella. It is the main town in the Kegalle District, which i ...

Demographics

Ethnic groups

The Sinhalese are the majority ethnic group of the Sabaragamuwa province. Additionally, there are sizeable minority populations of Indian Tamils,

Moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...

and

Sri Lankan Tamils Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, Sri Lanka, Northern Province, form the pluralit ...

Religion

Administrative divisions

Sabaragamuwa is divided into two

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

and 28 divisional secretariats.

Districts

Major population centres

Balangoda Balangoda is a town in Ratnapura District, Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka, governed by an urban council located away from Colombo and from Ratnapura on Colombo - Batticaloa Highway(A4). It is one of the largest towns of the Sabaragamuwa Pro ...

* Embilipitiya *

* Bulathkohupitiya * Belihuloya * Eheliyagoda * Kalawana *

Kuruwita Kuruwita is a town in the Ratnapura District of Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. It is 87 km from Colombo. It used to be served by the narrow gauge Sabaragamuwa Railway, a branch of the national railway system. And known for the nearb ...

* Mawanella * Aranayaka * Rakwana * Imbulpe * Deraniyagala *

Ambepussa Ambepussa is a town in the Kegalle District, Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka. History The Ambepussa railway station, was the terminus station for the first rail passenger service, a ten-carriage train which departed Colombo Fort railway s ...

* Rambukkana *

Kitulgala Kitulgala is a small town in the west of Sri Lanka. The 30th Academy Awards, Academy Award-winning ''The Bridge on the River Kwai'' was filmed on the Kelani River near Kitulgala, although nothing remains now except the concrete foundations for the ...

Panamure Panamure is a village located in the Ratnapura District, Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka. It is approximately from Colombo and from Ratnapura. The village is significant because it is the site of the last Sri Lankan Elephant, elephant kraal in ...

* Godakawela * Yatiyanthota * Karawanalla * Ruwanwella * Aguruwalla * Dehiowita

References

External links

Cities in Sabaragamuwa province

Postal codes of Sabaragamuwa province
Provinces of Sri Lanka Geography of the Kingdom of Kandy Long stubs with short prose {{SabaragamuwaLK-geo-stub