Uva (
Uva,
Uva) is
Sri Lanka's second least populated
province, with 1,187,335 people, created in 1896. It consists of two
districts:
Badulla බදුල්ල பதுளை and
Moneragala මොනරාගල மொனராகல. The provincial capital is
Badulla. Uva is bordered by
Eastern,
Southern and
Central provinces. Its major tourist attractions are Dunhinda falls, Diyaluma Falls, Rawana Falls, the
Yala National Park (lying partly in the Southern and Eastern Provinces) and
Gal Oya National Park (lying partly in the Eastern Province). The Gal Oya hills and the Central mountains are the main uplands, while the Mahaweli (
Sinhalese:
great-sandy) and Menik (Sinhalese:
gemstone) rivers and the huge Senanayake Samudraya and Maduru Oya Reservoirs are the major waterways.
History
The provincial history records an 1818 uprising (the
Third Kandyan War) against the
British colonial government which had been controlling the formally independent Udarata (Sinhalese:
Up-Country), of which Uva was a province. The uprising was led by
Keppetipola Disawe - a leader that the
Sinhalese celebrate even today - who was sent initially by the British Government to stop the uprising. The rebels captured
Matale and
Kandy before Keppetipola fell ill and was captured - and beheaded by the British. His skull was abnormal - as it was wider than usual - and was sent to Britain for testing. It was returned to Sri Lanka after independence, and now rests in the Kandyan Museum.
Districts
Uva...
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