Badulla
city in Sri Lanka
Badulla (Sinhala: බදුල්ල, IPA: [bəd̪ulːə]; Tamil: பதுளை,IPA: [bɐðuɭɐi̯]) is the capital and the largest city of Uva Province situated in the central hills of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of Uva Province and the Badulla District.
Geography
Badulla is located in the southeast of Kandy, almost encircled by the Badulu Oya River, about 680 m (2,230 ft) above sea level and is surrounded by tea plantations. The city is overshadowed by the Namunukula range of mountains (highest peak 2,016 m (6,614 ft) above sea level). It was a base of a pre-colonial Sinhalese local prince (regional king) who ruled the area under the main King in Kandy before it became part of the British Empire. Later, it became one of the provincial administrative hubs of the British rulers. The city was the terminus of upcountry railway line built by the British in order to take mainly tea plantation products to Colombo.
Climate
Badulla has a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen: Am) characterized by mild temperatures (18 °C-26 °C) and a significant amount of rainfall. Badulla has a wet season from October to January, and has cooler temperatures in December to February compared to the rest of the year.
History and present day
Badulla was an isolated village until the British built roads from Kandy and Nuwara Eliya in the mid 19th century, as part of the growing plantation economy.
“Badulla” enters the record as city in Sri Lanka. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Badulla, city and Lanka can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Badulla” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Badulla, city and Lanka provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q390096. VIAF identifies the subject as 131451292. The Library of Congress control number is n88056872. Authority coordinates are 6.985, 81.056. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Badulla” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.