Ceylon

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It is located in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, and is separated from India by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. It shares a maritime border with the Maldives in the southwest and India in the northwest, and it lies across the Bay of Bengal from Bangladesh and Myanmar in the northeast and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the east. Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is the legislative capital of Sri Lanka, while the largest city, Colombo, is the administrative and judicial capital which is the nation's political, financial and cultural centre. Kandy is the second-largest city and also the capital of the last native kingdom of Sri Lanka. The majority of the population speak Sinhala, while Tamil is the second most-spoken language. They are spoken by approximately 17 million and 5 million people respectively. Sri Lanka has a population of approximately 22 million and is home to several cultures, languages and ethnicities. The Sinhalese people form the majority of the population, followed by the Sri Lankan Tamils, who are the largest minority group and are concentrated in the north of the island; both groups have played a major role in the island's history. Other long-established groups include the Moors, Indian Tamils, Burghers, Malays, Chinese, and Vedda. The island has a documented history of over 3,000 years, with evidence of prehistoric human settlement dating back 125,000 years. The island has been referred to by Many names throughout its long history, with Ceylon having been used prior to independence and is still used in some cases. The earliest known Buddhist writings in Sri Lanka, known collectively as the Pali Canon, date to the fourth Buddhist council, which took place in 29 BCE. Sri Lanka has been called the Pearl of the Indian Ocean, and historically, the Granary of the East. Sri Lanka's geographic location and deep harbours have made it of great strategic importance, from the days of the ancient Silk Road, to today's maritime Silk Road. Due to its location and role as a major trading hub, the island was known in the East as well as in the West by as early as the Anuradhapura period. The Portuguese arrived in Sri Lanka during a time of great political upheaval in the Kingdom of Kotte. The Portuguese sought to gain control over the island's maritime trade and as a result part of Sri Lanka came under Portuguese control. After the Sinhalese–Portuguese War, the Dutch and the Kingdom of Kandy took control of those areas. Dutch Ceylon in turn was taken by the British, who extended their control over the whole island, leading to the creation of British Ceylon, which lasted from 1815 to 1948. The early 20th century saw the rise of nationalist movements and demands for independence. In 1948, Sri Lanka gained independence as a dominion, and in 1972, the country became a republic. Sri Lanka's more recent history has been marred by a long Civil War, which lasted for 26 years, from 1983 to 2009, and ended with the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. Sri Lanka is a developing country, ranking 89th on the Human Development Index. It is the highest-ranked South Asian nation in terms of development and has the second-highest per capita income in South Asia. The country has a long history of International engagement and cooperation; it is a founding member of SAARC, the G77 and the Non-Aligned Movement, as well as a member of the United Nations and the Commonwealth of Nations.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Sri Lanka", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.