After their conquest of the Maritime Provinces in 1795–6, the British eventually took control of the Kandyan Kingdom in 1815. Initially, a separate administration under the governor was maintained in the latter territory. It was not till 1833 that the two territories were brought under a unified administrative system. While continuing to rely on indigenous headmen for district and village administration, the tendency was to bring these functionaries under increasing control and to set up specialised departments (e.g. survey, public works, police) as the need arose. In the meanwhile, the separation of the judicial and executive branches of administration promoted the evolution of a network of judicial posts and services. This process of political and administrative unification was cemented during the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by the extension of communications. Begun in the 1820s, the Colombo–Kandy road was fully bridged and completed by 1832. If the construction of this road was motivated largely by strategic political considerations, subsequent road building was stimulated by economic growth and economic motives, though a few roads were also constructed to serve administrative needs. Though not without regional unevenness, the island's road network has long been one of its most remarkable and economically significant features. This network was soon supplemented by the development of postal and telegraphic services, the completion of a railroad from Colombo to Kandy in 1867, the subsequent elaboration of a rail network till it had encompassed a mileage of 713 by the year 1924 and the development of an artificial harbour at Colombo by the 1880s.