What is the administrative capital of Sri Lanka?

Sri Lanka moved its parliament out of Colombo in the early 1980s to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, a site on the eastern edge of the capital's built-up area that carries a much older name. Kotte was the seat of a Sinhalese kingdom in the fifteenth century, so the choice reconnected the modern state with a pre-colonial capital rather than staying in the port city that the Portuguese, Dutch and British had each developed as their colonial base. A new parliamentary complex designed by Geoffrey Bawa was built on an island in a lake created by draining marshland, giving the legislature a distinct setting apart from the crowded commercial centre. In practice the two places have grown together, and Colombo still holds most ministries, the business district and the main port, so the administrative capital is best understood as a designated district within the larger urban area.

Kandy held out against European powers far longer than the coastal cities because of the mountainous terrain protecting it.