Jaffna

Jaffna
Climate diagram
	Temperature in ° C , precipitation in mm
	Source: Department of Meteorology, Sri Lanka

Jaffna ; யாழ்ப்பாணம் ; යාපනය
	Jaffna ; யாழ்ப்பாணம் ; යාපනය
	Jaffna ; யாழ்ப்பாணம் ; යාපනය
State :	Sri Lanka
Province :	Northern Province
District :	Jaffna
Surface:	17 km²
Residents:	169,102 (2020)
Mayor:	Emmanuel Arnold

Jaffna ( English : [ ˈdʒæfnə ], Tamil : யாழ்ப்பாணம் Yāḻppāṇam [ ˈjaːɭpːaːɳʌm ], Sinhala : යාපනය Yāpanaya [ ˈjaːpənəjə ]) is a city in Sri Lanka . It is the capital of the northern province and district of Jaffna and the most important city in the Tamil- populated north of the island. According to the census, Jaffna has 169,102 inhabitants (as of April 2020). Almost all of the residents are Sri Lankan Tamils . Before the civil war in Sri Lanka , Jaffna was the country's second largest city, but the city was badly affected by the conflict that lasted from 1983 to 2009.

geography

View of Jaffna

Jaffna is located in the north of Sri Lanka around 360 kilometers north of the capital Colombo on the Jaffna Peninsula , an area that is only connected to the rest of the island by a narrow strip of land. The city is located on the south coast of the peninsula on the shore of a lagoon , which is separated from the Palk Bay by several offshore islands .

In Jaffna prevails maritime embossed tropical climate . Temperatures are subject to only minor fluctuations over the course of the year: the warmest month is April with an average maximum temperature of 33.4 ° C, the coolest is December with 28.3 ° C. The precipitation conditions are significantly influenced by the monsoon . In contrast to the west coast, the southwest monsoon brings only little rainfall from April to June, as the north of Sri Lanka is shielded from the air masses coming from the southwest by the Indian mainland. The main rainy season, on the other hand, is the northeast monsoon between October and December, during which the air masses coming from the northeast of the Bay of Bengal bring considerable amounts of rain with them. During these three months, more than two thirds of the annual precipitation falls, averaging 1,303 millimeters.

Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Jaffna

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Max. Temperature ( ° C )	28.5	29.9	31.8	33.4	33.3	32.7	32.6	32.4	32.1	30.8	29.3	28.3	O	31.3
Min. Temperature (° C)	23.0	22.6	23.4	25.6	26.9	26.9	26.2	25.9	25.7	24.7	23.9	23.6	O	24.9

Precipitation ( mm )	69.6	37.2	19.1	43.4	46.3	23.2	40.5	47.8	75.4	249.8	356.1	294.5	Σ	1,302.9

Rainy days ( d )	4th	2	2	4th	3	2	3	3	5	11	15th	13	Σ	67

Source: Department of Meteorology, Sri Lanka

history

Entrance to Fort Jaffna (built by the Portuguese and repaired by the Dutch in 1680)

Between 1215 and 1624 the Kingdom of Jaffna ruled from Nallur , a suburb of Jaffna, over the northern part of the island of Ceylon (Sri Lanka). In 1619 the Portuguese , who had been present on Ceylon since the beginning of the 16th century , conquered Jaffna and built Fort Jaffna. In 1658 the city and the rest of the island fell to the Netherlands . Jaffna remained under Dutch rule before the British took control of Ceylon in 1796.

In 1948, Ceylon, renamed Sri Lanka in 1972, was granted independence by Great Britain. The first decades after independence were marked by a strengthening of Sinhalese nationalism and increasing tensions between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority in the north of the island. This also led to repeated violence in Jaffna. In 1974, nine people were killed by a police operation at the closing event of the World Tamil Conference in Jaffna. In response, Velupillai Prabhakaran , who later became the leader of the Tamil rebels, murdered the mayor of Jaffna, Alfred Duraiappah, the following year . In 1981 serious riots broke out in Jaffna, during which the Jaffna Public Library was burned to the ground.

War damage in the abandoned Jaffna train station (2010)

When the conflict between Sinhalese and Tamils culminated in full civil war in 1983 , Jaffna experienced heavy fighting between the government troops holed up in the colonial fort and the rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) operating in the city . In 1986 the military withdrew from Jaffna and the city came under full control of the LTTE. After the intervention of India 's troops took the Indian Peace Keeping Force one in October 1987 Jaffna. In 1990 the Indian peacekeeping forces withdrew from Sri Lanka and Jaffna came under the control of the LTTE again. In December 1995 the Sri Lankan army captured the city after a 50-day siege. Jaffna remained under government control until the end of the civil war, but was cut off from the rest of the island after the LTTE captured the strategically important Elephant Pass in 2000 . In 2009 the civil war ended with the military victory of government troops over the LTTE.

population

Students in Jaffna pass a war ruin (2007)

According to a special census of the Sri Lankan census in 2007, Jaffna had 78,781 inhabitants. In 1981 - the year of the last census before the outbreak of the civil war - the population was 118,224. Because of the war, a large part of the population fled abroad or other parts of the country.

Population development in Jaffna
year	1891	1901	1911	1921	1931	1946	1953	1961	1971	1981	2007
Residents	43,179	33,879	40,441	42,436	45,708	62,543	77,811	94,670	107.184	118.224	78,781

Jaffna belongs to the Tamil settlement area in northern Sri Lanka. Before the civil war, small minorities of Moors and Sinhalese also lived in the city . During the war, however, they either fled or were expelled, so that in 2007 almost only Sri Lankan Tamils lived in the entire Jaffna district . The majority of the city's residents are Hindus , with a larger minority of Christians (mostly Catholics ). Islam and Buddhism are practically no longer present in Jaffna after the Moors and Sinhalese left.

Economy and Infrastructure

Jaffna market

Jaffna is the trading center for the surrounding region, where bananas, coconuts, rice and tobacco are grown. Jaffna also has a fishing port.

Jaffna is connected to the rest of the country by road through the A9 (Jaffna– Kandy ) and A32 (Jaffna– Mannar ) highways . During the civil war, the A9 running over the Elephant Pass was the only road connection to Jaffna. It was interrupted most of the time due to the fighting, but the road has been continuously passable again since 2009. With the completion of the Sangupiddy Bridge over the Jaffna Lagoon in 2011, Jaffna can also be reached via the A32.

Before the civil war, Jaffna was connected to the railway network via the northern line of the Sri Lankan Railways, but in 1990 rail traffic north of Vavuniya was stopped. The Jaffna train station was destroyed in the war and the tracks dismantled. The reconstruction of the railway line is in progress. Trains are currently running to Kilinochchi , and Jaffna should also be accessible again by train by March 2014.

Jaffna Airport is located in Palaly, 18 kilometers north of Jaffna . During the civil war the airport was used as an air force base, civil air traffic to Colombo has existed since 2012 and the airport was officially opened as an international airport in 2019.

Culture and sights

The Nallur Kandaswamy Temple

Jaffna City Library

temple

In Nallur, around three kilometers east of the city center of Jaffna, is the Nallur Kandaswamy Temple , one of the most important Hindu temples in Sri Lanka. It is dedicated to the Tamil god Murugan (Skanda). The temple dates back to the 10th century but was destroyed during the Portuguese colonial era and rebuilt in 1749 under Dutch rule. The temple is built in the Dravida style . A five-story gopuram (gate tower) crowns the entrance on the west side . In 2011, a new 30 meter high gopuram was built on the south side of the temple.

The Naguleswaram Temple is one of the numerous other Hindu temples .

Churches

The most impressive church is St. James Church, built in the Italianate style in 1861 . The cathedral of the Catholic diocese of Jaffna is St. Mary's Cathedral , which was built with a long delay between 1939 and 1982 including the nave of a previous building completed in 1794.

additional

The Fort Jaffna was established during the Portuguese colonial period early 17th century and 1680 renewed by the Dutch in 1792 rebuilt again. The fortress, which was fought over in the civil war, is used by the military and is not open to the public.

The city library is a symbol of the history of the Sri Lankan conflict. The library, built in 1933, was burned to the ground by a pro-government mob during the pre-civil war riots in 1981, and more than 90,000 books were destroyed. The library remained in ruins during the civil war, but the government had it rebuilt after Jaffna was retaken. It was reopened in 2003.

Personalities

Victor Gnanapragasam (* 1940), Roman Catholic bishop and missionary
Sengai Aaliyan (1941-2016), Tamil writer
Fidelis Lionel Emmanuel Fernando (* 1948), Roman Catholic Bishop of Mannar
T. Maheswaran (1960–2008), Sri Lankan politician
Anton Ranjith Pillainayagam (* 1966), Roman Catholic clergyman and auxiliary bishop in Colombo
Senthuran Varatharajah (* 1984), German writer