History of Sri Lanka
Encyclopedia
The History of Sri Lanka begins around 30,000 years ago when the island was first inhabited. Chronicles, including the Mahawansa, the Dipavamsa
, the Culavamsa
and the Rajaveliya, record events from the beginnings of the Sinhalese
monarchy in the 6th century BC; through the arrival of European Colonialists
in the 16th century; and to the disestablishment
of the monarchy in 1815. Some mentions of the country are found in the Ramayana
, the Mahabharata
and the books of Gautama Buddha
's teachings. Buddhism
was introduced in the 3rd century BC by Arhath Mahinda
(son of the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great).
From the 16th century some coastal areas of the country were ruled by the Portuguese
, Dutch
and British
. Sri Lanka was ruled by 181 kings from the Anuradhapura to Kandy periods.
After 1815 the entire nation was under British
colonial rule and armed uprisings against the British took place in the 1818 Uva Rebellion
and the 1848 Matale Rebellion
. Independence was finally granted in 1948 but remained as a Dominion of the British Empire.
Later Sri Lanka was granted the status of a Republic in 1972. A constitution
was introduced in 1978 which made the Executive President
the head of state. The Sri Lankan Civil War
began in 1983, including an armed youth uprising in 1987–1989, with the 26 year-long civil war ending in 2009.
hunter gatherers who lived in caves. Several of these caves, including the well known Batadombalena
and the Fa-Hien Rock cave, have yielded many artifacts from these people who are currently the first known inhabitants of the island.
Balangoda Man probably created Horton Plains
, in the central hills, by burning the trees in order to catch game. However, the discovery of oats
and barley
on the plains at about 15,000 BC suggests that agriculture
had already developed at this early date.
Several minute granite tools (about 4 centimetres in length), earthenware, remnants of charred timber, and clay burial pots date to the Mesolithic
stone age. Human remains dating to 6000 BC have been discovered during recent excavations around a cave at Varana Raja Maha vihara and in the Kalatuwawa area.
Cinnamon
is native to Sri Lanka and has been found in Ancient Egypt
as early as 1500 BC, suggesting early trade between Egypt and the island's inhabitants. It is possible that Biblical Tarshish
was located on the island. James Emerson Tennent
identified Sri Lanka with Galle
.
The protohistoric Early Iron Age appears to have established itself in South India by at least as early as 1200 BC, if not earlier (Possehl 1990; Deraniyagala 1992:734). The earliest manifestation of this in Sri Lanka is radiocarbon-dated to c. 1000-800 BC at Anuradhapura and Aligala shelter in Sigiriya (Deraniyagala 1992:709-29; Karunaratne and Adikari 1994:58; Mogren 1994:39; with the Anuradhapura dating corroborated by Coningham 1999). It is very likely that further investigations will push back the Sri Lankan lower boundary to match that of South India.
Archaeological evidence for the beginnings of the Iron age
in Sri Lanka is found at Anuradhapura
, where a large city–settlement was founded before 900 BC. The settlement was about 15 hectares in 900 BC, but by 700 BC it had expanded to 50 hectares. A similar site from the same period has also been discovered near Aligala in Sigiriya
.
The hunter-gatherer people known as the Wanniyala-Aetto or Veddas, who still live in the central, Uva and north-eastern parts of the island, are probably direct descendants of the first inhabitants, Balangoda man. They may have migrated to the island from the mainland around the time humans spread from Africa to the Indian subcontinent.
Around 500 BC Sri Lankans developed a unique hydraulic civilization. Achievements include the construction of the largest reservoirs and dams of the ancient world as well as enormous pyramid-like Stupa
(Dagoba
) architecture. This phase of Sri Lankan culture was profoundly influenced by early Buddhism
.
Buddhist scriptures note three visits by the Buddha to the island to see the Naga Kings, who are said to be snakes that can take the form of a human at will. The kings are thought to be symbolic and not based on historical fact.
The earliest surviving chronicles from the island, the Dipavamsa
and the Mahavamsa
, say that tribes of Yakkhas (demon worshippers), Nagas
(cobra worshippers) and Devas
(god worshippers) inhabited the island prior to the migration of Vijaya.
Pottery
has been found at Anuradhapura
bearing Brahmi
script and non-Brahmi writing and date back to 600 BC – one of the oldest examples of the script.
, Mahavamsa
, Thupavamsa and the Chulavamsa, as well as a large collection of stone inscriptions, the Indian Epigraphical records, the Burmese versions of the chronicles etc., provide an exceptional record for the history of Sri Lanka from about the 6th century B.C.
The Mahavamsa, written around 400 AD by the monk Nagasena
, using the Deepavamsa, the Attakatha and other written sources available to him, correlates well with Indian histories of the period. Indeed Emperor Ashoka
's reign is recorded in the Mahavamsa. The Mahavamsa account of the period prior to Asoka's coronation, 218 years after the Buddha's death, seems to be part legend. Proper historical records begin with the arrival of Vijaya and his 700 followers. Vijaya was a Vangan (now Bengal, India) prince, the eldest son of King Sinhabahu ("Man with Lion arms") and his sister Queen Sinhasivali who had their capital at Singhapura (now Singur
in West Bengal
, India). Both these Sinhala leaders were supposedly born of a mythical union between a lion and a human princess. The Mahavamsa claims that Vijaya landed on the same day as the death of the Buddha. The story of Vijaya and Kuveni (the local reigning queen) is reminiscent of Greek legend and may have a common source in ancient Proto-Indo-European folk tales.
According to the Mahavamsa, Vijaya landed on Sri Lanka near Mahathitha (Manthota or Mannar
), and named on the island of Thambaparni ("copper-colored palms"). This name is attested to in Ptolemy
's map of the ancient world. The Mahavamsa also describes the Buddha visiting Sri Lanka three times. Firstly, to stop a war between a Naga king and his son in law who were fighting over a ruby chair. It is said that on his last visit he left his foot mark on Siripada ("Adam's Peak").
Tamirabharani is the old name for the second longest river in Sri Lanka (known as Malwatu Oya in Sinhala and Aruvi Aru in Tamil). This river was a main supply route connecting the capital, Anuradhapura
, to Mahathitha (now Mannar
). The waterway was used by Greek and Chinese ships travelling the southern Silk Route.
Mahathitha was an ancient port linking Sri Lanka to India and the Persian gulf.
The present day Sinhalese are a mixture of the indigenous people and of other peoples who came to the island from various parts of India. The Sinhalese recognize the Vijayan Indo-Aryan culture and Buddhism (already in existence prior to the arrival of Vijaya), as distinct from other groups in neighboring south India.(Relating tamil as a mixture of other is stupdity
the Sinhalese economy was based on farming and they made their early settlements mainly near the rivers of the east, north central, and north east areas which had the water necessary for farming the whole year round. The king was the ruler of country and responsible for the law, the army, and being the protector of faith. Devanampiya Tissa (250-210 BC) was Sinhalese King of the Maurya clan. His links with Emperor Asoka led to the introduction of Buddhism
by Mahinda
(son of Asoka) around 247 BC. Sangamitta (sister of Mahinda) brought a Bodhi
sapling via Jambukola (Sambiliturei). This king's reign was crucial to Theravada Buddhism and for Sri Lanka.
Elara (205-161 BC) was a Tamil King who ruled "Pihiti Rata" (Sri Lanka north of the mahaweli) after killing King Asela. During Elara's time Kelani Tissa was a sub-king of Maya Rata
(in the south-west) and Kavan Tissa was a regional sub-king of Ruhuna
(in the south-east). Kavan Tissa built Tissa Maha Vihara, Dighavapi Tank and many shrines in Seruvila. Dutugemunu (161-137 BC), the eldest son of King Kavan Tissa, at 25 years of age defeated the South Indian Tamil Invader Elara (over 64 years of age) in single combat, described in the Mahavamsa
. Dutugemunu is depicted as a Sinhala "Asoka". The Ruwanwelisaya
, built by Dutugemunu, is a dagaba of pyramid-like proportions and was considered an engineering marvel.
Pulahatta (or Pulahatha), the first of the five Dravidians
, was deposed by Bahiya. He in turn was deposed by Panaya Mara who was deposed by Pilaya Mara, murdered by Dathika in 88 BC. Mara was deposed by Valagambahu I (89-77 BC) which ended Tamil rule and restored the Dutugamunu dynasty. The Mahavihara Theravada
Abhayagiri ("pro-Mahayana
") doctrinal disputes arose at this time. The Tripitaka
was written in Pali
at Aluvihara, Matale
. Chora Naga (63-51 BC), a Mahanagan, was poisoned by his consort Anula who became queen. Queen Anula
(48-44 BC), the widow of Chora Naga and of Kuda Tissa, was the first Queen of Lanka. She had many lovers who were poisoned by her and was killed by Kuttakanna Tissa. Vasabha
(67-111 AD), named on the Vallipuram
gold plate, fortified Anuradhapura
and built eleven tanks as well as pronouncing many edicts. Gajabahu I (114-136) invaded the Chola kingdom
and brought back captives as well as recovering the relic of the tooth of the Buddha
.
There was a huge Roman trade
with the ancient Tamil country
(present day Southern India) and Sri Lanka
, establishing trading settlements which remained long after the fall of the Western Roman empire
.
During the reign of Mahasena
(274-301) the Theravada
(Maha Vihara) was persecuted and the Mahayana
n branch of Buddhism surfaced. Later the King returned to the Maha Vihara. Pandu (429) was the first of seven Pandiyan rulers, ending with Pithya in 455. Dhatusena
(459-477) "Kalaweva" and his son Kashyapa
(477-495), built the famous sigiriya
rock palace where some 700 rock graffiti give a glimpse of ancient Sinhala.
.
kingdom of Sri Lanka. It lasted from 1055 under Vijayabahu I
to 1212 under the rule of Lilavati. The Kingdom of Polonnaruwa came into being after the Anuradhapura Kingdom
was invaded by Chola forces under Rajaraja I and led to formation of the Kingdom of Ruhuna
, where the Sinhalese Kings ruled during Chola occupation.
: Lourenço de Almeida
arrived in 1505 and found that the island was divided into seven warring kingdoms and unable to fend off intruders. The Portuguese founded a fort at the port city of Colombo
in 1517 and gradually extended their control over the coastal areas. In 1592 the Sinhalese moved their capital to the inland city of Kandy
, a location more secure against attack from invaders. Intermittent warfare continued through the 16th century.
Many lowland Sinhalese were forced to convert to Christianity
while the coastal Moors
were religiously persecuted and forced to retreat to the Central highlands. The Buddhist majority disliked the Portuguese occupation and its influences, welcoming any power who might rescue them. When the Dutch
captain Joris van Spilbergen
landed in 1602 the king of Kandy appealed to him for help.
s are the legacy of Dutch rule.
In 1659 the British sea captain Robert Knox
landed by chance on Sri Lanka and was captured by the king of Kandy, along with sixteen sailors. He and another sailor escaped 19 years later and he wrote an account of his stay. This helped to bring the island to the attention of the British.
Great Britain, fearing that French control of the Netherlands might deliver Sri Lanka to the French, occupied the coastal areas of the island (which they called
Ceylon) with little difficulty in 1796. In 1802 the Treaty of Amiens
formally ceded the Dutch part of the island to Britain and it became a crown colony. In 1803 the British
invaded the Kingdom of Kandy in the first Kandyan War
, but were repulsed. In 1815 Kandy was occupied in the second Kandyan War, finally ending Sri Lankan independence.
Following the suppression of the Uva Rebellion
the Kandyan peasantry were stripped of their lands by the Wastelands Ordinance
, a modern enclosure
movement, and reduced to penury. The British found that the uplands of Sri Lanka were very suitable for coffee
, tea
and rubber
cultivation. By the mid 19th century Ceylon tea had become a staple of the British market bringing great wealth to a small number of white tea planters. The planters imported large numbers of Tamil workers as indentured labourers from south India to work the estates, who soon made up 10% of the island's population. These workers had to work in slave-like conditions living in line rooms, not very different from cattle sheds. This also created the preconditions for the modern problems surrounding the Tamil Tigers and their quest for autonomy.
The British colonialists favoured the semi-European Burghers, certain high-caste
Sinhalese and the Tamils who were mainly concentrated to the north of the country, which exacerbated divisions and enmities which have survived ever since. Nevertheless, the British also introduced democratic elements to Sri Lanka for the first time in its history and the Burghers were given degree of self-government as early as 1833. It was not until 1909 that constitutional development began, with a partly elected assembly, and not until 1920 that elected members outnumbered official appointees. Universal suffrage
was introduced in 1931 over the protests of the Sinhalese, Tamil and Burgher elite who objected to the common people being allowed to vote.
reforms in 1931 and the Soulbury Commission
recommendations, which essentially upheld the 1944 draft constitution of the Board of ministers headed by D. S. Senanayake. The Marxist Lanka Sama Samaja Party
(LSSP), which grew out of the Youth Leagues in 1935, made the demand for outright independence a cornerstone of their policy. Its deputies in the State Council, N.M. Perera and Philip Gunawardena
, were aided in this struggle by other less radical members like Colvin R. De Silva
, Leslie Goonewardena, Vivienne Goonewardena
, Edmund Samarkody, Natesa Iyer and Don Alwin Rajapaksa. They also demanded the replacement of English as the official language by Sinhala and Tamil. The Marxist groups were a tiny minority and yet their movement was viewed with great interest by the British administration. The heroic but ineffective attempts to rouse the public against the British Raj in revolt would have led to certain bloodshed and a delay in independence. British state papers released in the 1950s show that the Marxist movement had a very negative impact on the policy makers at the Colonial office.
The Soulbury Commission
was the most important result of the agitation for constitutional reform in the 1930s. The Tamil organization was by then led by G. G. Ponnambalam
, who had rejected the "Ceylonese identity". Ponnamblam had declared himself a "proud Dravidian" and proclaimed an independent identity for the Tamils. He attacked the Sinhalese and criticized their historical chronicle known as the Mahavamsa
. One such conflict in Navalapitiya led to the first Sinhala-Tamil riot in 1939. Ponnambalam opposed universal franchise, supported the caste system, and claimed that the protection of Tamil rights requires the Tamils (15% of the population in 1931) having an equal number of seats in parliament to that of the Sinhalese (~72% of the population). This "50-50" or "balanced representation" policy became the hall mark of Tamil politics of the time. Ponnambalam also accused the British of having established colonization in "traditional Tamil areas", and having favoured the Buddhists by the buddhist temporalities act. The Soulbury Commission
rejected the submissions by Ponnambalam and even criticized what they described as their unacceptable communal character. Sinhalese writers pointed to the large immigration of Tamils to the southern urban centers, especially after the opening of the Jaffna-Colombo railway. Meanwhile Senanayake, Baron Jayatilleke, Oliver Gunatilleke and others lobbied the Soulbury Commission
without confronting them officially. The unofficial submissions contained what was to later become the draft constitution of 1944.
The close collaboration of the D. S. Senanayake government with the war-time British administration led to the support of Lord Louis Mountbatten
. His dispatches and a telegram to the Colonial office supporting Independence for Ceylon have been cited by historians as having helped the Senanayake government to secure the independence of Sri Lanka. The shrewd cooperation with the British as well as diverting the needs of the war market to Ceylonese markets as a supply point, managed by Oliver Goonatilleke, also led to a very favourable fiscal situation for the newly independent government.
. Sri Lankan opposition to the war led by the Marxist organizations and the leaders of the LSSP pro-independence group were arrested by the Colonial authorities. On 5 April 1942 the Indian Ocean raid saw the Japanese Navy
bomb Colombo. The Japanese attack led to the flight of Indian merchants, dominant in the Colombo commercial sector, which removed a major political problem facing the Senanayake government. Marxist leaders also escaped to India where they participated in the independence struggle there. The movement in Ceylon was minuscule, limited to the English-educated intelligentsia and trade unions, mainly in the urban centers. These groups were led by Robert Gunawardena, Philip's brother. In stark contrast to this "heroic" but ineffective approach to the war the Senanayake government took advantage to further its rapport with the commanding elite. Ceylon became crucial to the British Empire in the war, with Lord Louis Mountbatten
using Colombo as his headquarters for the Eastern Theater. Oliver Goonatilleka successfully exploited the markets for the country's rubber and other agricultural products to replenish the treasury. Nonetheless the Sinhalese continued to push for independence and the Sinhalese sovereignty, using the opportunities offered by the war, pushed to establish a special relationship with Britain.
Meanwhile the Marxists, identifying the war as an imperialist sideshow and desiring a proletarian revolution
, chose a path of agitation disproportionate to their negligible combat strength and diametrically opposed to the "constitutionalist" approach of Senanayake and other Ethnic Sinhalese leaders. A small garrison on the Cocos Islands manned by Ceylonese mutinied
against British rule. It has been claimed that the LSSP had some hand in the action, though this is far from clear. Three of the participants were the only British colony subjects to be shot for mutiny during World War II.
Two members of the Governing Party, Junius Richard Jayawardene and Dudley Senanayake
, held discussions with the Japanese to collaborate in fighting the British. Sri Lankans in Singapore
and Malaysia formed the 'Lanka Regiment' of the anti-British Indian National Army
.
The constitutionalists led by D. S. Senanayake succeeded in winning independence. The Soulbury constitution was essentially what Senanayake's board of ministers had drafted in 1944. The promise of Dominion status, and independence itself, had been given by the Colonial office.
(UNP) in 1946, when a new constitution was agreed on, based on the behind-the-curtain lobbying of the Soulbury commission. At the elections of 1947 the UNP won a minority of the seats in parliament, but cobbled together a coalition with the Sinhala Maha Sabha party of Solomon Bandaranaike and the Tamil Congress of G.G. Ponnambalam. The successful inclusions of the Tamil-communalist leader Ponnambalam, and his Sinhala counterpart Bandaranaike were a remarkable political balancing act by Senanayake. The vacuum in Tamil Nationalist politics, created by Ponnamblam's transition to a moderate, opened the field for the Tamil Arasu Kachchi ("Federal party"), a Tamil sovereignty party led by S. J. V. Chelvanaykam who was the lawyer son of a Christian minister.
("general strike") by the Left parties against the UNP. He was followed by John Kotelawala
, a senior politician and an uncle of Dudley Senanayke. Kotelawala did not have the enormous personal prestige or the adroit political acumen of D. S. Senanayake. He brought to the fore the issue of national languages that D. S. Senanayake had adroitly kept on the back burner, antagonising the Tamils and the Sinhalese by stating conflicting policies with regard to the status of Sinhala and Tamil
as official languages. He also antagonized the Buddhist lobby by attacking politically active Buddhist Monks who were Bandaranaike's supporters.
in London were abolished and plantations were nationalised to fulfil the election pledges of the Marxist program and to "prevent the ongoing dis-investment by the owning companies".
drew worldwide attention when it launched an insurrection against the Bandaranaike government in April 1971. Although the insurgents were young, poorly armed, and inadequately trained, they succeeded in seizing and holding major areas in Southern and Central provinces before they were defeated by the security forces. Their attempt to seize power created a major crisis for the government and forced a fundamental reassessment of the nation's security needs.
The movement was started in the late 1960s by Rohana Wijeweera, the son of a businessman from the seaport of Tangalla, Hambantota District. An excellent student, Wijeweera had been forced to give up his studies for financial reasons. Through friends of his father, a member of the Ceylon Communist Party, Wijeweera successfully applied for a scholarship in the Soviet Union, and in 1960 at the age of seventeen, he went to Moscow to study medicine at Patrice Lumumba University.
While in Moscow, he studied Marxist ideology but, because of his openly expressed sympathies for Maoist revolutionary theory, he was denied a visa to return to the Soviet Union after a brief trip home in 1964. Over the next several years, he participated in the pro-Beijing branch of the Ceylon Communist Party, but he was increasingly at odds with party leaders and impatient with its lack of revolutionary purpose. His success in working with youth groups and his popularity as a public speaker led him to organize his own movement in 1967. Initially identified simply as the New Left, this group drew on students and unemployed youths from rural areas, most of them in the sixteen-to-twenty-five-age-group. Many of these new recruits were members of minority so called 'lower' castes (Karava and Durava) who felt that their economic interests had been neglected by the nation's leftist coalitions. The standard program of indoctrination, the so-called Five Lectures, included discussions of Indian imperialism, the growing economic crisis, the failure of the island's communist and socialist parties, and the need for a sudden, violent seizure of power.
Between 1967 and 1970, the group expanded rapidly, gaining control of the student socialist movement at a number of major university campuses and winning recruits and sympathizers within the armed forces. Some of these latter supporters actually provided sketches of police stations, airports, and military facilities that were important to the initial success of the revolt. In order to draw the newer members more tightly into the organization and to prepare them for a coming confrontation, Wijeweera opened "education camps" in several remote areas along the south and southwestern coasts. These camps provided training in Marxism-Leninism and in basic military skills.
While developing secret cells and regional commands, Wijeweera's group also began to take a more public role during the elections of 1970. His cadres campaigned openly for the United Front of Sirimavo R. D. Bandaranaike, but at the same time they distributed posters and pamphlets promising violent rebellion if Bandaranaike did not address the interests of the proletariat. In a manifesto issued during this period, the group used the name Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna for the first time. Because of the subversive tone of these publications, the United National Party government had Wijeweera detained during the elections, but the victorious Bandaranaike ordered his release in July 1970. In the politically tolerant atmosphere of the next few months, as the new government attempted to win over a wide variety of unorthodox leftist groups, the JVP intensified both the public campaign and the private preparations for a revolt. Although their group was relatively small, the members hoped to immobilize the government by selective kidnapping and sudden, simultaneous strikes against the security forces throughout the island. Some of the necessary weapons had been bought with funds supplied by the members. For the most part, however, they relied on raids against police stations and army camps to secure weapons, and they manufactured their own bombs.
The discovery of several JVP bomb factories gave the government its first evidence that the group's public threats were to be taken seriously. In March 1971, after an accidental explosion in one of these factories, the police found fifty-eight bombs in a hut in Nelundeniya, Kegalla District. Shortly afterward, Wijeweera was arrested and sent to Jaffna Prison, where he remained throughout the revolt. In response to his arrest and the growing pressure of police investigations, other JVP leaders decided to act immediately, and they agreed to begin the uprising at 11:00 P.M. on April 5.
The planning for the countrywide insurrection was hasty and poorly coordinated; some of the district leaders were not informed until the morning of the uprising. After one premature attack, security forces throughout the island were put on alert and a number of JVP leaders went into hiding without bothering to inform their subordinates of the changed circumstances. In spite of this confusion, rebel groups armed with shotguns, bombs, and Molotov cocktails launched simultaneous attacks against seventy- four police stations around the island and cut power to major urban areas. The attacks were most successful in the south. By April 10, the rebels had taken control of Matara District and the city of Ambalangoda in Galle District and came close to capturing the remaining areas of Southern Province.
The new government was ill prepared for the crisis that confronted it. Although there had been some warning that an attack was imminent, Bandaranaike was caught off guard by the scale of the uprising and was forced to call on India to provide basic security functions. Indian frigates patrolled the coast and Indian troops guarded Bandaranaike International Airport at Katunayaka while Indian Air Force helicopters assisted the counteroffensive. Sri Lanka's all-volunteer army had no combat experience since World War II and no training in counterinsurgency warfare. Although the police were able to defend some areas unassisted, in many places the government deployed personnel from all three services in a ground force capacity. Royal Ceylon Air Force helicopters delivered relief supplies to beleaguered police stations while combined service patrols drove the insurgents out of urban areas and into the countryside.
After two weeks of fighting, the government regained control of all but a few remote areas. In both human and political terms, the cost of the victory was high: an estimated 10,000 insurgents- -many of them in their teens—died in the conflict, and the army was widely perceived to have used excessive force. In order to win over an alienated population and to prevent a prolonged conflict, Bandaranaike offered amnesties in May and June 1971, and only the top leaders were actually imprisoned. Wijeweera, who was already in detention at the time of the uprising, was given a twenty-year sentence and the JVP was proscribed.
Under the six years of emergency rule that followed the uprising, the JVP remained dormant. After the victory of the United National Party in the 1977 elections, however, the new government attempted to broaden its mandate with a period of political tolerance. Wijeweera was freed, the ban was lifted, and the JVP entered the arena of legal political competition. As a candidate in the 1982 presidential elections, Wijeweera finished fourth, with more than 250,000 votes (as compared with Jayewardene's 3.2 million). During this period, and especially as the Tamil conflict to the north became more intense, there was a marked shift in the ideology and goals of the JVP. Initially Marxist in orientation, and claiming to represent the oppressed of both the Tamil and Sinhalese communities, the group emerged increasingly as a Sinhalese nationalist organization opposing any compromise with the Tamil insurgency. This new orientation became explicit in the anti-Tamil riots of July 1983. Because of its role in inciting violence, the JVP was once again banned and its leadership went underground.
The group's activities intensified in the second half of 1987 in the wake of the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord. The prospect of Tamil autonomy in the north together with the presence of Indian troops stirred up a wave of Sinhalese nationalism and a sudden growth of antigovernment violence. During 1987 a new group emerged that was an offshoot of the JVP—the Patriotic Liberation Organization (Deshapremi Janatha Viyaparaya—DJV). The DJV claimed responsibility for the August 1987 assassination attempts against the president and prime minister. In addition, the group launched a campaign of intimidation against the ruling party, killing more than seventy members of Parliament between July and November.
Along with the group's renewed violence came a renewed fear of infiltration of the armed forces. Following the successful raid of the Pallekelle army camp in May 1987, the government conducted an investigation that resulted in the discharge of thirty-seven soldiers suspected of having links with the JVP. In order to prevent a repetition of the 1971 uprising, the government considered lifting the ban on the JVP in early 1988 and permitting the group to participate again in the political arena. With Wijeweera still underground, however, the JVP had no clear leadership at the time, and it was uncertain whether it had the cohesion to mount any coordinated offensive, either military or political, against the government.
led by Appapillai Amirthalingam
as the official opposition. This created a dangerous ethnic division in Sri Lankan politics.
After coming to power, Jayewardene directed the rewriting of the constitution. The document that was produced, the new Constitution of 1978, drastically altered the nature of governance in Sri Lanka. It replaced the previous Westminster style, parliamentary government with a new presidential system modeled after France, with a powerful chief executive. The president was to be elected by direct suffrage for a six-year term and was empowered to appoint, with parliamentary approval, the prime minister and to preside over cabinet meetings. Jayewardene became the first president under the new Constitution and assumed direct control of the government machinery and party.
The new regime ushered in an era that did not augur well for the SLFP. Jayewardene's UNP government accused former prime minister Bandaranaike of abusing her power while in office from 1970 to 1977. In October 1980, Bandaranaike's privilege to engage in politics was removed for a period of seven years, and the SLFP was forced to seek a new leader. After a long and divisive battle, the party chose her son, Anura. Anura Bandaranaike was soon thrust into the role of the keeper of his father's legacy, but he inherited a political party torn apart by factionalism and reduced to a minimal role in the Parliament.
The 1978 Constitution included substantial concessions to Tamil sensitivities. Although TULF did not participate in framing the Constitution, it continued to sit in Parliament in the hope of negotiating a settlement to the Tamil problem. TULF also agreed to Jayewardene's proposal of an all-party conference to resolve the island's ethnic problems. Jayewardene's UNP offered other concessions in a bid to secure peace. Sinhala remained the official language and the language of administration throughout Sri Lanka, but Tamil was given a new "national language" status. Tamil was to be used in a number of administrative and educational circumstances. Jayewardene also eliminated a major Tamil grievance by abrogating the "standardization" policy of the United Front government, which had made university admission criteria for Tamils more difficult. In addition, he offered many top-level positions, including that of minister of justice, to Tamil civil servants.
While TULF, in conjunction with the UNP, pressed for the allparty conference, the Tamil Tigers escalated their terrorist attacks, which provoked Sinhalese backlash against Tamils and generally precluded any successful accommodation. In reaction to the assassination of a Jaffna police inspector, the Jayewardene government declared an emergency and dispatched troops, who were given an unrealistic six months to eradicate the terrorist threat.
The government passed the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act in 1979. The act was enacted as a temporary measure, but it later became permanent legislation. The International Commission of Jurists, Amnesty International, and other human rights organizations condemned the act as being incompatible with democratic traditions. Despite the act, the number of terrorist acts increased. Guerrillas began to hit targets of high symbolic value such as post offices and police outposts, provoking government counterattacks. As an increasing number of civilians were caught in the fighting, Tamil support widened for the "boys", as the guerrillas began to be called. Other large, well-armed groups began to compete with LTTE. The better-known included the People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam, Tamil Eelam Liberation Army, and the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization. Each of these groups had forces measured in the hundreds if not thousands. The government claimed that many of the terrorists were operating from training camps in India's Tamil Nadu State. The Indian government repeatedly denied this claim. With the level of violence mounting, the possibility of negotiation became increasingly distant.
In elections held on 17 November 2005 Mahinda Rajapakse, the son of Don Alwin Rajapaksa, was elected President after defeating Ratnasiri Wickremanayake
. He appointed Wickremanayake as Prime Minister and Mangala Samaraweera
as Foreign Minister. Negotiations with the LTTE stalled and a low-intensity conflict began. The violence dropped off after talks in February but escalated again in April and the conflict continued until the military defeat of the LTTE in May 2009.
On 22 May 2009 the Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa
confirmed that 6,261 personnel of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces had lost their lives and 29,551 were wounded during the Eelam War IV
since July 2006. Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara
added that approximately 22,000 LTTE fighters had died during this time.
Dipavamsa
The Dipavamsa, or "Deepavamsa", is the oldest historical record of Sri Lanka.It means Chronicle of the Island. The chronicle is believe to be compiled from Atthakatha and other sources around the 3-4th century. Together with Mahavamsa, it is the source of many accounts of ancient history of Sri...
, the Culavamsa
Culavamsa
The Cūḷavaṃsa, also Chulavamsa, is a historical record, written in the Pāli language, of the kings of Sri Lanka. It covers the period from the 4th century to 1815....
and the Rajaveliya, record events from the beginnings of the Sinhalese
Sinhalese people
The Sinhalese are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group,forming the majority of Sri Lanka,constituting 74% of the Sri Lankan population.They number approximately 15 million worldwide.The Sinhalese identity is based on language, heritage and religion. The Sinhalese speak Sinhala, an Indo-Aryan language and the...
monarchy in the 6th century BC; through the arrival of European Colonialists
Colonial history of Sri Lanka
The Colonial history of Sri Lanka is dated from the start of the Portuguese period in Ceylon, in 1505, until the end of the independence of Sri Lanka in 1948.-Portuguese era:...
in the 16th century; and to the disestablishment
Kandyan Convention
The Kandyan Convention was an agreement in 1815 between the British and the Chiefs of the Kandyan Kingdom, in Sri Lanka for the deposition of rule King Sri Vikrama Rajasinha. The king who was of Telugu ancestry faced powerful opposition from the Sinhalese chieftains who sought to reduce his power...
of the monarchy in 1815. Some mentions of the country are found in the Ramayana
Ramayana
The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
, the Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
and the books of Gautama Buddha
Gautama Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...
's teachings. Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
was introduced in the 3rd century BC by Arhath Mahinda
Mahinda
Mahinda was a Buddhist monk depicted in Buddhist sources as bringing Buddhism to Sri Lanka. He was the son of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka.- Historical Sources :...
(son of the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great).
From the 16th century some coastal areas of the country were ruled by the Portuguese
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...
, Dutch
Dutch Empire
The Dutch Empire consisted of the overseas territories controlled by the Dutch Republic and later, the modern Netherlands from the 17th to the 20th century. The Dutch followed Portugal and Spain in establishing an overseas colonial empire, but based on military conquest of already-existing...
and British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
. Sri Lanka was ruled by 181 kings from the Anuradhapura to Kandy periods.
After 1815 the entire nation was under British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
colonial rule and armed uprisings against the British took place in the 1818 Uva Rebellion
Uva Rebellion
The Great Rebellion of 1817-1818, also known as the 1818 Uva-Wellassa Uprising, , or simply the Uva Rebellion was the third Kandyan War with the British, in what is now Sri Lanka...
and the 1848 Matale Rebellion
Matale Rebellion
The Matale Rebellion, also known as the Rebellion of 1848 took place in Ceylon against the British colonial government under Governor Lord Torrington, 7th Viscount Torrington. It marked a transition from the classic feudal form of anti-colonial revolt to modern independence struggles...
. Independence was finally granted in 1948 but remained as a Dominion of the British Empire.
Later Sri Lanka was granted the status of a Republic in 1972. A constitution
Constitution of Sri Lanka
The Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka has been the constitution of the island nation of Sri Lanka since its original promulgation by the National State Assembly on 7 September 1978. It is Sri Lanka's second republican constitution, and its third constitution since the...
was introduced in 1978 which made the Executive President
President of Sri Lanka
The President of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the elected head of state and the head of government. The President is a dominant political figure in Sri Lanka. The office was created in 1978 but has grown so powerful there have been calls to restrict or even eliminate its power...
the head of state. The Sri Lankan Civil War
Sri Lankan civil war
The Sri Lankan Civil War was a conflict fought on the island of Sri Lanka. Beginning on July 23, 1983, there was an on-and-off insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam , a separatist militant organization which fought to create an independent Tamil state named Tamil...
began in 1983, including an armed youth uprising in 1987–1989, with the 26 year-long civil war ending in 2009.
Prehistoric era of Sri Lanka
The earliest archaeological evidence of human colonization in Sri Lanka appears at the site of Balangoda. Balangoda Man arrived on the island about 34,000 years ago and have been identified as MesolithicMesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
hunter gatherers who lived in caves. Several of these caves, including the well known Batadombalena
Batadombalena
Batadombalena is an archaeological site with evidence of habitation from 8,000 BCE, Balangoda Man, located 85 km from Colombo in Sri Lanka, a two hour drive from Colombo....
and the Fa-Hien Rock cave, have yielded many artifacts from these people who are currently the first known inhabitants of the island.
Balangoda Man probably created Horton Plains
Horton Plains National Park
Horton Plains National Park is a protected area in the central highlands of Sri Lanka and is covered by montane grassland and cloud forest. This plateau at an altitude of is rich in biodiversity and many species found here are endemic to the region. This region was designated a national park in...
, in the central hills, by burning the trees in order to catch game. However, the discovery of oats
OATS
OATS - Open Source Assistive Technology Software - is a source code repository or "forge" for assistive technology software. It was launched in 2006 with the goal to provide a one-stop “shop” for end users, clinicians and open-source developers to promote and develop open source assistive...
and barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
on the plains at about 15,000 BC suggests that agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
had already developed at this early date.
Several minute granite tools (about 4 centimetres in length), earthenware, remnants of charred timber, and clay burial pots date to the Mesolithic
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
stone age. Human remains dating to 6000 BC have been discovered during recent excavations around a cave at Varana Raja Maha vihara and in the Kalatuwawa area.
Cinnamon
Cinnamon
Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savoury foods...
is native to Sri Lanka and has been found in Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
as early as 1500 BC, suggesting early trade between Egypt and the island's inhabitants. It is possible that Biblical Tarshish
Tarshish
Tarshish תַּרְשִׁישׁ occurs in the Hebrew Bible with several uncertain meanings:*One of the sons of Javan .* In the Bible Solomon set up a trade with Tarshish and received ivory, apes, and peacocks from Tarshish which are all native to the jungles in India. India's state bird for example is the...
was located on the island. James Emerson Tennent
James Emerson Tennent
Sir James Emerson Tennent, 1st Baronet FRS , born James Emerson, was an Irish politician and traveller. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on 5 June 1862....
identified Sri Lanka with Galle
Galle
Galle is a city situated on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, 119 km from Colombo. Galle is the capital city of Southern Province of Sri Lanka and it lies in Galle District....
.
The protohistoric Early Iron Age appears to have established itself in South India by at least as early as 1200 BC, if not earlier (Possehl 1990; Deraniyagala 1992:734). The earliest manifestation of this in Sri Lanka is radiocarbon-dated to c. 1000-800 BC at Anuradhapura and Aligala shelter in Sigiriya (Deraniyagala 1992:709-29; Karunaratne and Adikari 1994:58; Mogren 1994:39; with the Anuradhapura dating corroborated by Coningham 1999). It is very likely that further investigations will push back the Sri Lankan lower boundary to match that of South India.
Archaeological evidence for the beginnings of the Iron age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
in Sri Lanka is found at Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura, , is one of the ancient capitals of Sri Lanka, famous for its well-preserved ruins of ancient Lankan civilization.The city, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies 205 km north of the current capital Colombo in Sri Lanka's North Central Province, on the banks of the historic...
, where a large city–settlement was founded before 900 BC. The settlement was about 15 hectares in 900 BC, but by 700 BC it had expanded to 50 hectares. A similar site from the same period has also been discovered near Aligala in Sigiriya
Sigiriya
Sigiriya is a large stone and ancient rock fortress and palace ruin in the central Matale District of Sri Lanka, surrounded by the remains of an extensive network of gardens, reservoirs, and other structures...
.
The hunter-gatherer people known as the Wanniyala-Aetto or Veddas, who still live in the central, Uva and north-eastern parts of the island, are probably direct descendants of the first inhabitants, Balangoda man. They may have migrated to the island from the mainland around the time humans spread from Africa to the Indian subcontinent.
Around 500 BC Sri Lankans developed a unique hydraulic civilization. Achievements include the construction of the largest reservoirs and dams of the ancient world as well as enormous pyramid-like Stupa
Stupa
A stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, typically the remains of Buddha, used by Buddhists as a place of worship....
(Dagoba
Dagoba
Dagoba may refer to:*Dagoba, the French metal band.* Dagoba Chocolate, a brand of organic chocolate.*Dagobah, the fictional planet from the Star Wars universeor*Stupa, the Buddhist building style....
) architecture. This phase of Sri Lankan culture was profoundly influenced by early Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
.
Buddhist scriptures note three visits by the Buddha to the island to see the Naga Kings, who are said to be snakes that can take the form of a human at will. The kings are thought to be symbolic and not based on historical fact.
The earliest surviving chronicles from the island, the Dipavamsa
Dipavamsa
The Dipavamsa, or "Deepavamsa", is the oldest historical record of Sri Lanka.It means Chronicle of the Island. The chronicle is believe to be compiled from Atthakatha and other sources around the 3-4th century. Together with Mahavamsa, it is the source of many accounts of ancient history of Sri...
and the Mahavamsa
Mahavamsa
The Mahavamsa is a historical poem written in the Pali language, of the kings of Sri Lanka...
, say that tribes of Yakkhas (demon worshippers), Nagas
Naga people of Sri Lanka
The Nāka people were the aboriginal inhabitants of Sri Lanka who ruled Nagadeepa or Nāka Nadu - the coastal districts of mostly Western and Northern Ceylon, particularly the Jaffna peninsula from the 6th century BCE to 3rd century CE...
(cobra worshippers) and Devas
Deva people of Sri Lanka
The Dewa are a mythical people of Sri Lanka according to the Sanskrit epics.According to the Mahavamsa and Ramayana they lived among the Naga, Yakkha and Raskha.They ousted their arch enemies the Raskha from Sri Lanka, with the help of Lord Vishnu....
(god worshippers) inhabited the island prior to the migration of Vijaya.
Pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
has been found at Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura, , is one of the ancient capitals of Sri Lanka, famous for its well-preserved ruins of ancient Lankan civilization.The city, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies 205 km north of the current capital Colombo in Sri Lanka's North Central Province, on the banks of the historic...
bearing Brahmi
Brāhmī script
Brāhmī is the modern name given to the oldest members of the Brahmic family of scripts. The best-known Brāhmī inscriptions are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka in north-central India, dated to the 3rd century BCE. These are traditionally considered to be early known examples of Brāhmī writing...
script and non-Brahmi writing and date back to 600 BC – one of the oldest examples of the script.
Landing of Vijaya
The Pali chronicles, the DipavamsaDipavamsa
The Dipavamsa, or "Deepavamsa", is the oldest historical record of Sri Lanka.It means Chronicle of the Island. The chronicle is believe to be compiled from Atthakatha and other sources around the 3-4th century. Together with Mahavamsa, it is the source of many accounts of ancient history of Sri...
, Mahavamsa
Mahavamsa
The Mahavamsa is a historical poem written in the Pali language, of the kings of Sri Lanka...
, Thupavamsa and the Chulavamsa, as well as a large collection of stone inscriptions, the Indian Epigraphical records, the Burmese versions of the chronicles etc., provide an exceptional record for the history of Sri Lanka from about the 6th century B.C.
The Mahavamsa, written around 400 AD by the monk Nagasena
Nagasena
Nāgasena was a Brahmin who became a Buddhist sage lived about 150 BCE. His answers to questions about Buddhism posed by Menander I , the Indo-Greek king of northwestern India , are recorded in the Milinda Pañha....
, using the Deepavamsa, the Attakatha and other written sources available to him, correlates well with Indian histories of the period. Indeed Emperor Ashoka
Ashoka
Ashok Maurya or Ashoka , popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from ca. 269 BC to 232 BC. One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over most of present-day India after a number of military conquests...
's reign is recorded in the Mahavamsa. The Mahavamsa account of the period prior to Asoka's coronation, 218 years after the Buddha's death, seems to be part legend. Proper historical records begin with the arrival of Vijaya and his 700 followers. Vijaya was a Vangan (now Bengal, India) prince, the eldest son of King Sinhabahu ("Man with Lion arms") and his sister Queen Sinhasivali who had their capital at Singhapura (now Singur
Singur
Singur is a census town in Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Singur railway station is 34 km from Howrah Station on the Howrah-Tarakeswar line. It is 2 km ahead of Kamarkundu junction, the crossing point of Howrah-Bardhaman chord and Howrah-Tarakeshwar lines. It is on...
in West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
, India). Both these Sinhala leaders were supposedly born of a mythical union between a lion and a human princess. The Mahavamsa claims that Vijaya landed on the same day as the death of the Buddha. The story of Vijaya and Kuveni (the local reigning queen) is reminiscent of Greek legend and may have a common source in ancient Proto-Indo-European folk tales.
According to the Mahavamsa, Vijaya landed on Sri Lanka near Mahathitha (Manthota or Mannar
Mannar, Sri Lanka
Mannar , formerly spelled Manar, is the capital of Mannar District, Sri Lanka. It is located on Mannar Island.Mannar is known for its baobab trees and for its fort, built by the Portuguese in 1560 and taken by the Dutch in 1658 and rebuilt; its ramparts and bastions are intact, though the interior...
), and named on the island of Thambaparni ("copper-colored palms"). This name is attested to in Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
's map of the ancient world. The Mahavamsa also describes the Buddha visiting Sri Lanka three times. Firstly, to stop a war between a Naga king and his son in law who were fighting over a ruby chair. It is said that on his last visit he left his foot mark on Siripada ("Adam's Peak").
Tamirabharani is the old name for the second longest river in Sri Lanka (known as Malwatu Oya in Sinhala and Aruvi Aru in Tamil). This river was a main supply route connecting the capital, Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura, , is one of the ancient capitals of Sri Lanka, famous for its well-preserved ruins of ancient Lankan civilization.The city, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies 205 km north of the current capital Colombo in Sri Lanka's North Central Province, on the banks of the historic...
, to Mahathitha (now Mannar
Mannar, Sri Lanka
Mannar , formerly spelled Manar, is the capital of Mannar District, Sri Lanka. It is located on Mannar Island.Mannar is known for its baobab trees and for its fort, built by the Portuguese in 1560 and taken by the Dutch in 1658 and rebuilt; its ramparts and bastions are intact, though the interior...
). The waterway was used by Greek and Chinese ships travelling the southern Silk Route.
Mahathitha was an ancient port linking Sri Lanka to India and the Persian gulf.
The present day Sinhalese are a mixture of the indigenous people and of other peoples who came to the island from various parts of India. The Sinhalese recognize the Vijayan Indo-Aryan culture and Buddhism (already in existence prior to the arrival of Vijaya), as distinct from other groups in neighboring south India.(Relating tamil as a mixture of other is stupdity
Anuradhapura Kingdom
In the early ages of the Anuradhapura KingdomAnuradhapura Kingdom
The Anuradhapura Kingdom , named for its capital city, was the first established kingdom in ancient Sri Lanka. Founded by King Pandukabhaya in 377 BC, the kingdom's authority extended throughout the country, although several independent areas emerged from time to time, which grew more numerous...
the Sinhalese economy was based on farming and they made their early settlements mainly near the rivers of the east, north central, and north east areas which had the water necessary for farming the whole year round. The king was the ruler of country and responsible for the law, the army, and being the protector of faith. Devanampiya Tissa (250-210 BC) was Sinhalese King of the Maurya clan. His links with Emperor Asoka led to the introduction of Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
by Mahinda
Mahinda
Mahinda was a Buddhist monk depicted in Buddhist sources as bringing Buddhism to Sri Lanka. He was the son of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka.- Historical Sources :...
(son of Asoka) around 247 BC. Sangamitta (sister of Mahinda) brought a Bodhi
Bodhi
Bodhi is both a Pāli and Sanskrit word traditionally translated into English with the word "enlightenment", but which means awakened. In Buddhism it is the knowledge possessed by a Buddha into the nature of things...
sapling via Jambukola (Sambiliturei). This king's reign was crucial to Theravada Buddhism and for Sri Lanka.
Elara (205-161 BC) was a Tamil King who ruled "Pihiti Rata" (Sri Lanka north of the mahaweli) after killing King Asela. During Elara's time Kelani Tissa was a sub-king of Maya Rata
Maya Rata
The Maya Rata, also known as the Kingdom of Kelaniya, was a medieval era Sinhalese kingdom located in Western part of Sri Lanka. The capital was known as Kelaniya. The boundaries of the Kingdom of Maya Rata are Deduru Oya River from North, and Kalu River River from South.-See also:* History of Sri...
(in the south-west) and Kavan Tissa was a regional sub-king of Ruhuna
Ruhuna
Ruhuna is a region of southern Sri Lanka. It was the centre of a flourishing civilization and the cultural and economic centres of ancient Sri Lanka, Magama, Tissamaharama and Mahanagakula , were established here....
(in the south-east). Kavan Tissa built Tissa Maha Vihara, Dighavapi Tank and many shrines in Seruvila. Dutugemunu (161-137 BC), the eldest son of King Kavan Tissa, at 25 years of age defeated the South Indian Tamil Invader Elara (over 64 years of age) in single combat, described in the Mahavamsa
Mahavamsa
The Mahavamsa is a historical poem written in the Pali language, of the kings of Sri Lanka...
. Dutugemunu is depicted as a Sinhala "Asoka". The Ruwanwelisaya
Ruwanwelisaya
The Ruwanwelisaya is a stupa in Sri Lanka, considered a marvel for its architectural qualities and sacred to many Buddhists all over the world. It was built by King Dutugemunu, who became lord of all Sri Lanka after a war in which the Chola King Elara, was defeated...
, built by Dutugemunu, is a dagaba of pyramid-like proportions and was considered an engineering marvel.
Pulahatta (or Pulahatha), the first of the five Dravidians
The Five Dravidians
The Five Dravidian were five Tamil Chiefs apparently from the Pandyan Dynasty who ruled the Anuradhapura Kingdom for 14 years from 103 BC to 88 BC.-Background:...
, was deposed by Bahiya. He in turn was deposed by Panaya Mara who was deposed by Pilaya Mara, murdered by Dathika in 88 BC. Mara was deposed by Valagambahu I (89-77 BC) which ended Tamil rule and restored the Dutugamunu dynasty. The Mahavihara Theravada
Theravada
Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...
Abhayagiri ("pro-Mahayana
Mahayana
Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...
") doctrinal disputes arose at this time. The Tripitaka
Tripiṭaka
' is a traditional term used by various Buddhist sects to describe their various canons of scriptures. As the name suggests, a traditionally contains three "baskets" of teachings: a , a and an .-The three categories:Tripitaka is the three main categories of texts that make up the...
was written in Pali
Páli
- External links :* *...
at Aluvihara, Matale
Matale
Matale is a town in the hill country of Sri Lanka, from Colombo and from Kandy. It is an area steeped in history and village living. The mayor of Matale is Hilmy Careem, as of May, 2006....
. Chora Naga (63-51 BC), a Mahanagan, was poisoned by his consort Anula who became queen. Queen Anula
Queen Anula
Queen Anula was the first queen in Sri Lankan history to have wielded meaningful power and authority. As well as that she was the first female head of state in Asia...
(48-44 BC), the widow of Chora Naga and of Kuda Tissa, was the first Queen of Lanka. She had many lovers who were poisoned by her and was killed by Kuttakanna Tissa. Vasabha
Vasabha of Sri Lanka
Vasabha was a monarch of the Anuradhapura period of Sri Lanka. He is considered to be the pioneer of the construction of large-scale irrigation works in Sri Lanka to support paddy cultivation. 11 reservoirs and 12 canals were constructed during his reign. He also constructed several Buddhist...
(67-111 AD), named on the Vallipuram
Vallipuram
Vallipuram was an ancient capital of Northern Kingdoms of Sri Lanka. Point Pedro is the nearest town. Vallipuram is a part of Thunnalai.This place is settled by migrants from a town called Vallipuram near Namakkal which is near Coimbatore. Naga names are found in India. Nagpur, Nagar Kovil,...
gold plate, fortified Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura, , is one of the ancient capitals of Sri Lanka, famous for its well-preserved ruins of ancient Lankan civilization.The city, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies 205 km north of the current capital Colombo in Sri Lanka's North Central Province, on the banks of the historic...
and built eleven tanks as well as pronouncing many edicts. Gajabahu I (114-136) invaded the Chola kingdom
Chola Kingdom
Chola was a powerful southern kingdom. They were mentioned in both great epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. They were believed to have some link with the Sivi or Sibi clan, situated along with the Sindhu Sauviras. In the time of recorded history, Chola kingdom grew into a powerful empire...
and brought back captives as well as recovering the relic of the tooth of the Buddha
Relic of the tooth of the Buddha
The Sacred Relic of the tooth of Buddha is venerated in Sri Lanka as a relic of the founder of Buddhism.-The relic in India:...
.
There was a huge Roman trade
Roman trade with India
Roman trade with India through the overland caravan routes via Anatolia and Persia, though at a relative trickle compared to later times, antedated the southern trade route via the Red Sea and monsoons which started around the beginning of the Common Era following the reign of Augustus and his...
with the ancient Tamil country
Ancient Tamil country
The Sangam period is the classical period in the history of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and other parts of South India, spanning about the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE...
(present day Southern India) and Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, establishing trading settlements which remained long after the fall of the Western Roman empire
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....
.
During the reign of Mahasena
Mahasena of Sri Lanka
Mahasen, also known in some records as Mahasena, was a king of Sri Lanka who ruled the country from 275 to 301 AD. He started the construction of large tanks or reservoirs in Sri Lanka, and built sixteen such tanks...
(274-301) the Theravada
Theravada
Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...
(Maha Vihara) was persecuted and the Mahayana
Mahayana
Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...
n branch of Buddhism surfaced. Later the King returned to the Maha Vihara. Pandu (429) was the first of seven Pandiyan rulers, ending with Pithya in 455. Dhatusena
Dhatusena of Sri Lanka
Dhatusena was a king of Sri Lanka who ruled from 455 to 473. He was the first king of the royal Moriyan dynasty of Sri Lanka. In some records, he is also identified as Dasenkeli. Dhatusena reunited the country under his rule after twenty six years, defeating the South Indian invaders that were...
(459-477) "Kalaweva" and his son Kashyapa
Kashyapa I of Sri Lanka
Kashyapa I, also known as Kassapa I, was a king of Sri Lanka, who ruled the country from 473 to 495 CE. He was the second king of the royal Moriyan dynasty of Sri Lanka. Kashyapa is credited with the construction of the Sigiriya citadel and the surrounding city...
(477-495), built the famous sigiriya
Sigiriya
Sigiriya is a large stone and ancient rock fortress and palace ruin in the central Matale District of Sri Lanka, surrounded by the remains of an extensive network of gardens, reservoirs, and other structures...
rock palace where some 700 rock graffiti give a glimpse of ancient Sinhala.
Kingdom of Ruhuna
The Kingdom of Ruhuna became the major kingdom on the island after a South Indian invasion by Rajaraja I of the Chola kingdomChola Kingdom
Chola was a powerful southern kingdom. They were mentioned in both great epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. They were believed to have some link with the Sivi or Sibi clan, situated along with the Sindhu Sauviras. In the time of recorded history, Chola kingdom grew into a powerful empire...
.
Kingdom of Polonnaruwa
The Kingdom of Polonnaruwa was the second major SinhaleseSinhalese people
The Sinhalese are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group,forming the majority of Sri Lanka,constituting 74% of the Sri Lankan population.They number approximately 15 million worldwide.The Sinhalese identity is based on language, heritage and religion. The Sinhalese speak Sinhala, an Indo-Aryan language and the...
kingdom of Sri Lanka. It lasted from 1055 under Vijayabahu I
Vijayabahu I
Vijayabahu I was a medieval king of Sri Lanka. Born to a royal bloodline, he grew up at a time which parts of the country were ruled by the invaders from the Chola dynasty of India. He assumed rulership of the Ruhuna principality in the southern parts of the country in 1055...
to 1212 under the rule of Lilavati. The Kingdom of Polonnaruwa came into being after the Anuradhapura Kingdom
Anuradhapura Kingdom
The Anuradhapura Kingdom , named for its capital city, was the first established kingdom in ancient Sri Lanka. Founded by King Pandukabhaya in 377 BC, the kingdom's authority extended throughout the country, although several independent areas emerged from time to time, which grew more numerous...
was invaded by Chola forces under Rajaraja I and led to formation of the Kingdom of Ruhuna
Kingdom of Ruhuna
The Kingdom of Ruhuna was a medieval era Sinhala kingdom located in the south of Sri Lanka. The capital was known as Magama, near between modern Ambalantota and Tissamaharama in the Southern Province...
, where the Sinhalese Kings ruled during Chola occupation.
Portuguese era
The first Europeans to visit Sri Lanka in modern times were the PortuguesePortugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
: Lourenço de Almeida
Lourenço de Almeida
Lourenço de Almeida , son of Francisco de Almeida, acting under him, distinguished himself in the Indian Ocean, and made Ceylon tributary to Portugal...
arrived in 1505 and found that the island was divided into seven warring kingdoms and unable to fend off intruders. The Portuguese founded a fort at the port city of Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
in 1517 and gradually extended their control over the coastal areas. In 1592 the Sinhalese moved their capital to the inland city of Kandy
Kandy
Kandy is a city in the center of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau, which crosses an area of tropical plantations, mainly tea. Kandy is one of the most scenic cities in Sri Lanka; it is both an...
, a location more secure against attack from invaders. Intermittent warfare continued through the 16th century.
Many lowland Sinhalese were forced to convert to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
while the coastal Moors
Sri Lankan Moors
The Sri Lankan Moors are the third largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka comprising 8% of the country's total population . They are predominantly followers of Islam. The Moors trace their ancestry to Arab traders who settled in Sri Lanka some time between the 8th and 15th centuries...
were religiously persecuted and forced to retreat to the Central highlands. The Buddhist majority disliked the Portuguese occupation and its influences, welcoming any power who might rescue them. When the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
captain Joris van Spilbergen
Joris van Spilbergen
Joris van Spilbergen was a Dutch naval officer of the 17th century.His first major expedition was in 1596, when he sailed to Africa....
landed in 1602 the king of Kandy appealed to him for help.
Dutch era
Rajasinghe II, the king of Kandy, made a treaty with the Dutch in 1638 to get rid of the Portuguese who ruled most of the coastal area of the island. The main conditions of the treaty were that the Dutch should handover the coastal areas they capture to the Kandyan king and the king should grant the Dutch a monopoly over trade on the entire island. The agreement was disrespected by both parties. By 1660 the Dutch controlled the whole island except the kingdom of Kandy and it was not until 1656 that Colombo fell. The Dutch (Protestants) persecuted the Catholics and the remaining Portuguese settlers left the Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims alone. They taxed the people far more heavily than the Portuguese had done. A mixed Dutch-Sinhalese people known as Burgher peopleBurgher people
The Burghers are a Eurasian ethnic group, historically from Sri Lanka, consisting for the most part of male-line descendants of European colonists from the 16th to 20th centuries and local women, with some minorities of Swedish, Norwegian, French and Irish.Today the mother tongue of the Burghers...
s are the legacy of Dutch rule.
In 1659 the British sea captain Robert Knox
Robert Knox (sailor)
Robert Knox was an English sea captain in the service of the British East India Company. He was the son of another sea captain, also called Robert Knox....
landed by chance on Sri Lanka and was captured by the king of Kandy, along with sixteen sailors. He and another sailor escaped 19 years later and he wrote an account of his stay. This helped to bring the island to the attention of the British.
British rule
During the Napoleonic WarsNapoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
Great Britain, fearing that French control of the Netherlands might deliver Sri Lanka to the French, occupied the coastal areas of the island (which they called
Geographical renaming
Geographical renaming is the changing of the name of a geographical feature or area. This can range from the uncontroversial change of a street name to a highly disputed change to the name of a country. Some names are changed locally but the new names are not recognised by other countries,...
Ceylon) with little difficulty in 1796. In 1802 the Treaty of Amiens
Treaty of Amiens
The Treaty of Amiens temporarily ended hostilities between the French Republic and the United Kingdom during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was signed in the city of Amiens on 25 March 1802 , by Joseph Bonaparte and the Marquess Cornwallis as a "Definitive Treaty of Peace"...
formally ceded the Dutch part of the island to Britain and it became a crown colony. In 1803 the British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
invaded the Kingdom of Kandy in the first Kandyan War
Kandian Wars
The Kandyan Wars refers generally to the period of warfare between the British colonial forces and the Kingdom of Kandy, on the island of what is now present day Sri Lanka, between 1796 and 1818...
, but were repulsed. In 1815 Kandy was occupied in the second Kandyan War, finally ending Sri Lankan independence.
Following the suppression of the Uva Rebellion
Uva Rebellion
The Great Rebellion of 1817-1818, also known as the 1818 Uva-Wellassa Uprising, , or simply the Uva Rebellion was the third Kandyan War with the British, in what is now Sri Lanka...
the Kandyan peasantry were stripped of their lands by the Wastelands Ordinance
Wastelands Ordinance
The Cultivation of Wastelands Ordinance, also known as a Wastelands Ordinance, is an ordinance that presumes that, in a given area, there exists the problem referred to as a tragedy of the commons...
, a modern enclosure
Enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
movement, and reduced to penury. The British found that the uplands of Sri Lanka were very suitable for coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
, tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
and rubber
Rubber
Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...
cultivation. By the mid 19th century Ceylon tea had become a staple of the British market bringing great wealth to a small number of white tea planters. The planters imported large numbers of Tamil workers as indentured labourers from south India to work the estates, who soon made up 10% of the island's population. These workers had to work in slave-like conditions living in line rooms, not very different from cattle sheds. This also created the preconditions for the modern problems surrounding the Tamil Tigers and their quest for autonomy.
The British colonialists favoured the semi-European Burghers, certain high-caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
Sinhalese and the Tamils who were mainly concentrated to the north of the country, which exacerbated divisions and enmities which have survived ever since. Nevertheless, the British also introduced democratic elements to Sri Lanka for the first time in its history and the Burghers were given degree of self-government as early as 1833. It was not until 1909 that constitutional development began, with a partly elected assembly, and not until 1920 that elected members outnumbered official appointees. Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...
was introduced in 1931 over the protests of the Sinhalese, Tamil and Burgher elite who objected to the common people being allowed to vote.
Independence movement
Ceylon National Congress (CNC) was founded to agitate for greater autonomy, although the party was soon split along ethnic and caste lines. Historian K. M. de Silva has stated that the refusal of the Ceylon Tamils to accept minority status is one of the main causes of the break up of the Ceylon National congress. The CNC did not seek independence (or "Swaraj"). What may be called the independence movement broke into two streams: the "constitutionalists", who sought independence by gradual modification of the status of Ceylon; and the more radical groups associated with the Colombo Youth League, Labour movement of Goonasinghe, and the Jaffna Youth Congress. These organizations were the first to raise the cry of "Swaraj" ("outright independence") following the Indian example when Nehru, Sarojini Naidu and other Indian leaders visited Ceylon in 1926. The efforts of the constitutionalists led to the arrival of the Donoughmore CommissionDonoughmore Commission
The Donoughmore Commission was responsible for the creation of the Donoughmore Constitution in effect between 1931–47 in Ceylon...
reforms in 1931 and the Soulbury Commission
Soulbury Commission
The Soulbury Commission, announced in 1944 was, like its predecessor, the Donoughmore Commission, a prime instrument of constitutional reform in Sri Lanka. The immediate basis for the appointment of a commission for constitutional reforms was the 1944 draft constitution of the Board of Ministers,...
recommendations, which essentially upheld the 1944 draft constitution of the Board of ministers headed by D. S. Senanayake. The Marxist Lanka Sama Samaja Party
Lanka Sama Samaja Party
The Lanka Sama Samaja Party is a Trotskyist political party in Sri Lanka....
(LSSP), which grew out of the Youth Leagues in 1935, made the demand for outright independence a cornerstone of their policy. Its deputies in the State Council, N.M. Perera and Philip Gunawardena
Philip Gunawardena
Don Philip Rupasinghe Gunawardena introduced Trotskyism to Sri Lanka, where he is a national hero, known as 'the Father of Socialism' and as 'the Lion of Boralugoda'.-Early life & education:...
, were aided in this struggle by other less radical members like Colvin R. De Silva
Colvin R. de Silva
Colvin R. de Silva was a former Cabinet Minister of Plantation Industries and Constitutional Affairs, prominent member of parliament, Trotskyist leader and lawyer in Sri Lanka. He was one of the founders of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party – the first Marxist party in Sri Lanka.-Personal...
, Leslie Goonewardena, Vivienne Goonewardena
Vivienne Goonewardena
Violet Vivienne Goonewardena was a Sri Lankan pioneer socialist and feminist. Her life and politics were shaped by the most interesting times of the Sri Lankan Left and she was in turn one of its more colourful personalities.-Political beginnings:Goonewardena was drawn into politics while still...
, Edmund Samarkody, Natesa Iyer and Don Alwin Rajapaksa. They also demanded the replacement of English as the official language by Sinhala and Tamil. The Marxist groups were a tiny minority and yet their movement was viewed with great interest by the British administration. The heroic but ineffective attempts to rouse the public against the British Raj in revolt would have led to certain bloodshed and a delay in independence. British state papers released in the 1950s show that the Marxist movement had a very negative impact on the policy makers at the Colonial office.
The Soulbury Commission
Soulbury Commission
The Soulbury Commission, announced in 1944 was, like its predecessor, the Donoughmore Commission, a prime instrument of constitutional reform in Sri Lanka. The immediate basis for the appointment of a commission for constitutional reforms was the 1944 draft constitution of the Board of Ministers,...
was the most important result of the agitation for constitutional reform in the 1930s. The Tamil organization was by then led by G. G. Ponnambalam
G. G. Ponnambalam
Ganapathipillai Gangaser Ponnambalam , known as G.G. Ponnambalam, was a Sri Lankan Tamil politician in British Ceylon, and then after independence, in Ceylon. He founded the first Sri Lankan Tamil political party, the All Ceylon Tamil Congress. Ponnambalam stood for the principle of minority...
, who had rejected the "Ceylonese identity". Ponnamblam had declared himself a "proud Dravidian" and proclaimed an independent identity for the Tamils. He attacked the Sinhalese and criticized their historical chronicle known as the Mahavamsa
Mahavamsa
The Mahavamsa is a historical poem written in the Pali language, of the kings of Sri Lanka...
. One such conflict in Navalapitiya led to the first Sinhala-Tamil riot in 1939. Ponnambalam opposed universal franchise, supported the caste system, and claimed that the protection of Tamil rights requires the Tamils (15% of the population in 1931) having an equal number of seats in parliament to that of the Sinhalese (~72% of the population). This "50-50" or "balanced representation" policy became the hall mark of Tamil politics of the time. Ponnambalam also accused the British of having established colonization in "traditional Tamil areas", and having favoured the Buddhists by the buddhist temporalities act. The Soulbury Commission
Soulbury Commission
The Soulbury Commission, announced in 1944 was, like its predecessor, the Donoughmore Commission, a prime instrument of constitutional reform in Sri Lanka. The immediate basis for the appointment of a commission for constitutional reforms was the 1944 draft constitution of the Board of Ministers,...
rejected the submissions by Ponnambalam and even criticized what they described as their unacceptable communal character. Sinhalese writers pointed to the large immigration of Tamils to the southern urban centers, especially after the opening of the Jaffna-Colombo railway. Meanwhile Senanayake, Baron Jayatilleke, Oliver Gunatilleke and others lobbied the Soulbury Commission
Soulbury Commission
The Soulbury Commission, announced in 1944 was, like its predecessor, the Donoughmore Commission, a prime instrument of constitutional reform in Sri Lanka. The immediate basis for the appointment of a commission for constitutional reforms was the 1944 draft constitution of the Board of Ministers,...
without confronting them officially. The unofficial submissions contained what was to later become the draft constitution of 1944.
The close collaboration of the D. S. Senanayake government with the war-time British administration led to the support of Lord Louis Mountbatten
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
. His dispatches and a telegram to the Colonial office supporting Independence for Ceylon have been cited by historians as having helped the Senanayake government to secure the independence of Sri Lanka. The shrewd cooperation with the British as well as diverting the needs of the war market to Ceylonese markets as a supply point, managed by Oliver Goonatilleke, also led to a very favourable fiscal situation for the newly independent government.
Second World War
Sri Lanka was a front-line British base against the Japanese during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Sri Lankan opposition to the war led by the Marxist organizations and the leaders of the LSSP pro-independence group were arrested by the Colonial authorities. On 5 April 1942 the Indian Ocean raid saw the Japanese Navy
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
bomb Colombo. The Japanese attack led to the flight of Indian merchants, dominant in the Colombo commercial sector, which removed a major political problem facing the Senanayake government. Marxist leaders also escaped to India where they participated in the independence struggle there. The movement in Ceylon was minuscule, limited to the English-educated intelligentsia and trade unions, mainly in the urban centers. These groups were led by Robert Gunawardena, Philip's brother. In stark contrast to this "heroic" but ineffective approach to the war the Senanayake government took advantage to further its rapport with the commanding elite. Ceylon became crucial to the British Empire in the war, with Lord Louis Mountbatten
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
using Colombo as his headquarters for the Eastern Theater. Oliver Goonatilleka successfully exploited the markets for the country's rubber and other agricultural products to replenish the treasury. Nonetheless the Sinhalese continued to push for independence and the Sinhalese sovereignty, using the opportunities offered by the war, pushed to establish a special relationship with Britain.
Meanwhile the Marxists, identifying the war as an imperialist sideshow and desiring a proletarian revolution
Proletarian revolution
A proletarian revolution is a social and/or political revolution in which the working class attempts to overthrow the bourgeoisie. Proletarian revolutions are generally advocated by socialists, communists, and most anarchists....
, chose a path of agitation disproportionate to their negligible combat strength and diametrically opposed to the "constitutionalist" approach of Senanayake and other Ethnic Sinhalese leaders. A small garrison on the Cocos Islands manned by Ceylonese mutinied
Cocos Islands Mutiny
The Cocos Islands Mutiny was a failed mutiny by Ceylonese soldiers against British officers, on the Cocos Islands in May 1942, during the Second World War....
against British rule. It has been claimed that the LSSP had some hand in the action, though this is far from clear. Three of the participants were the only British colony subjects to be shot for mutiny during World War II.
Two members of the Governing Party, Junius Richard Jayawardene and Dudley Senanayake
Dudley Senanayake
Dudley Shelton Senanayake was a Ceylonese politician, who became the second Prime Minister of Ceylon and went on to become prime minister on 2 more times during the 1950s and 1960s.-Early life:Dudley was born on 19 June, 1911 as the eldest son to Molly Dunuwila and Don Stephen Senanayake, who...
, held discussions with the Japanese to collaborate in fighting the British. Sri Lankans in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
and Malaysia formed the 'Lanka Regiment' of the anti-British Indian National Army
Indian National Army
The Indian National Army or Azad Hind Fauj was an armed force formed by Indian nationalists in 1942 in Southeast Asia during World War II. The aim of the army was to overthrow the British Raj in colonial India, with Japanese assistance...
.
The constitutionalists led by D. S. Senanayake succeeded in winning independence. The Soulbury constitution was essentially what Senanayake's board of ministers had drafted in 1944. The promise of Dominion status, and independence itself, had been given by the Colonial office.
Post war
The Sinhalese leader Don Stephen Senanayake left the CNC on the issue of independence, disagreeing with the revised aim of 'the achieving of freedom', although his real reasons were more subtle. He subsequently formed the United National PartyUnited National Party
The United National Party, often referred to as the UNP ), , is a political party in Sri Lanka. It currently is the main opposition party in Sri Lanka and is headed by Ranil Wickremesinghe...
(UNP) in 1946, when a new constitution was agreed on, based on the behind-the-curtain lobbying of the Soulbury commission. At the elections of 1947 the UNP won a minority of the seats in parliament, but cobbled together a coalition with the Sinhala Maha Sabha party of Solomon Bandaranaike and the Tamil Congress of G.G. Ponnambalam. The successful inclusions of the Tamil-communalist leader Ponnambalam, and his Sinhala counterpart Bandaranaike were a remarkable political balancing act by Senanayake. The vacuum in Tamil Nationalist politics, created by Ponnamblam's transition to a moderate, opened the field for the Tamil Arasu Kachchi ("Federal party"), a Tamil sovereignty party led by S. J. V. Chelvanaykam who was the lawyer son of a Christian minister.
Independence
Dominion status followed on 4 February 1948 with military treaties with Britain, as the upper ranks of the armed forces were initially British, and British air and sea bases remaining intact. This was later raised to independence itself and Senanayake became the first Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. In 1949, with the concurrence of the leaders of the Ceylon Tamils, the UNP government disenfranchised the Indian Tamil plantation workers. This was the price that Senanayake had to pay to obtain the support of the Kandyan Sinhalese, who felt threatened by the demographics of the tea estates where the inclusion of the "Indian Tamils" would have meant electoral defeat for the Kandyan leaders. Senanayke died in 1952 after falling from a horse and was succeeded by his son Dudley Senanayake, the then minister of Agriculture. In 1953 he resigned following a massive HartalHartal
Hartal is a term in many Indian languages for strike action, used often during the Indian Independence Movement. It is mass protest often involving a total shutdown of workplaces, offices, shops, courts of law as a form of civil disobedience...
("general strike") by the Left parties against the UNP. He was followed by John Kotelawala
John Kotelawala
General Sir John Lionel Kotelawala, KBE, CH, KStJ, CLI was a Sri Lankan soldier and politician, most notable for serving as the 3rd Prime Minister of Ceylon from 1953 to 1956....
, a senior politician and an uncle of Dudley Senanayke. Kotelawala did not have the enormous personal prestige or the adroit political acumen of D. S. Senanayake. He brought to the fore the issue of national languages that D. S. Senanayake had adroitly kept on the back burner, antagonising the Tamils and the Sinhalese by stating conflicting policies with regard to the status of Sinhala and Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
as official languages. He also antagonized the Buddhist lobby by attacking politically active Buddhist Monks who were Bandaranaike's supporters.
Republic (1970–2009)
Under Bandaranaike the country became a republic, the Free Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka. The Senate was abolished and Sinhala was established as the official language, with Tamil as a second language. Appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy CouncilJudicial Committee of the Privy Council
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is one of the highest courts in the United Kingdom. Established by the Judicial Committee Act 1833 to hear appeals formerly heard by the King in Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is one of the highest courts in the United...
in London were abolished and plantations were nationalised to fulfil the election pledges of the Marxist program and to "prevent the ongoing dis-investment by the owning companies".
1971 Uprising
The leftist Sinhalese Janatha Vimukthi PeramunaJanatha Vimukthi Peramuna
The Janathā Vimukthi Peramuṇa is a Marxist-Leninist, Communist political party in Sri Lanka. The party was involved in two armed uprisings against the ruling governments in 1971 and 1987-89...
drew worldwide attention when it launched an insurrection against the Bandaranaike government in April 1971. Although the insurgents were young, poorly armed, and inadequately trained, they succeeded in seizing and holding major areas in Southern and Central provinces before they were defeated by the security forces. Their attempt to seize power created a major crisis for the government and forced a fundamental reassessment of the nation's security needs.
The movement was started in the late 1960s by Rohana Wijeweera, the son of a businessman from the seaport of Tangalla, Hambantota District. An excellent student, Wijeweera had been forced to give up his studies for financial reasons. Through friends of his father, a member of the Ceylon Communist Party, Wijeweera successfully applied for a scholarship in the Soviet Union, and in 1960 at the age of seventeen, he went to Moscow to study medicine at Patrice Lumumba University.
While in Moscow, he studied Marxist ideology but, because of his openly expressed sympathies for Maoist revolutionary theory, he was denied a visa to return to the Soviet Union after a brief trip home in 1964. Over the next several years, he participated in the pro-Beijing branch of the Ceylon Communist Party, but he was increasingly at odds with party leaders and impatient with its lack of revolutionary purpose. His success in working with youth groups and his popularity as a public speaker led him to organize his own movement in 1967. Initially identified simply as the New Left, this group drew on students and unemployed youths from rural areas, most of them in the sixteen-to-twenty-five-age-group. Many of these new recruits were members of minority so called 'lower' castes (Karava and Durava) who felt that their economic interests had been neglected by the nation's leftist coalitions. The standard program of indoctrination, the so-called Five Lectures, included discussions of Indian imperialism, the growing economic crisis, the failure of the island's communist and socialist parties, and the need for a sudden, violent seizure of power.
Between 1967 and 1970, the group expanded rapidly, gaining control of the student socialist movement at a number of major university campuses and winning recruits and sympathizers within the armed forces. Some of these latter supporters actually provided sketches of police stations, airports, and military facilities that were important to the initial success of the revolt. In order to draw the newer members more tightly into the organization and to prepare them for a coming confrontation, Wijeweera opened "education camps" in several remote areas along the south and southwestern coasts. These camps provided training in Marxism-Leninism and in basic military skills.
While developing secret cells and regional commands, Wijeweera's group also began to take a more public role during the elections of 1970. His cadres campaigned openly for the United Front of Sirimavo R. D. Bandaranaike, but at the same time they distributed posters and pamphlets promising violent rebellion if Bandaranaike did not address the interests of the proletariat. In a manifesto issued during this period, the group used the name Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna for the first time. Because of the subversive tone of these publications, the United National Party government had Wijeweera detained during the elections, but the victorious Bandaranaike ordered his release in July 1970. In the politically tolerant atmosphere of the next few months, as the new government attempted to win over a wide variety of unorthodox leftist groups, the JVP intensified both the public campaign and the private preparations for a revolt. Although their group was relatively small, the members hoped to immobilize the government by selective kidnapping and sudden, simultaneous strikes against the security forces throughout the island. Some of the necessary weapons had been bought with funds supplied by the members. For the most part, however, they relied on raids against police stations and army camps to secure weapons, and they manufactured their own bombs.
The discovery of several JVP bomb factories gave the government its first evidence that the group's public threats were to be taken seriously. In March 1971, after an accidental explosion in one of these factories, the police found fifty-eight bombs in a hut in Nelundeniya, Kegalla District. Shortly afterward, Wijeweera was arrested and sent to Jaffna Prison, where he remained throughout the revolt. In response to his arrest and the growing pressure of police investigations, other JVP leaders decided to act immediately, and they agreed to begin the uprising at 11:00 P.M. on April 5.
The planning for the countrywide insurrection was hasty and poorly coordinated; some of the district leaders were not informed until the morning of the uprising. After one premature attack, security forces throughout the island were put on alert and a number of JVP leaders went into hiding without bothering to inform their subordinates of the changed circumstances. In spite of this confusion, rebel groups armed with shotguns, bombs, and Molotov cocktails launched simultaneous attacks against seventy- four police stations around the island and cut power to major urban areas. The attacks were most successful in the south. By April 10, the rebels had taken control of Matara District and the city of Ambalangoda in Galle District and came close to capturing the remaining areas of Southern Province.
The new government was ill prepared for the crisis that confronted it. Although there had been some warning that an attack was imminent, Bandaranaike was caught off guard by the scale of the uprising and was forced to call on India to provide basic security functions. Indian frigates patrolled the coast and Indian troops guarded Bandaranaike International Airport at Katunayaka while Indian Air Force helicopters assisted the counteroffensive. Sri Lanka's all-volunteer army had no combat experience since World War II and no training in counterinsurgency warfare. Although the police were able to defend some areas unassisted, in many places the government deployed personnel from all three services in a ground force capacity. Royal Ceylon Air Force helicopters delivered relief supplies to beleaguered police stations while combined service patrols drove the insurgents out of urban areas and into the countryside.
After two weeks of fighting, the government regained control of all but a few remote areas. In both human and political terms, the cost of the victory was high: an estimated 10,000 insurgents- -many of them in their teens—died in the conflict, and the army was widely perceived to have used excessive force. In order to win over an alienated population and to prevent a prolonged conflict, Bandaranaike offered amnesties in May and June 1971, and only the top leaders were actually imprisoned. Wijeweera, who was already in detention at the time of the uprising, was given a twenty-year sentence and the JVP was proscribed.
Under the six years of emergency rule that followed the uprising, the JVP remained dormant. After the victory of the United National Party in the 1977 elections, however, the new government attempted to broaden its mandate with a period of political tolerance. Wijeweera was freed, the ban was lifted, and the JVP entered the arena of legal political competition. As a candidate in the 1982 presidential elections, Wijeweera finished fourth, with more than 250,000 votes (as compared with Jayewardene's 3.2 million). During this period, and especially as the Tamil conflict to the north became more intense, there was a marked shift in the ideology and goals of the JVP. Initially Marxist in orientation, and claiming to represent the oppressed of both the Tamil and Sinhalese communities, the group emerged increasingly as a Sinhalese nationalist organization opposing any compromise with the Tamil insurgency. This new orientation became explicit in the anti-Tamil riots of July 1983. Because of its role in inciting violence, the JVP was once again banned and its leadership went underground.
The group's activities intensified in the second half of 1987 in the wake of the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord. The prospect of Tamil autonomy in the north together with the presence of Indian troops stirred up a wave of Sinhalese nationalism and a sudden growth of antigovernment violence. During 1987 a new group emerged that was an offshoot of the JVP—the Patriotic Liberation Organization (Deshapremi Janatha Viyaparaya—DJV). The DJV claimed responsibility for the August 1987 assassination attempts against the president and prime minister. In addition, the group launched a campaign of intimidation against the ruling party, killing more than seventy members of Parliament between July and November.
Along with the group's renewed violence came a renewed fear of infiltration of the armed forces. Following the successful raid of the Pallekelle army camp in May 1987, the government conducted an investigation that resulted in the discharge of thirty-seven soldiers suspected of having links with the JVP. In order to prevent a repetition of the 1971 uprising, the government considered lifting the ban on the JVP in early 1988 and permitting the group to participate again in the political arena. With Wijeweera still underground, however, the JVP had no clear leadership at the time, and it was uncertain whether it had the cohesion to mount any coordinated offensive, either military or political, against the government.
New constitution of 1978
By 1977 the voters were tired of Bandaranaike's socialist policies and elections returned the UNP to power under Junius Jayewardene, on a manifesto pledging a market economy and "a free ration of 8 seers (kilograms) of cereals". The SLFP and the left-wing parties were virtually wiped out in Parliament, although they garnered 40% of the popular vote, leaving the Tamil United Liberation FrontTamil United Liberation Front
The Tamil United Liberation Front is a political party in Sri Lanka which seeks independence for the Tamil-populated areas of Sri Lanka.-Formation:...
led by Appapillai Amirthalingam
Appapillai Amirthalingam
Appapillai Amirthalingam was a leading Sri Lankan Tamil politician, Member of Parliament and Leader of the Opposition. Amirthalingam was assassinated by the Tamil Tigers. -Early life:...
as the official opposition. This created a dangerous ethnic division in Sri Lankan politics.
After coming to power, Jayewardene directed the rewriting of the constitution. The document that was produced, the new Constitution of 1978, drastically altered the nature of governance in Sri Lanka. It replaced the previous Westminster style, parliamentary government with a new presidential system modeled after France, with a powerful chief executive. The president was to be elected by direct suffrage for a six-year term and was empowered to appoint, with parliamentary approval, the prime minister and to preside over cabinet meetings. Jayewardene became the first president under the new Constitution and assumed direct control of the government machinery and party.
The new regime ushered in an era that did not augur well for the SLFP. Jayewardene's UNP government accused former prime minister Bandaranaike of abusing her power while in office from 1970 to 1977. In October 1980, Bandaranaike's privilege to engage in politics was removed for a period of seven years, and the SLFP was forced to seek a new leader. After a long and divisive battle, the party chose her son, Anura. Anura Bandaranaike was soon thrust into the role of the keeper of his father's legacy, but he inherited a political party torn apart by factionalism and reduced to a minimal role in the Parliament.
The 1978 Constitution included substantial concessions to Tamil sensitivities. Although TULF did not participate in framing the Constitution, it continued to sit in Parliament in the hope of negotiating a settlement to the Tamil problem. TULF also agreed to Jayewardene's proposal of an all-party conference to resolve the island's ethnic problems. Jayewardene's UNP offered other concessions in a bid to secure peace. Sinhala remained the official language and the language of administration throughout Sri Lanka, but Tamil was given a new "national language" status. Tamil was to be used in a number of administrative and educational circumstances. Jayewardene also eliminated a major Tamil grievance by abrogating the "standardization" policy of the United Front government, which had made university admission criteria for Tamils more difficult. In addition, he offered many top-level positions, including that of minister of justice, to Tamil civil servants.
While TULF, in conjunction with the UNP, pressed for the allparty conference, the Tamil Tigers escalated their terrorist attacks, which provoked Sinhalese backlash against Tamils and generally precluded any successful accommodation. In reaction to the assassination of a Jaffna police inspector, the Jayewardene government declared an emergency and dispatched troops, who were given an unrealistic six months to eradicate the terrorist threat.
The government passed the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act in 1979. The act was enacted as a temporary measure, but it later became permanent legislation. The International Commission of Jurists, Amnesty International, and other human rights organizations condemned the act as being incompatible with democratic traditions. Despite the act, the number of terrorist acts increased. Guerrillas began to hit targets of high symbolic value such as post offices and police outposts, provoking government counterattacks. As an increasing number of civilians were caught in the fighting, Tamil support widened for the "boys", as the guerrillas began to be called. Other large, well-armed groups began to compete with LTTE. The better-known included the People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam, Tamil Eelam Liberation Army, and the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization. Each of these groups had forces measured in the hundreds if not thousands. The government claimed that many of the terrorists were operating from training camps in India's Tamil Nadu State. The Indian government repeatedly denied this claim. With the level of violence mounting, the possibility of negotiation became increasingly distant.
Civil war (1983–2009)
In July 1983 communal riots took place due to the ambush and killing of 13 Sri Lankan Army soldiers by the Tamil Tigers using the voters list, which contained the exact addresses of Tamils. The Tamil community faced a backlash from Sinhalese rioters including the destruction of shops, homes and savage beatings. A few Sinhalese kept Tamil neighbours in their homes to protect them from the rioters. During these riots the government did nothing to control the mob. Conservative government estimates put the death toll at 400, while the real death toll is believed to be around 3000. Also around 18,000 Tamil homes and another 5,000 homes were destroyed, with 150,000 leaving the country resulting in a Tamil diaspora in Canada, the UK, Australia and other western countries.In elections held on 17 November 2005 Mahinda Rajapakse, the son of Don Alwin Rajapaksa, was elected President after defeating Ratnasiri Wickremanayake
Ratnasiri Wickremanayake
Ratnasiri Wickremanayake MP is a Sri Lankan politician who was Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2000 to 2001 and again from 2005 to 2010. He is currently a National List member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka....
. He appointed Wickremanayake as Prime Minister and Mangala Samaraweera
Mangala Samaraweera
Mangala Pinsiri Samaraweera MP is a Sri Lankan politician and current member of parliament who served as the Cabinet Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2007...
as Foreign Minister. Negotiations with the LTTE stalled and a low-intensity conflict began. The violence dropped off after talks in February but escalated again in April and the conflict continued until the military defeat of the LTTE in May 2009.
Defeat of the LTTE
The Sri Lankan government declared total victory on 18 May 2009. On 19 May 2009 the Sri Lankan military led by General Sarath Fonseka, effectively concluded its 26 year operation against the LTTE, its military forces recaptured all remaining LTTE controlled territories in the Northern Province including Killinochchi (2 January), the Elephant Pass (9 January) and ultimately the entire district of Mullaitivu.On 22 May 2009 the Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa
Lieutenant Colonel Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa, RWP, RSP, psc, GR is a retired officer of the Sri Lanka Army and the current Defence Secretary of Sri Lanka. After serving through the early parts of the country's civil war with Tamil Tiger rebels, he retired from the Army in 1992...
confirmed that 6,261 personnel of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces had lost their lives and 29,551 were wounded during the Eelam War IV
Eelam War IV
Eelam War IV is the name given to the fourth phase of armed conflict between the Sri Lankan military and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which is currently proscribed as a terrorist organisation by 32 countries . Renewed hostilities began on the July 26, 2006 when Sri Lanka Air...
since July 2006. Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara
Udaya Nanayakkara
Major General V. Udaya B. Nanayakkara, USP, Hdmc, SLE is a Sri Lankan general and a military engineer, who is the current Chief Field Engineer of the Sri Lanka Army, formerBrigade Commander 55-2 "Muhamale" Brigade and 21-4 "Paryanakulam " Brigade...
added that approximately 22,000 LTTE fighters had died during this time.
Post conflict Sri Lanka
Presidential elections were completed in January 2010. Mahinda Rajapaksa won the elections with 59% of the votes, defeating General Sarath Fonseka who was the united opposition candidate.See also
- Ancient Constructions of Sri LankaAncient Constructions of Sri LankaThe Ancient Sinhalese excelled in the construction of tanks or reservoirs, dagobas and palaces, as evident from the ruins which displays a rich variety of Architectural forms.-Irrigation Works:...
- Architecture of ancient Sri LankaArchitecture of ancient Sri LankaThe architecture of ancient Sri Lanka displays a rich variety of architectural forms and styles, varying in style and form from the Anuradhapura Kingdom to the Kingdom of Kandy. Ancient Sri Lankan architecture mainly grew around religion, styles of Buddhist monasteries were in excess of 25...
- Henry Parker (author)Henry Parker (author)Henry Parker was a British engineer in colonial Ceylon during the Victorian era. He was attached to the Irrigation Department from 1873 to 1904. During his work as engineer he developed an admiration for the skills displayed by the ancient Sinhalese at the time of the construction of their...
- History of AsiaHistory of AsiaThe history of Asia can be seen as the collective history of several distinct peripheral coastal regions such as, East Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East linked by the interior mass of the Eurasian steppe....
- History of South AsiaHistory of South AsiaThe term South Asia refers to the contemporary political entities of the Indian subcontinent and associated island. These are the states of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the island nations of Sri Lanka and the Maldives....
- Irrigation works of ancient Sri Lanka
- List of Presidents of Sri Lanka
- List of Prime Ministers of Sri Lanka
- MahavamsaMahavamsaThe Mahavamsa is a historical poem written in the Pali language, of the kings of Sri Lanka...
- Politics of Sri LankaPolitics of Sri LankaPolitics of Sri Lanka takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Sri Lanka is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both...
Books and magazines
- Arsecularatne, S. N, Sinhalese immigrants in Malaysia & Singapore, 1860-1990: History through recollections, Colombo, KVG de Silva & Sons, 1991
- Brohier, R. L, The Golden Age of Military Adventure in Ceylon: an account of the Uva Rebellion 1817-1818. Colombo: 1933
- Crusz, Noel, The Cocos Islands Mutiny. Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Fremantle, WA, 2001
- Deraniyagala, Siran, The Prehistory of Sri Lanka; an ecological perspective. (revised ed.), Colombo: Archaeological Survey Department of Sri Lanka, 1992
- Liyanagamage, Amaradasa, The decline of Polonnaruwa and the rise of Dambadeniya. Department of Cultural Affairs, Government Press, Colombo, Sri Lanka. 1968.
- Pieris, Paulus Edward, Ceylon and Hollanders 1658-1796. American Ceylon Mission Press, 1918.
- Pieris, Paulus Edward, Ceylon and the Portuguese 1505-1658. American Ceylon Mission Press, 1920.
- William Adair Nelson and R. Kumar de Silva, The Dutch Forts of Sri Lanka. Reprint: Sri Lanka - Netherlands Association, Colombo, 2004 (First ed. in 1984)
- R. Kumar de Silva and Willemina G. M. Beumer, Illustrations and Views of Dutch Ceylon, 1602-1796. Serendib Publications, London, 1988.
External links
- Nearly 1200 links on Sri Lanka
- The Virtual Motherland of Sri Lankans
- Sri Lanka in 1942 - World War II Movie Clip
- Library of Congress Country Study: Sri Lanka
- The Netherlands - Ceylon Heritage
- Colombo in Dutch Times
- Jacob Haafner. Travels Through The Island of Ceylon in 1783
- The Dutch in Ceylon glimpse of their life and times
- The Journal of the Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon
- A Baptism of Fire: The Van Goens Mission to Ceylon and India, 1653-54
- 1694 Census in Jaffnapatnam City and Castle
- Dutch and Portuguese Buildings in Sri Lanka
- Tourist Board of Sri Lanka
- hWeb - Sri Lanka’s recent history of ethnic conflict originates from its colonial legacy
- Books on Sri Lanka History
- Maritime Heritage in Sri Lanka
- The Mahavamsa History of Sri Lanka The Great Chronicle of Sri Lanka
- Peace and Conflict Timeline (PACT) - interactive timeline of the Sri Lankan conflict