Northem Province

* About 

      Jaffna is a city on the northern tip of Sri Lanka. Nallur Kandaswamy is a huge Hindu temple with golden arches and an ornate gopuram tower. By the coast, star-shaped Jaffna Fort was built by the Portuguese in the 17th century and later occupied by the Dutch and British. Jaffna Public Library is a symbol of the city’s post-war regeneration. Jaffna Archaeological Museum has Dutch cannons and pre-colonial artifacts.

The Northern Province is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka. The province has an area of 8,884 km², making it the 3rd largest province by area, and a population of 1,061,315, making it the least populated province. The city of Jaffna is the capital city of the province.

* The best places to visit in Jaffna

• Dutch Fort - Jaffna

• Nallur Kandaswamy

• Neduntheevu

• Nagadeepa Temple 

• Nainativu Nagapooshani Amman kovil

• Nainativu

• Keerimalai Naguleswaram temple

• Elephant pass

• Jaffna Market

* Jaffna History

         Jaffna was the capital of a Tamil kingdom for centuries before it was conquered by Europeans, and the city still has many distinctive Tamil cultural characteristics. Jaffna fell under Portuguese rule in 1619 and was their last possession in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) before its capture by the Dutch in 1658.

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. 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. 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. 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 (1300 – 1600CE) conducted at the Jaffna Fort hints to maritime trade between the Jaffna Peninsula and South Asia, Arabian Peninsula and the Far East.

      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.

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