# Trincomalee District

Trincomalee District (Tamil: திருக்கோணமலை மாவட்டம் Tirukkōṇamalai Māvaṭṭam; Sinhala: ත්‍රිකුණාමළය දිස්ත්‍රික්කය Trikuṇāmalaya distrikkaya) is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary (previously known as a Government Agent) appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka. The capital of the district is the city of Trincomalee.

## Geography

Trincomalee District is located in the east of Sri Lanka in the Eastern Province. It has an area of 2,727 square kilometres (1,053 sq mi).

## Etymology
### Trincomalee

The city has developed from a village settlement on the promontory dedicated to the Hindu shrine. The origin of the term Ko, Kone and Konatha lies in the Old Tamil word for the terms "Lord", "King" or "Chief", which allude to the deity that presides here; this term appears in several Tamil Brahmi inscriptions of the 6th century BCE — 2nd century CE. Trincomalee, the coastal peninsula town where Koneswaram is located is an anglicized form of the old Tamil word "Thiru-kona-malai" (Tamil: திருகோணமலை), meaning "Lord of the Sacred Hill", its earliest reference in this form found in the Tevaram of the 7th century by Sambandhar. Thiru is a generally used epithet denoting a "sacred" temple site while Malai means mountain or hill; Middle Tamil manuscripts and inscriptions mention the monumental compound shrine as the Thirukonamalai Konesar Kovil. Kona (Tamil: கோண) has other meanings in Old Tamil such as peak, while another origin for the term Koneswaram could come from the Tamil term Kuna (East). Therefore, other translators suggest definitions of Trincomalee such as "sacred angular/peaked hill", "sacred eastern hill" or "three peaked hill". The temple was constructed atop Swami Rock, also called Swami Malai or Kona-ma-malai, a cliff on the peninsula that drops 400 feet (120 metres) directly into the sea.

## Administrative units

Trincomalee District is divided into 11 Divisional Secretary's Division (DS Divisions), each headed by a Divisional Secretary (previously known as an Assistant Government Agent). The DS Divisions are further sub-divided into 230 Grama Niladhari Divisions (GN Divisions).
| DS Division | Main Town | Divisional Secretary | GN Divisions | Area (km$^2$) | Population (2012 Census) | Population (2012 Census) | Population (2012 Census) | Population (2012 Census) | Population (2012 Census) | Population (2012 Census) | Population Density (/km$^2$) |
| DS Division | Main Town | Divisional Secretary | GN Divisions | Area (km$^2$) | Sri Lankan Moors | Sri Lankan Tamil | Sinhalese | Indian Tamil | Other | Total | Population Density (/km$^2$) |
| Gomarankadawala | Gomarankadawala | S. M. C. Samarakoon | 10 | 288 | 1 | 25 | 7,313 | 0 | 0 | 7,339 | 25 |
| Kantalai | Kantalai | K. Premadasha | 23 | 404 | 5,108 | 1,534 | 37,448 | 2,478 | 73 | 46,641 | 115 |
| Kinniya | Kinniya | M. A. Anas | 31 | 165 | 58,447 | 2,522 | 19 | 3,445 | 18 | 64,451 | 391 |
| Kuchchaveli | Kuchchaveli | P. Thaneswaran | 24 | 438 | 21,307 | 10,553 | 1,193 | 40 | 7 | 33,100 | 76 |
| Morawewa (Muthalikkulam) | Morawewa | W. M. Bathiya Vijayantha | 10 | 329 | 1,300 | 888 | 5,750 | 3 | 5 | 7,946 | 24 |
| Muttur | Muttur | V. Yoosuf | 42 | 195 | 34,984 | 20,935 | 444 | 4 | 12 | 56,379 | 289 |
| Padavi Siripura | Siripura | V. P. S. Jinadrasena | 10 | 152 | 1 | 10 | 11,846 | 0 | 1 | 11,858 | 78 |
| Seruvila | Seruvila | P. R. Jayarathna | 17 | 311 | 2,426 | 1,816 | 9,293 | 3 | 8 | 13,546 | 44 |
| Thampalakamam (Thambalagamuwa) | Thampalakamam | J. Sripathy | 12 | 226 | 16,164 | 4,701 | 7,476 | 0 | 15 | 28,356 | 125 |
| Trincomalee Town & Gravets | Trincomalee | J.H.Arulraj | 42 | 148 | 13,113 | 61,282 | 21,179 | 546 | 1,114 | 97,234 | 657 |
| Verugal & Eachchalampattu | Verugal | P. Thanesvaran | 9 | 71 | 3 | 11,283 | 30 | 12 | 4 | 11,332 | 160 |
| Total | Total | Total | 230 | 2,727 | 152,854 | 115,549 | 101,991 | 6,531 | 1,257 | 378,182 | 139 |

## Demographics
### Population

Trincomalee District's population was 378,182 in 2012.
The population of the district, like the rest of the east and north, has been heavily affected by the civil war. The war killed an estimated 100,000 people. Several hundred thousand Sri Lankan Tamils, possibly as much as one million, emigrated to the West during the war.

### Ethnicity

Population of Trincomalee District by ethnic group 1827 to 2012 :
| Year | Muslim | Muslim | Tamil | Tamil | Sinhalese | Sinhalese | Other | Other | Total No. |
| Year | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | Total No. |
| 1827 | 3,245 | 16.94% | 15,663 | 81.76% | 250 | 1.30% | 0 | 0.00% | 19,158 |
| 1881 Census | 5,746 | 25.89% | 14,304 | 64.44% | 935 | 4.21% | 1,212 | 5.46% | 22,197 |
| 1891 Census | 6,426 | 24.96% | 17,117 | 66.49% | 1,105 | 4.29% | 1,097 | 4.26% | 25,745 |
| 1901 Census | 8,258 | 29.04% | 17,060 | 59.98% | 1,203 | 4.23% | 1,920 | 6.75% | 28,441 |
| 1911 Census | 9,700 | 32.60% | 17,233 | 57.92% | 1,138 | 3.82% | 1,684 | 5.66% | 29,755 |
| 1921 Census | 12,846 | 37.66% | 18,580 | 54.47% | 1,501 | 4.40% | 1,185 | 3.47% | 34,112 |
| 1946 Census | 23,219 | 30.58% | 33,795 | 44.51% | 11,606 | 15.29% | 7,306 | 9.62% | 75,926 |
| 1953 Census | 28,616 | 34.10% | 37,517 | 44.71% | 15,296 | 18.23% | 2,488 | 2.96% | 83,917 |
| 1963 Census | 40,775 | 29.43% | 54,452 | 39.30% | 39,925 | 28.82% | 3,401 | 2.45% | 138,553 |
| 1971 Census | 59,924 | 31.83% | 71,749 | 38.11% | 54,744 | 29.08% | 1,828 | 0.97% | 188,245 |
| 1981 Census | 75,039 | 29.32% | 93,132 | 36.39% | 85,503 | 33.41% | 2,274 | 0.89% | 255,948 |
| 2001 Census | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| 2007 Enumeration | 151,692 | 45.37% | 96,142 | 28.75% | 84,766 | 25.35% | 1,763 | 0.53% | 334,363 |
| 2012 Census | 152,854 | 40.42% | 122,080 | 32.29% | 101,991 | 26.97% | 1,257 | 0.33% | 378,182 |

### Religion

Population of Trincomalee District by religion 1981 to 2012 :
| Year | Islam | Islam | Buddhist | Buddhist | Hindu | Hindu | Christian | Christian | Others | Others | Total No. |
| Year | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | Total No. |
| 1981 Census | 76,404 | 29.85% | 82,602 | 32.27% | 80,843 | 31.59% | 15,583 | 6.09% | 516 | 0.20% | 255,948 |
| 2012 Census | 159,251 | 42.11% | 98,772 | 26.12% | 98,133 | 25.95% | 21,892 | 5.79% | 134 | 0.04% | 378,182 |

### Poverty

In 2016, the district was one of the poorest in Sri Lanka and had the third-highest incidence of extreme poverty according to the World Bank.

## Politics and government
### Local government

Trincomalee District has 13 local authorities of which two are Urban Councils and the remaining 11 are Divisional Councils (Pradesha Sabhai or Pradeshiya Sabha).
| Local Authority | Area | Population | Registered Electors (2011) | Elected Members (2011) | Elected Members (2011) | Elected Members (2011) | Elected Members (2011) | Elected Members (2011) |
| Local Authority | Area | Population | Registered Electors (2011) | UPFA | TNA | UNP | Other | Total |
| Gomarankadawala Divisional Council | | | 5,831 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| Kantalai Divisional Council | 397.3 | 48,632 | 30,898 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 11 |
| Kinniya Divisional Council | | | 16,626 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 |
| Kinniya Urban Council | 9.5 | 44,034 | 21,069 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Kuchchaveli Divisional Council | 333.3 | 29,967 | 20,872 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| Morawewa Divisional Council | 116.0 | 10,000 | 8,659 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 |
| Muttur Divisional Council | 179.4 | 60,000 | 37,731 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 11 |
| Padavi Siripura Divisional Council | 217.1 | 13,000 | 8,362 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| Seruvila Divisional Council | 277.0 | 13,886 | 9,130 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| Thampalakamam Divisional Council | 244.0 | 33,967 | 17,125 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 |
| Trincomalee Town and Gravets Divisional Council | | | 31,791 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| Trincomalee Urban Council | 7.5 | 101,958 | 31,927 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 12 |
| Verugal Divisional Council | | | 5,894 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| Total | | | 245,915 | 70 | 24 | 19 | 5 | 118 |