Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte in the context of "Kingdom of Kotte"

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It is located in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, and is separated from India by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. It shares a maritime border with the Maldives in the southwest and India in the northwest, and it lies across the Bay of Bengal from Bangladesh and Myanmar in the northeast and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the east. Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is the legislative capital of Sri Lanka, while the largest city, Colombo, is the administrative and judicial capital which is the nation's political, financial and cultural centre. Kandy is the second-largest city and also the capital of the last native kingdom of Sri Lanka. The majority of the population speak Sinhala, while Tamil is the second most-spoken language. They are spoken by approximately 17 million and 5 million people respectively.

Sri Lanka has a population of approximately 22 million and is home to several cultures, languages and ethnicities. The Sinhalese people form the majority of the population, followed by the Sri Lankan Tamils, who are the largest minority group and are concentrated in the north of the island; both groups have played a major role in the island's history. Other long-established groups include the Moors, Indian Tamils, Burghers, Malays, Chinese, and Vedda.

Colombo (/kəˈlʌmboʊ/ kə-LUM-boh; Sinhala: කොළඹ, romanised: Koḷam̆ba, IPA: [ˈkoləᵐbə]; Tamil: கொழும்பு, romanised: Koḻumpu, IPA: [koɻumbɯ]) is the largest city of Sri Lanka by population and de facto the commercial capital of Sri Lanka. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the financial centre of the island and a tourist destination. It is located on the west coast of the island. It is also the administrative capital of the Western Province and the district capital of Colombo District. Colombo is a busy and vibrant city with a mixture of modern life, colonial buildings and monuments.

It was made the capital of the island when Sri Lanka was ceded to the British Empire in 1815, retaining its capital status when Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948. In 1978, when administrative functions were moved to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, Colombo was designated as the commercial capital of Sri Lanka.

The Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte Municipal Council is the local council for Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, the administrative capital city of Sri Lanka. The council was first formed as Kotte Urban Development Council which was established in the 1930s and the council became Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte Municipal Council in 1997, Chandra Silva was elected as the first mayor.

Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte Municipal Council area is bounded by the Kolonnawa Urban Council to the North, the Kotikawatta – Mulleriyawa Pradeshiya Sabha to the North East, Kaduwela Municipal Council to the East, Maharagama Urban Council to the South East, Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia Municipal Council to the South West, and Colombo Municipal Council to the West.

The Western Province (Sinhala: බස්නාහිර පළාත Basnāhira Paḷāta; Tamil: மேல் மாகாணம் Mael Mākāṇam) is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka, the first level administrative division of the country. The provinces have existed since the 19th century but did not have any legal status until 1987 when the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka established provincial councils. Western Province is the most densely populated province in the country and is home to the legislative capital Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte as well as to Colombo, the nation's administrative and business center.

The current legislative capital of Sri Lanka is Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte and the executive and judicial capital is Colombo. Over the course of the island's history, the national capital has been in several locations other than Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte.