The Republic of Sri Lanka is an island nation in South Asia, located off the southern coast of India. Until 1972, Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon. In fact, it’s believed that Sri Lanka was once connected to India via a land bridge spanning 18 miles, but today there are only limestone shoals remaining. The water between Sri Lanka and India is so shallow that cargo ships carrying Indian goods are unable to sail between the two countries and are forced to sail right around Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is bordered by the Palk Strait (separating Sri Lanka from India), the Indian Ocean, and the Gulf of Mannar in the Laccadive Sea. Because Sri Lanka is an island nation it doesn’t share land borders; however, it does have maritime borders with India.

For such a small country, Sri Lanka has a large population – almost 22 million people as at the year 2014 call Sri Lanka home. There are nine provinces in Sri Lanka which serve as governing bodies. The capital of Sri Lanka is Kotto, otherwise known as Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte. Kotto is actually a suburb of Columbo, which is the largest city in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s other major cities include Moratuwa, Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia, and Negombo.

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A Short History of Sri Lanka

Starting in the 5th century BC, Indo-Aryan immigration from India came to form Sri Lanka’s largest ethnic group today – the Sinhalese. The second largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka, the Tamils, originally came from the Tamil region of India; and right up until 1972 when Sri Lanka became Ceylon, Tamil and Sinhalese rulers fought for dominance over the island.

The predominantly Buddhist Sinhalese took control of the south of the island while the northern section was claimed by the Tamils, who are primarily Hindus. Then, in 1505 the Portuguese took control, and this lasted right up until the years 1658 to 1796 when the Dutch India Company were in possession of the island. In 1796 the British took control, and the island subsequently became an English Crown colony in 1802. It was the British who developed the rubber, tea, and coffee plantations on the island. Then in 1948 on February 4th, and following pressure from Celanese nationalist leaders, Ceylon became a self-governing country within the Commonwealth of Nations.

Sri Lanka Becomes Ceylon

In 1956 Prime Minister Bandaranaike declared Sinhala the countries only official language. In 1959 he was assassinated by a Buddhist monk, and in 1960 his widow becoming the world’s first female Prime Minister. In 1972 the country’s name ‘Ceylon’ was changed to Sri Lanka -which means resplendent island.

In 1983 violence erupted: this was due to the Tamils resentment towards the Sinhalese majority’s monopoly on economic and political power, fuelled by religious and cultural differences. Tamil rebel groups began a civil war, fighting for a separate nation. Following many years of unrest, by the year 2000 war had claimed the lives of over 64,000 people, and sadly, most of these were civilians.