North Central Province (Sinhala: උතුරු මැද පළාතUturumæda Paḷāta, Tamil: வட மத்திய மாகாணம்Wada Maththiya Mākāṇam) is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka. The province has an area of 10,472 km2, making it the largest province by area, and a population of 1,266,663, making it the 3rd least populated province.[1] The city of Anuradhapura is the capital of the province.
History
The North Central province is home to the ancient cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, both of which were historical capitals of Sri Lanka during ancient times. The two cities were the capitals of the Anuradhapura Kingdom (437 BCE–1017 CE) and the Polonnaruwa Kingdom (1070–1232) respectively.
The centralised system of Sri Lanka, which is a unitary state, failed to satisfy the aspirations of the people. There was growing insistence on decentralisation of administrative processes to achieve rapid economic and social development of the country.
The province has an area of 10,472 km2 and a population of 1,266,663. It is the largest province by area, covering 16% of the total land area of Sri Lanka. The province consists two districts, Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura; the Anuradhapura district is the largest district in Sri Lanka by area.
The province is also referred to as Wew Bendi Rajje due to the sheer amount of medium and large scale tanks situated in the province, with more than 3000. More than 65% of the province’s population depend on basic agriculture and agricultural based industries.
The North Central province has innumerable potential for investors to start their businesses, specially agriculture, agricultural based industries and livestock sectors.
Demographics
Ethnicity
Ethnic groups in North Central province (2012 census)
