Kilinochchi (District)

Kilinochchi District ; கிளிநொசசி ; மாவட்டம் කිලිනොච්චි දිස්ත්‍රික්කය
Province :	Northern Province
Administrative headquarters :	Kilinochchi
Area :	1,279 km²
of which land area:	1,205 km²
of which inland waters:	74 km²
Residents :	113510
Population density :	94 inhabitants / km²

9.383333 80.4Coordinates: 9 ° 23 ' N , 80 ° 24' E

The Kilinochchi District ( Tamil கிளிநொசசி மாவட்டம் Kiḷinocaci māvaṭṭam , Sinhalese කිලිනොච්චි දිස්ත්‍රික්කය kilinocci distrikkaya ) is a district in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka . The main town is Kilinochchi . Almost all of the residents are Sri Lankan Tamils . The Kilinochchi District was one of the areas affected by the civil war in Sri Lanka from 1983 to 2009 .

geography

The Kilinochchi District is part of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It borders on the Jaffna district to the north and the Mullaitivu and Mannar districts to the south . In the West Coast of Sri Lanka and is located between India situated Palkbucht .

Landscape near Kilinochchi

With an area of 1,279 square kilometers (of which 1,205 square kilometers land and 74 square kilometers inland water), the Kilinochchi district is the third smallest district in Sri Lanka after the districts of Colombo and Jaffna. Most of the district area belongs to the Vanni region , which includes the northern part of the main island. The Kilinochchi District also comprises a smaller part of the Jaffna Peninsula , which is separated from the rest of Sri Lanka by the Jaffna Lagoon . The Elephant Pass , the main entrance to the Jaffna Peninsula, belongs to the Kilinochchi District.

The terrain of Kilinochchi District is completely flat and is largely used for agriculture. In the west and south, the Kilinochchi district has a share of the vast forests of the Vanni region. In 1985, 39 percent of the district area consisted of arable land and 28 percent of forest.

history

War damage in Kilinochchi District (2010)

The area of today's Kilinochchi District was historically under the influence of Jaffna , but for a long time was extremely sparsely populated. It was not until 1936 that the settlements of Kilinochchi and Paranthan were founded as part of a colonization program with the aim of relieving population pressure on the densely populated Jaffna Peninsula . Kilinochchi has existed as an independent district since 1984. The area had previously been part of Jaffna District .

Kilinochchi District is one of the areas claimed by Tamil separatists as part of an independent Tamil Eelam state . The district was affected by the civil war in Sri Lanka from 1983 to 2009 . The city of Kilinochchi was under the control of the rebel organization Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from 1990 to 1996 and again from 1998 to the end of the civil war . Following the capture of Jaffna by the Sri Lankan army , Kilinochchi served as the de facto capital of the LTTE-controlled areas. The elephant pass belonging to the Kilinochchi district , which forms the strategically important entrance to the Jaffna Peninsula, was fought over several times between the LTTE and government troops during the civil war.

Due to the isolated location of the district, the 2004 tsunami disaster in Kilinochchi was less devastating than on the east coast of Sri Lanka. 30 people were killed in the district and 1250 houses were destroyed by the tsunami.

population

According to the 2012 census, the Mullaitivu district has 113,510 inhabitants. With only 38 inhabitants per square kilometer, it is very sparsely populated and the population density is well below the Sri Lankan average (325 inhabitants per square kilometer). The division Manthai East has only 14 inhabitants / km². Of the residents, 55,783 (49.14%) were male and 57,727 (50.86%) female. The population is very young. This is illustrated by a look at the age distribution.

Age	0–9 years	10–19 years	20-29 years	30–39 years	40-49 years	50–59 years	60–79 years	80 years and more
number	25,201	22,947	17,797	17,077	11,217	9,302	9,382	587
proportion of	22.20%	20.22%	15.68%	15.04%	9.88%	8.19%	8.27%	0.52%

District population by ethnic group

Almost the entire population of the district are Sri Lankan Tamils. There are only small minorities from other ethnic groups.

Sri Lankan Tamils The Sri Lankan Tamils are the largest ethnic group. In all four divisions, they make up the majority of the population. Their share ranges between 95.67% in Poonakari and 98.82% in Kandavalai.

Sinhalese Overall, the proportion of Sinhalese is low. The Sinhalese population ranges between 0.50% in Kandavalai and 2.75% in Pachchilaipalli.

Indian Tamils The Tamils of Indian descent are descendants of immigrants from India during British colonial rule. Their share is small and ranges between 0.47% in Pachchilaipalli and 1.18% in Poonakari.

Moors Only the fourth largest ethnic group are the Moors or Tamil-speaking Muslims. Almost all members of this population group live in the Poonakari (73% of the Moors) and Karachchi (22%) divisions. Their share ranges between 0.11% in Pachchilaipalli and 2.27% in Poonakari.

Other ethnic groups The Malay and Burgher are small minorities.

year	Sinhalese ¹		Sri Lankan Tamils ²		Tamils ²		Moors ³		Burgher		Malays		Others ⁴		Total
year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2012	1,331	1.17%	110.494	97.34%	1,030	0.91%	629	0.55%	1	0.00%	2	0.00%	23	0.02%	113,510	100.00%
Source: Sri Lanka 2012 Census

¹ Lowland and Kandy Sinhalese together ² Sri Lankan Tamils and Indian Tamils separately ³ only Sri Lankan moors ^{4 of} which in 2012 neither Sri Lanka Chetties nor Bharatha

Population of the district by confession

Children at a Hindu shrine in Kilinochchi District

The distribution of creeds is partly a reflection of ethnic conditions. On closer inspection, there are significant differences from the rest of the country. The Hinduism , the Sri Lankan and Indian Tamils a majority of the plays, is in the district of Kilinochchi, the highest denomination. Only fourth is Islam , to which the Moors and Malay belong. The Buddhism is the third largest religious group. However, around 18,000 Tamils (around 17% of their ethnic group) belong to Christianity . Christian Tamils exist in all four divisions. It is particularly high in the Poonakari division (around 27% Christians among the Tamils). For this reason, Christians are currently the second largest religious community. But the proportion of Roman Catholics within Christians is significantly lower than the national average (only around 65%).

year	Buddhists		Hindus		Muslims		Catholics		other Christs		Other		Total
year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2012	1,275	1.12%	92,986	81.92%	700	0.62%	12,063	10.63%	6,436	5.67%	50	0.04%	113,510	100.00%
Source: Sri Lanka 2012 Census

Population development

The population of the Kilinochchi District was subject to significant fluctuations during the civil war due to death, flight and displacement. In 1981, the year of the last census before the outbreak of war, 91,764 people lived in what is now Kilinochchi District. During the war, the number of internally displaced people increased significantly: according to estimates by the district administration, it peaked in 2006 at 197,037. A large part of the population was displaced by the fighting in the final phase of the civil war: for 2009 only 23,625 inhabitants are given. Since the end of the war, the population has consolidated again through the settlement of internally displaced people by the government.

In 2012, according to government statistics, there were 102,299 refugees and returnees in the Kilinochchi district. Among them were 289 refugees from other areas of Sri Lanka and 102,010 people were resettled after previous displacement.

With 94 inhabitants per km², the district is well below the country's average (325 people / km²). The fluctuations within the area are also enormous. They range from 17 (Poonakari) to 171 (Karachchi) inhabitants per km².

Local administration

The head of the district holds the title of District Secretary . The district is divided into four divisions ( DS Divisions ), each subordinate to a Divisional Secretary . The divisions are further divided into a total of 136 GN divisions in 350 villages (as of 2012), each of which is headed by a Grama Niladhari (village captain).

The DS Divisions in Kilinochchi District
Surname	main place	Residents 2012	Area in km²	density	GN	Villages
Kandavalai	Kandavalai	23,194	318	73	16	103
Karachchi	Kilinochchi	61,484	358	172	42	115
Pachchilaipalli	Pallai	8,530	164	52	18th	44
Poonakari	Poonakari	20,302	439	17th	19th	92
Kilinochchi District	Kilinochchi	113,510	1,205	94	136	354

Individual evidence

↑ Northern Provincial Council: Statistical Information 2010, p. 54. (PDF; 28.7 MB)

↑ Chelvadurai Manogaran: Ethnic Conflict and Reconciliation in Sri Lanka. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu HI 1987, ISBN 0-8248-1116-X , pp. 90-91.

^ Map of the ethnic distribution after the 2012 census

↑ Data from Kilinochchi District according to the 2012 census

^ Map of religious distribution after the 2012 census

↑ Data from Kilinochchi District according to the 2012 census

↑ Northern Provincial Council: Statistical Information 2010, p. 42. (PDF; 28.7 MB)

↑ Migrants by reason of migration and district.

↑ Statistical Pocket Book Of Sri Lanka 2014

^ Department of Census and Statistics: Number of GN by DS. ( MS Excel ; 25 kB)