The Sri Lanka Portal
Sri Lanka, historically known as Ceylon, and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian peninsula 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. 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 northern Sri Lanka; both groups have played an influential role in the island's history. Other long-established groups include the Moors, Indian Tamils, Burghers, Malays, Chinese, and Vedda. Sri Lanka's documented history goes back 3,000 years, with evidence of prehistoric human settlements dating back 125,000 years. The earliest known Buddhist writings of Sri Lanka, known collectively as the Pali Canon, date to the fourth Buddhist council, which took place in 29 BCE. Also called the Pearl of the Indian Ocean, or the Granary of the East, Sri Lanka's geographic location and deep harbours have made it of great strategic importance, from the earliest days of the ancient Silk Road trade route to today's so-called maritime Silk Road. Because its location made it a major trading hub, it was already known to both East Asians and Europeans as long ago as the Anuradhapura period. During a period of great political crisis in the Kingdom of Kotte, the Portuguese arrived in Sri Lanka and sought to control its maritime trade, with a part of Sri Lanka subsequently becoming a Portuguese possession. After the Sinhalese-Portuguese war, the Dutch colonial empire and the Kingdom of Kandy took control of those areas. Dutch Ceylon was taken by the British Empire, which extended control over the whole island, colonising it as British Ceylon from 1815 to 1948. A national movement for political independence arose in the early 20th century, and 1948, Ceylon became a dominion. It was succeeded by the republic of Sri Lanka in 1972. Sri Lanka's more recent history was marred by the 26-year Sri Lankan Civil War, which began in 1983 and ended in 2009, when the Sri Lanka Armed Forces defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. (Full article...) Selected article -Negombo (Sinhala: මීගමුව, romanized: Mīgamuva, Tamil: நீர்கொழும்பு, romanized: Nīrkoḻumpu) is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the west coast and at the mouth of the Negombo Lagoon, in the Western Province, 38 km (24 mi) from Colombo via the Colombo–Katunayake Expressway and the nearest major city from the Bandaranaike International Airport (about 9 km distance). Negombo is one of the major commercial hubs in the country and the administrative centre of Negombo Division. Negombo has a population of about 142,136 within its divisional secretariat division. Negombo municipal boundary is fully extended throughout its Divisional Secretariat area. (Full article...) General imagesThe following are images from various Sri Lanka-related articles on Wikipedia.
Related portalsIndian Subcontinent Other countries Selected biography -Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (Sinhala: චන්ද්රිකා බණ්ඩාරනායක කුමාරතුංග; Tamil: சந்திரிகா பண்டாரநாயக்க குமாரதுங்க; born 29 June 1945), commonly referred to by her initials CBK, is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the fifth president of Sri Lanka from 12 November 1994 to 19 November 2005. She previously served as the prime minister from August to November 1994 and the chief minister of the Western Province from 1993 to 1994. She is the country's first and only female president to date and the country's second female prime minister. She was the leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) from 1994 to 2005. She was elected as president in 1994, when she defeated UNP candidate Srima Dissanayake in the largest landslide victory in Sri Lankan history, winning 62% of all votes cast. She was reelected in 1999, beating UNP candidate and Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe. (Full article...) Did you know (auto-generated)
Selected picture Photo credit: Sandun More did you know -
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