The Northern Province (Tamil: வட மாகாணம் Vaṭa Mākāṇam; Sinhala: උතුරු පළාත Uturu Paḷāta) is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka.^[4] The province has an area of 8,884 km², making it the 3rd largest province by area, and a population of 1,061,315, making it the least populated province. The city of Jaffna is the capital city of the province.

Between 1988 and 2006, the province was temporarily merged with the Eastern Province into one province, the North Eastern Province. Due to its large Tamil population, the Northern Province is sometimes referred to as "Sri Lanka's Tamil country".^[5][6][7] The majority of fighting in the Sri Lankan Civil War took place in the Northern province.

Parts of present-day Northern Province were part of the pre-colonial Jaffna kingdom.^[8] Other parts were ruled by Vanniar Chieftains who paid tribute to the Jaffna kingdom. The province 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. The Northern Province was part of the Tamil 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.^[9] The districts of Jaffna, Mannar, Nuvarakalaviya (present day Anuradhapura District) and Vanni formed the new Northern Province.^[10] Nuvarakalaviya was transferred to the newly created North Central Province in 1873.^[11]

The Indo-Lanka Accord signed on 29 July 1987 required the Sri Lankan government to devolve powers to the provinces and, in the interim, to merge the Northern and Eastern provinces into one administrative unit. The accord required a referendum to be held by 31 December 1988 in the Eastern Province to decide whether the merger should be permanent. Crucially, the accord allowed the Sri Lankan president to postpone the referendum at his discretion.^[12]

On 14 November 1987 the Sri Lankan Parliament passed the 13th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka and the Provincial Councils Act No 42 of 1987, establishing provincial councils.^[13][14] On September 2 and 8 1988 President Jayewardene issued proclamations enabling the Northern and Eastern provinces to be one administrative unit administered by one elected Council.^[15] The North Eastern Province was born.

The proclamations were only meant to be a temporary measure until a referendum was held in the Eastern Province on a permanent merger between the two provinces. However, the referendum was never held and successive Sri Lankan presidents issued proclamations annually extending the life of the "temporary" entity.^[16]

The merger was bitterly opposed by Sinhalese nationalists. The new province made up about one fourth of the total area of Sri Lanka. The thought of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam controlling this province, directly or indirectly, alarmed them greatly. On 14 July 2006, after a long campaign against the merger, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna political party filed three separate petitions with the Supreme Court requesting a separate provincial council for the East.^[15] On 16 October 2006 the Supreme Court ruled that the proclamations issued by President Jayewardene were null and void and had no legal effect.^[15] The North Eastern Province was formally de-merged into the Northern and Eastern provinces on 1 January 2007.

Much of the Northern Province was under the control of rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for many years during the civil war. The province was recaptured by the Sri Lankan military in 2009.

While the Northern province has seen an era of peace after the end of the war, the scars left by the war still remain. Despite the large amount of infrastructure projects undertaken by the Mahinda Rajapaksa government, at the cost of over $3 billion, the projects have been unable to create new jobs and as a result the province is suffers from extreme levels of unemployment.^[17]

In late 2014, then-incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa imposed a travel ban to prevent foreigners from traveling to the former war zone in the province. The ban was lifted three months later by the newly elected president Maithripala Sirisena.^[18]

Northern Province is located in the north of Sri Lanka and is just 22 miles (35 km) from India. It is connected with Indian mainland by Adam's Bridge (also known as Sethu Paalam or Rama's Bridge). It has an area of 8,884 square kilometres (3,430 sq mi).^[1]

The province is surrounded by the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay to the west, Palk Strait to the north west, the Bay of Bengal to the north and east and the Eastern, North Central and North Western provinces to the south.

The province is divided into two distinct geographic areas: Jaffna peninsula and the Vanni. Jaffna peninsula is irrigated by underground aquifers fed by wells whereas the Vanni has irrigation tanks fed by perennial rivers. Major rivers include: Akkarayan Aru, Aruvi Aru, Kanakarayan Aru, Kodalikkallu Aru, Mandekal Aru, Nay Aru, Netheli Aru, Pali Aru, Pallavarayankaddu Aru, Parangi Aru, Per Aru, Piramenthal Aru, Theravil Aru.

The province has a number of lagoons, the largest being Jaffna Lagoon, Nanthi Kadal, Chundikkulam Lagoon, Vadamarachchi Lagoon, Uppu Aru Lagoon, Kokkilai lagoon, Nai Aru Lagoon and Chalai Lagoon.

Most of the islands around Sri Lanka are to be found to the west of the Northern Province. The largest islands are: Velanaitivu (Kayts), Neduntivu (Delft), Karaitivu, Pungudutivu and Mandativu.

Northern Province is covered in tropical forests, with numerous rivers flowing through them. The north-west coast is part of the deep Cauvery (Kaveri) River Basin of south-east India, which has been collecting sediments from the highlands of India and Sri Lanka since the breakup of Gondwanaland.

The population of the northern province was 1,058,762 in 2012.^[2] The majority of the population are Sri Lankan Tamil, with sizeable Sri Lankan Moor and Sinhalese minorities.

The population of the province, like that of the Eastern Province, was heavily affected by the civil war. The war killed an estimated 100,000 people.^[21] Several hundred thousand Sri Lankan Tamils, possibly as much as one million, emigrated to Western countries during the war.^[22] Many Sri Lankan Tamils also moved to the relative safety of the capital city Colombo. Most of the Sri Lankan Moors and Sinhalese who lived in the province fled to other parts of Sri Lanka, though most of them have returned to the province since the end of the civil war.

The majority of the people earn their livelihood as farmers, fishers, and professionals in the civil and business sectors. Before the civil war cement and chemical industries along with fishing made a major contribution to the economy. However now they have been abandoned and the factories are rusting. Close to a third of the population is unemployed far more than Sri Lanka and work is mostly informal and thus unstable. The population that managed to flee to foreign nations provide a steady flow of foreign remittances to their relatives in the province.^[36] However, with the election victory of President Maithripala Sirisena and the removal of restrictions that prevented foreigners from visiting the north contributed to the sense of economic renewal alongside the development of Kankesanthurai Harbor the Palali Airport. Hospitals and schools as well as a cultural center and vocational training facility is being built in Jaffna. Investments have also started to flow into an industries such chemical and cement factories, hotels, apparel factories, power plants and aquaculture farms. As of 2018 the apparel industry of the province employ 7,917 staff and represent an investment of US$65 million with factories in Vavuniya, Killinochchi, Mannar and Mullaitivu.^[36]

The Northern Province's contribution the gross domestic product is the lowest among the nine provinces representing only 3.5% of the overall GDP in 2015 however the provincial gross domestic product nominal growth rate was 12.1% in 2015 and is the fastest growing province alongside the North Central Province.^[37][38]

Northern Province being an agricultural dominant province, where agricultural sector is 25.9% and trade sector comes next to it is 19.3%. Most of the people engaged in service sector covering 31.2% of the total.^[39]

Gross State Domestic Product in Rs. Crores and Current Prices^[39]

More information Year, GSDP ...

Year	GSDP	Change	Share of Sri Lanka
2001	29,490	%	2.37%
2002	37,400	%	2.67%
2003	43,123	%	2.76%
2004	52,988	%	2.94%
2005	64,004	%	3.05%
2006	72,722	%	2.93%

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Transport infrastructure in the province is poorly developed and limits economic activity. Most people still use bullock carts for transportation.

The Northern Province has one university, the University of Jaffna which became independent in 1979, previously having been a campus of the University of Sri Lanka since 1974.^[43] The university has approximately 7,000 students. The province is known for its institutions of education, many of which were established by Christian missionaries.

The first newspaper in Jaffna, Uthayatharakai (Morning Star) was published in 1841 by C.W. Thamotharampillai^[44] By the 1940s, daily newspapers had already been started Eelakesari and Virakesari in 1930 and Thinakaran in 1932 and journals committed to the growth of modernistic, socially purposive literature Bharati and Marumalarchi in 1946 had also started coming out.

Few newspapers are published in the province now in the principal language of Tamil. None in English and Sinhala. Before the Civil war commenced dozens of newspapers and magazines were published. Press freedom is limited and mostly censored by Government and Pro-government paramilitaries.^[45] Now most of the Tamil, English, Sinhala magazines come from Colombo and Chennai, India.

• List of settlements in Northern Province (Sri Lanka)
• Provinces of Sri Lanka
• Districts of Sri Lanka