Jafna
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Jaffna யாழ்ப்பாணம் යාපනය |
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| City | |
Clockwise from top: Jaffna Public Library, the Jaffna-Pannai-Kayts highway, Nallur Kandaswamy temple, Jaffna Fort, Sangiliyan Statue, Jaffna Palace ruins
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 Jaffna
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| Coordinates: 9°40′0″N 80°0′0″E / 9.66667°N 80.00000°E | |
| Country | Sri Lanka |
| Province | Northern Province |
| District | Jaffna |
| Government | |
| • Type | Municipal Council |
| Area | |
| • Total | 20.2 km2 (7.8 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 5 m (16 ft) |
| Population (2012) | |
| • Total | 88,138 |
| • Density | 4,400/km2 (11,000/sq mi) |
| Time zone | Sri Lanka Standard Time Zone (UTC+5:30) |
| Website | Jaffna Municipal Council |
Jaffna (Tamil: யாழ்ப்பாணம் Yāḻppāṇam, Sinhalese: යාපනය 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, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th largest city. Being strategically located and known for rich cultural heritage and natural beauty, Jaffna is approximately six miles (9.7 kilometres) away from Kandarodai which served as a famous emporium in the Jaffna peninsula from classical antiquity. Jaffna's suburb Nallur served as the capital of the four-century-long medieval Jaffna kingdom. Prior to the Sri Lankan civil war, it was Sri Lanka's second most populated city after the commercial capital 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 have started to return to their homes and government and private sector reconstruction has begun.
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. And during the post-Independence 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 military regained control.
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