Which city is Sri Lanka's legislative capital?

Sri Lanka's legislative capital is Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte. The city is commonly shortened to Kotte and lies immediately beside Colombo, the country's main commercial and economic center.

Sri Lanka moved its official administrative capital from Colombo to Kotte in 1982. The change was intended to reduce pressure on crowded Colombo and establish government institutions in a planned area. The new Parliament complex opened on 29 April 1982 on an island in Diyawanna Lake, built on reclaimed marshland.

Colombo remains the country's best-known city and continues to host major executive, judicial, commercial, financial, and diplomatic activity. That division is why quiz players sometimes answer Colombo, even though Kotte is the legislative capital.

The name reflects the area's long history. Kotte was the capital of the medieval Kingdom of Kotte, and the honorific Sri Jayawardenepura means roughly “resplendent city of growing victory.” Portuguese forces eventually made Colombo their base after Kotte was abandoned in the 16th century.