Districts

The provinces of Sri Lanka are divided into 25 districts (Sinhala: දිස්ත්‍රි‌ක්‌ක sing. දිස්ත්‍රික්කයTamil: மாவட்டம்). Each district is administered under a District Secretariat. The districts are further subdivided into divisional secretariats, and these in turn to Grama Sevaka divisions.

The Districts are known in Sinhala as Disa and in Tamil as Maawaddam. Originally a Disa (usually rendered into English as Dissavony) was a duchy, notably Matale and Uva. The Government Agent, who is known as District Secretary, administers a district.

These were originally based on the feudal counties, the korales and ratas. They were formerly known as 'D.R.O. Divisions' after the 'Divisional Revenue Officer'. Later the D.R.O.s became 'Assistant Government Agents' and the Divisions were known as 'A.G.A. Divisions'. Currently, the Divisions are administered by a 'Divisional Secretary', and are known as a 'D.S. Divisions'. Rural D.S. Divisions are also administered by a 'Pradeshiya Sabha' and 'Pradesha Sabhai' (Sinhala and Tamil for 'Regional Council'), which is elected.