Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte

Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte, formerly Kotte, city and legislative capital of Sri Lanka. It is located in the southwestern part of the country, about 5 miles (8 km) southeast of the commercial capital of Colombo, of which it was once a suburb. An urban council governs Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte and the neighbouring town of Nugegoda. Despite the city’s urban character, it contains a number of rice paddies and plantations.

As Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte, it was the capital of the Sinhalese kingdom of Kotte from 1415 to 1565, largely owing to the lagoons, rivers, and swamps that still encircle it and provide a natural defense. Its partition at the beginning of the 16th century culminated in the Portuguese domination of Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka). At some point the city’s name was abbreviated to Kotte. When the first Portuguese envoys were taken from Colombo to Kotte in 1505, the Sinhalese led them on a circuitous three-day trip to conceal the capital’s location. “To go to Kotte” thus became a Sinhalese synonym for a roundabout route.

Within several decades of Sri Lankan independence (1948), government offices had outgrown the country’s capital of Colombo, and the decision was made to relocate offices outside the city. In 1977 the government designated Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte, under its original name, the new capital, and in 1982 the new parliament building was inaugurated there. The following year other government offices began moving to the city.

Contemporary Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte is a planned urban site with government offices and residential housing. The parliament house and other legislative buildings are located on a small island in Lake Diyawanna Oya, situated in the midst of reclaimed swampland. The University of Sri Jayewardenepura, one of Sri Lanka’s premier institutions of higher learning, is located in the city. The university was originally founded in 1873 as Vidyodaya Pirivena, a Buddhist centre of learning, and attained university status in 1958; it took its current name in 1978. Pop. (2001) 116,366; (2012) 107,925.

Over het district Colombo

Colombo is de grootste stad en commerciële hoofdstad van Sri Lanka. Het ligt aan de westkust van het eiland en grenst aan Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte, de hoofdstad van Sri Lanka. Colombo is een drukke en levendige stad met een mix van modern leven en koloniale gebouwen en ruïnes, en een stadsbevolking van 647.100. De metropoolregio Colombo, gedefinieerd door de districten Colombo, Gampaha en Kalutara, heeft een geschatte bevolking van 5.648.000 en beslaat een oppervlakte van 3.694,20 km². Colombo is een multi-etnische, multiculturele stad. Het is de meest bevolkte stad van Sri Lanka, met 642.163 mensen die binnen de stadsgrenzen wonen. De bevolking van Colombo is een mix van verschillende etnische groepen, voornamelijk Singalezen, Moren en Tamils. Er wonen ook kleine gemeenschappen van mensen met Chinese, Portugese, Nederlandse, Maleisische en Indiase afkomst in de stad, evenals talloze Europese expats. De overgrote meerderheid van de Sri Lankaanse bedrijven heeft hun hoofdkantoor in Colombo. Enkele van de industrieën die er actief zijn, zijn chemie, textiel, glas, cement, lederwaren, meubels en sieraden. In het stadscentrum staat het op één na hoogste gebouw van Zuid-Azië: het World Trade Centre.

Over de Westelijke Provincie

The Western Province is the most densely populated province of Sri Lanka. It is home to the legislative capital Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte as well to Colombo, the nation's administrative and business center. Western Province is divided into 3 main districts called Colombo (642 km²), Gampaha (1,386.6 km²) and Kalutara (1,606 km²) districts. As Sri Lanka's economic hub, all the major local and international corporations have their presence in the city and so do all the major designer and high street retailers, so be ready to indulge in some retail therapy in western province.

Having the highest population in the all the provinces, the almost all the premier educational institutions in the island are located in western province. Universities in the province include the University of Colombo, the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, University of Kelaniya, Open University, Sri Lanka, Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka, General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University and University of Moratuwa .Western province has the largest amount of schools in the country, which includes National, Provincial, Private and International schools.

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