Road network in Jaffna peninsula During the early 20th century

Abstract

Reaching to a place or migrating to place to place is very common feature in the human life. The passage for human needs had caused gradually to find the route system in the past. The culture and civilizations were developed and they had been brought from one place to another because of the well-organized route systems in both the sea and the land. The kings and merchants who emerged through the ages had used the well-designed main roads for their political and commercial activities. The Europeans in the first and the Asians in the next were discovered the sea routes to expand their colonial activities and naval power. The international silk route was the land route through which Europe and Asians countries were connected during the medieval period. Sri Lanka also had experienced for these activities in the past. European colonial activities over Sri Lanka were ultimately caused for the modern route network by which upcountry and the low lands were connected and the Jaffna peninsula also was brought under these route network systems during the colonial period. In this research an attempt has been made to expose the salient features of the route network in the Jaffna peninsula during the early 19th Century A.D.