Colombo District ( kol̠am̆ba distrikkaya; Koḻumpu Māvaṭṭam) is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary (previously known as a Government Agent) appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka. The capital of the district is the city of Colombo. The district of Colombo was officially recorded in 2016 as having the highest income on average, per household. There are smaller places like Kottawa

History Colombo District was part of the pre-colonial Kingdom of Kotte. The district 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. Colombo District was part of the Low Country Sinhalese 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. Colombo District, together with Kalutara, Puttalam, Seven Korales (present day Kurunegala District), Three Korales, Four Korales and Lower Bulatgama (present day Kegalle District) formed the new Western Province. At the time that Ceylon gained independence, Colombo was one of the two districts located in the Western Province. Parts of the district were transferred to newly created Gampaha District in September 1978.

Geography Colombo District is located in the south west of Sri Lanka and has an area of .

Administrative units Colombo District is divided into 13 Divisional Secretary's Division (DS Divisions), each headed by a Divisional Secretary (previously known as an Assistant Government Agent). The DS Divisions are further sub-divided into 566 Grama Niladhari Divisions (GN Divisions).

DS Division Main Town Divisional Secretary GNDivisions Area(km2) Colombo Colombo N. H. Rathnayake 35 18 Dehiwala Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia K. Champa N. Perera 15 8 Homagama Homagama 81 121 Kaduwela Kaduwela M. S. P. Suriyapperuma 57 88 Kesbewa Kesbewa L. A. Kalukapuarachchi 73 64 Kolonnawa Kolonnawa U. W. Senarathna 46 28 Maharagama Maharagama K. M. Buddhi Tharanga Karunasena 41 38 Moratuwa Moratuwa K. C. Niroshan 42 20 Padukka Padukka S. H. Hewage 46 110 Ratmalana Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia Pradeep Ratnayaka 13 13 Seethawaka Avissawella P. D. S. Wijerathna 68 150 Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte Amal J. S. S. Edirisooriya 20 17 Thimbirigasyaya Colombo Geethamani C. Karunaratne 29 24 Total 566 699

Cities and Towns

Demographics Population Colombo District's population was 2,309,809 in 2012. It has the highest population and population density in Sri Lanka. The majority of the population are Sinhalese, with a minority Sri Lankan Moor and Sri Lankan Tamil population.

Ethnicity

+ Population of Colombo District by ethnic group 1946 to 2012Year Sinhalese Sri Lankan MoorsSri Lankan Tamil Indian TamilOther TotalNo.No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %1946 Census n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 1,420,3321953 Census n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 1,708,7261963 Census n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 2,207,4201971 Census n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 2,672,6201981 Census 1,318,835 77.61% 139,743 8.22% 170,590 10.04% 19,824 1.17% 50,249 2.96% 1,699,2412001 Census 1,724,459 76.60% 202,731 9.01% 247,739 11.00% 24,821 1.10% 51,524 2.29% 2,251,2742012 Census 1,771,319 76.69% 242,728 10.51% 231,318 10.01% 27,336 1.18% 37,108 1.61% 2,309,809

DS Division Population (2012 Census) PopulationDensity(/km2)Sinhalese Sri Lankan Moors Sri LankanTamil IndianTamil Other TotalColombo 79,468 126,345 97,690 8,635 5,910 318,048 17,669Dehiwala 53,182 17,870 12,917 1,240 2,625 87,834 10,979Homagama 231,878 508 1,907 460 1,426 236,179 1,952Kaduwela 241,104 2,011 4,605 740 3,597 252,057 2,864Kesbewa 237,781 1,114 2,403 439 2,325 244,062 3,813Kolonnawa 128,623 40,412 15,934 2,101 3,747 190,817 6,815Maharagama 187,363 1,369 3,107 529 2,987 195,355 5,141Moratuwa 157,901 2,683 4,802 397 1,377 167,160 8,358Padukka 62,472 998 1,238 334 125 65,167 592Ratmalana 75,181 9,005 7,852 855 2,269 95,162 7,320Seethawaka 100,046 838 5,007 7,285 301 113,477 757Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte 91,268 5,207 7,503 801 2,729 107,508 6,324Thimbirigasyaya 125,052 34,368 66,353 3,520 7,690 236,983 9,874Total 1,771,319 242,728 231,318 27,336 37,108 2,309,809 3,304

Religion

+ Population of Colombo District by religion 1981 to 2012Year BuddhistMuslim Christian HinduOther TotalNo.No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %1981 Census 1,196,964 70.44% 168,863 9.94% 200,545 11.80% 130,215 7.66% 2,654 0.16% 1,699,2412001 Census 1,578,248 70.10% 241,944 10.75% 233,254 10.36% 194,743 8.65% 3,085 0.14% 2,251,2742012 Census 1,631,999 70.66% 271,719 11.76% 220,711 9.56% 182,342 7.89% 3,038 0.13% 2,309,809

Notes

References

External links

Colombo District Secretariat