Central Province

The Central Province is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka, the first level administrative division of the country.The provinces have existed since the 19th century but did not have any legal status until 1987 when the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka established provincial councils.The Central Province is primarily in the central mountainous terrain of Sri Lanka. It is the 6th largest province by area and is home to 2.5 million people. It is bordered by North Central Province to the north, Uva Province to the east, North Western Province to the west and Sabaragamuwa Province to the south and west. The province’s capital is Kandy.The cities of Matale and Nuwara Eliya are in the Central Province. The province is famous for its production of Ceylon tea, planted by the British in the 1860s after a devastating disease killed all the coffee plantations in the province. The Central Province attracts many tourists, with hill station towns such as Gampola, Hatton and Nuwara Eliya.

The Central Province is located in the central hills of Sri Lanka comprising of three administrative districts:Kandy, Matale and Nuwara-Eliya. The land area of the Province is 5,575 km2 which is 8.6% of the total land area of Sri Lanka. The Province lies on 6.6°- 7.7° northern latitudes and between 80.5°-80.9° eastern longitudes. The elevation in the province ranges from 600 ft to over 6000 ft above the sea level. The province is bordered on the north by the North-Central Province, on the east by the River Mahaweli,on the south by Uma Oya and the mountain range of Adam’s Peak, Kirigalpotta and Thotapala and on the west by the mountain ranges Dolosbage and Galagedera.