Jaffna
Jaffna
யாழ்ப்பாணம் යාපනය | |
---|---|
City | |
Sri Lanka Standard Time Zone) | |
Website | jaffna.mc.gov.lk |
Jaffna (
Prior to the
The majority of the city's population are
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]
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 ending m and consequently stood as Jaffna.[7]
History
Early historic period
Jaffna and surrounding region was part of the chiefdom of
Medieval period
During the medieval times, the
Politically, it was an expanding power in the 13th and 14th century with all regional kingdoms paying tribute to it.
Colonial history
The Portuguese established Jaffna city in 1621 as their colonial administrative center.
In 1658, Portuguese lost Jaffapatao to the
Great Britain took over the Dutch possessions in Sri Lanka from 1796.
Post-colonial history
After Sri Lanka became independent in 1948 from Britain, the relationship between
In 1987, the Indian forces brought to Sri Lanka under the auspices of the
Geography
The city is surrounded by
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 28.3 °C (83 °F). 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 (1991–2020 normals) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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) |
37.2 (99.0) |
36.3 (97.3) |
36.7 (98.1) |
35.0 (95.0) |
35.8 (96.4) |
32.2 (90.0) |
38.7 (101.7) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 29.3 (84.7) |
30.7 (87.3) |
32.8 (91.0) |
33.8 (92.8) |
32.9 (91.2) |
32.5 (90.5) |
32.6 (90.7) |
32.2 (90.0) |
31.8 (89.2) |
31.2 (88.2) |
29.8 (85.6) |
28.9 (84.0) |
31.5 (88.7) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 25.5 (77.9) |
26.2 (79.2) |
27.9 (82.2) |
30.0 (86.0) |
30.3 (86.5) |
30.1 (86.2) |
29.9 (85.8) |
29.5 (85.1) |
29.4 (84.9) |
28.2 (82.8) |
26.7 (80.1) |
25.9 (78.6) |
28.3 (82.9) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 21.7 (71.1) |
21.7 (71.1) |
23.4 (74.1) |
26.2 (79.2) |
27.8 (82.0) |
27.7 (81.9) |
27.2 (81.0) |
26.7 (80.1) |
26.5 (79.7) |
25.3 (77.5) |
23.7 (74.7) |
23.0 (73.4) |
25.1 (77.2) |
Record low °C (°F) | 16.3 (61.3) |
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) |
18.0 (64.4) |
16.8 (62.2) |
16.2 (61.2) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 44.3 (1.74) |
25.9 (1.02) |
42.5 (1.67) |
64.7 (2.55) |
66.2 (2.61) |
18.5 (0.73) |
22.6 (0.89) |
57.3 (2.26) |
81.0 (3.19) |
235.0 (9.25) |
437.3 (17.22) |
273.9 (10.78) |
1,369.2 (53.91) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 3.9 | 2.3 | 3.9 | 5.6 | 3.7 | 1.6 | 2.5 | 4.2 | 4.7 | 12.4 | 17.1 | 11.9 | 73.8 |
Source 1: NOAA[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
See also List_of_mayors_of_Jaffna
Demography
Historically residents of Jaffna 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
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
Most Tamils are
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 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
Education
Jaffna city has number of education institutions founded by the missionary efforts and Saivite revivalism during the British colonial period.
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
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.
Notable individuals
See Category:People from Jaffna
Twin towns – sister cities
Sister City initiatives give opportunities for the cities' residents to become familiar with each other's cultures.[60]
The initiatives will facilitate the cultural, educational, municipal, business, professional and technical exchanges and projects among the sister cities.[60]
Its sister cities are:[60]
References
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These crimes against humanity include the Mass Murders committed by the IPKF at the Jaffna Hospital on the 20th October 1987 when they entered the hospital and indiscriminately murdered patients, doctors, nurses and attendants by shooting and exploding grenades indiscriminately.
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{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - Tamilnet. 28 May 2009. Archivedfrom the original on 18 August 2011. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
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Population of Jaffna city.
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. ISBN 978-1-4343-1582-3.
- Kannangara, E. T. (1984). Jaffna and the Sinhala Heritage. Homagama.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Tambiah, H. W.. (2004). The laws and customs of the Tamils of Jaffna. Colombo: Women's Education and Research Centre.
External links
- Media related to Jaffna at Wikimedia Commons