The Sabaragamuwa Province ( Sabaragamuwa Paḷāta, Sabaragamuva Mākāṇam) is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka. Ratnapura is the capital of the province.

History

The provinces of Sri Lanka were created by the British in 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 province is named after its former indigenous inhabitants, namely the Sabara, an Indic term for hunter-gatherer tribes, a term seldom used in ancient Sri Lanka. The Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka is located in the town of Belihuloya, and was founded in 1991.

Geography

The province has an area of 4,968 km2 and a population of 1,918,880. Major towns include Ratnapura and Kegalle.

Demographics

Ethnic groups

The Sinhalese are the majority ethnic group of the Sabaragamuwa province. Additionally, there are sizeable minority populations of Indian Tamils, Moors and Sri Lankan Tamils.

Religion

Administrative divisions

Sabaragamuwa is divided into two districts and 28 divisional secretariats.

Districts

Major population centres