History

Parts of present day Northern Province were part of the Pre-colonial Jaffna kindom. Other parts were ruled by Vanniar Chieftains who paid tribute tribute to the Jaffna kingdom. The province then came under Portuguese, Dutch and British control. In 1815 the British gained control of the entire island of Ceylon. They divided the island into three ethnic based administrative structures: Low Country Sinhalese, Kandyan Sinhalese and Tamil. The Northern Province was part of the Tamil administration. In 1833, in accordance with the recommendations of the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission, the ethnic based administrative structures were unified into a single administration divided into five geographic provinces. The districts of Jaffna, Mannar, Nuvarakalaviya (present day Anuradhapura District) and Vanni formed the new Northern Province. Nuvarakalaviya was transferred to the newly created North Central Province in 1873. Northern Province is located in the north of Sri Lanka and is just 22 miles (35 km) from India.

85% of the population of the northern provinces are Hindus. The Hindus followed the Saivite tradition. The remainder were largely Roman Catholic or Protestant. The Tamils were divided along caste lines with the farmer-caste Vellalar forming the majority. The maritime caste known as the Karaiyar dominated the coast.