Gampaha District

Gampaha District is one of the 25 Districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. It is the second most populous district of Sri Lanka after Colombo District. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka. The capital of the district is the town of Gampaha. Negombo however is the largest city and the commercial hub of Gampaha district. The district was carved out of the northern part of Colombo District in September 1978.

Gampaha District is located in the west of Sri Lanka and has an area of 1,387 square kilometres (536 sq mi). It is bounded by Kurunegala and Puttalam districts from north, Kegalle District from east, Colombo District from south and by the Indian Ocean from west. The borders of the district are the Ma Oya on the north, Kelani River on the south and 1,000 ft contour line on the east.

Gampaha District is divided into 13 Divisional Secretary's Division (DS Divisions), each headed by a Divisional Secretary. The DS Divisions are further sub-divided into 1,177 Grama Niladhari Divisions (GN Divisions).

Gampaha District's population was 2,294,641 in 2012. The majority of the population are Sinhalese, with a minority Sri Lankan Moor and Sri Lankan Tamil population.

The major cities of Gampaha District: Biyagama, Gampaha, Kelaniya, Mirigama, Wattala, Negombo, Ja-Ela, Minuwangoda

About Gampaha District

Gampaha is an urban city in Sri Lanka and is the capital of the Gampaha District in Western Province, north of Colombo. Gampaha District is separated from Colombo mainly by the Kelani River. Gampaha town is about 4km from Miriswatta on Colombo-Kandy road. Gampaha is surrounded by Yakkala, Miriswatta, Weliweriya Udugampola and Ja-Ela towns.

The name "Gampaha" in Sinhala literally means Five Villages. The five villages are known to be Ihalagama, Pahalagama, Medagama, Pattiyagama and Aluthgama.

About Western Province

The Western Province is the most densely populated province of Sri Lanka. It is home to the legislative capital Sri Jayawardenapura as well to Colombo, the nation's administrative and business center. Western Province is divided into 3 main districts called Colombo (642 km²), Gampaha (1,386.6 km²) and Kalutara (1,606 km²) districts. As Sri Lanka's economic hub, all the major local and international corporations have their presence in the city and so do all the major designer and high street retailers, so be ready to indulge in some retail therapy in western province.

Having the highest population in the all the provinces, the almost all the premier educational institutions in the island are located in western province. Universities in the province include the University of Colombo, the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, University of Kelaniya, Open University, Sri Lanka, Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka, General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University and University of Moratuwa .Western province has the largest amount of schools in the country, which includes National, Provincial, Private and International schools.

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