"Lanka's independence. Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, the last native monarch of Sri Lanka, was exiled to India. The Kandyan Convention formally ceded the entire country to the British Empire. Attempts by Sri Lankan noblemen to undermine British power in 1818 during the Uva Rebellion were thwarted by Governor Robert Brownrigg. The beginning of the modern period of Sri Lanka is marked by the Colebrooke-Cameron reforms of 1833. They introduced a utilitarian and liberal political culture to the country based on the rule of law and amalgamated the Kandyan and maritime provinces as a single unit of government. An executive council and"
"Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; '; ""Ilaṅkai""), officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia, located in the Indian Ocean to the southwest of the Bay of Bengal and to the southeast of the Arabian Sea. The island is historically and culturally intertwined with the Indian subcontinent, but is geographically separated from the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. The legislative capital, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, is a suburb of the commercial capital and largest city, Colombo. Sri Lanka's documented history spans 3,000 years, with evidence of pre-historic"
"well. Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; '; ""Ilaṅkai""), officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia, located in the Indian Ocean to the southwest of the Bay of Bengal and to the southeast of the Arabian Sea. The island is historically and culturally intertwined with the Indian subcontinent, but is geographically separated from the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. The legislative capital, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, is a suburb of the commercial capital and largest city, Colombo. Sri Lanka's documented history spans 3,000 years, with evidence of"
"1948; the country became a republic and adopted its current name in 1972. Sri Lanka's recent history has been marred by a 30-year civil war, which decisively ended when the Sri Lanka Armed Forces defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009. The current constitution stipulates the political system as a republic and a unitary state governed by a semi-presidential system. It has had a long history of international engagement, as a founding member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, the G77, and the"
"Later in 1978 it was changed to the ""Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka"". As the name Ceylon still appears in the names of a number of organisations, the Sri Lankan government announced in 2011 a plan to rename all those over which it has authority. The pre-history of Sri Lanka goes back 125,000 years and possibly even as far back as 500,000 years. The era spans the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and early Iron Ages. Among the Paleolithic human settlements discovered in Sri Lanka, Pahiyangala (named after the Chinese traveller monk Faxian), which dates back to 37,000 BP, Batadombalena (28,500 BP)"
"Dominion of Ceylon Between 1948 and 1972, Ceylon was an independent country in the Commonwealth of Nations that shared a monarch with Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and certain other sovereign states. In 1948, the British Colony of Ceylon was granted independence as Ceylon. In 1972, the country became a republic within the Commonwealth, and its name was changed to Sri Lanka. It was an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India. Following the Second World War, public pressure for independence increased. The British-ruled Colony of Ceylon achieved independence on 4"
"loanwords. Dutch Ceylon Dutch Ceylon (Sinhala: ලන්දේසි ලංකාව ""Landesi Lankava"") was a governorate established in present-day Sri Lanka by the Dutch East India Company. It existed from 1640 until 1796. In the early 17th century, Sri Lanka was partly ruled by the Portuguese and Sri Lankan kingdoms, who were constantly battling each other. Although the Portuguese were not winning the war, their rule was rather burdensome to the people of those areas controlled by them. While the Dutch were engaged in a long war of independence from Spanish rule, the Sinhalese king (the king of Kandy) invited the Dutch to"
"power. In 1964 Bandaranaike formed a coalition government with the LSSP, a Trotskyist party with Dr N.M. Perera as Minister of Finance. Nonetheless, after Sirimavo failed to satisfy the far-left, the Marxist People's Liberation Front attempted to overthrow the government in 1971. The rebellion was put down with the help of British, Soviet, and Indian aid in 1972, and later in 1972 the current constitution was adopted and the name of the country was changed to Sri Lanka. In 1972, the country officially became a republic within the Commonwealth and William Gopallawa became the first President of Sri Lanka. The"
"next 24 years until 22 May 1972 when it became a republic and was renamed the Republic of Sri Lanka. The British Raj was dominant in Asia after the Battle of Assaye; following the Battle of Waterloo, the British Empire became more influential. Its prestige was only briefly dented by setbacks in India, Afghanistan and South Africa. It was virtually unchallenged until 1914. The formation of the Batavian Republic in the Netherlands as an ally and of the French Directory, led to a British attack on Ceylon in 1795 as part of England's war against the French Republic. The Kandyan"
"a republic, adopting the name Sri Lanka. Since this time, the country has experienced two major conflicts – a civil war and a Marxist uprising. From 1985 to 1989, Sri Lanka responded to violent insurrection with equal violence against the Sinhalese majority as part of the counter insurgency measures against the uprising by the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party. In order to subdue those supporting the JVP uprising, a wide range of acts of cruelty were recorded as having been carried out by the state, including the torture and mass murder of school children. This repression peaked among the"
"the 17th century. With these colonizers came the introduction of Roman Catholic missionaries who sought to convert Sinhalese and Tamil people to Catholicism. By March 1815, the island was formally united under British rule Throughout the 19th century, the British brought Tamil workers from Southern India to staff the growing number of rubber and tea plantations. The people of the island gained independence from the British in 1948 and formed the nation of Ceylon. The official name was changed to Sri Lanka in 1972, when Buddhism was named the primary religion of the country. Throughout the late 20th century and"
"Sri Lanka national cricket team The Sri Lanka national cricket team, () nicknamed The Lions, represents Sri Lanka in international cricket. It is a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test, One-Day International (ODI) and T20 International (T20I) status. The team first played international cricket (as Ceylon) in 1926–27, and were later awarded Test status in 1982, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test cricket playing nation. The team is administered by Sri Lanka Cricket. Sri Lanka's national cricket team achieved considerable success beginning in the 1990s, rising from underdog status to winning the Cricket World Cup"
"Dutch Ceylon Dutch Ceylon (Sinhala: ලන්දේසි ලංකාව ""Landesi Lankava"") was a governorate established in present-day Sri Lanka by the Dutch East India Company. It existed from 1640 until 1796. In the early 17th century, Sri Lanka was partly ruled by the Portuguese and Sri Lankan kingdoms, who were constantly battling each other. Although the Portuguese were not winning the war, their rule was rather burdensome to the people of those areas controlled by them. While the Dutch were engaged in a long war of independence from Spanish rule, the Sinhalese king (the king of Kandy) invited the Dutch to help"
"support. Sri Lanka has been a member state of the Commonwealth of Nations since 1948, when it became independent as the Dominion of Ceylon. In 1972, Ceylon became a Commonwealth republic under the name of Sri Lanka. William Gopallawa, the last Governor-General of Ceylon became the first President of Sri Lanka. In November 2013, Sri Lanka hosted the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Foreign relations of Sri Lanka Foreign relations of Sri Lanka refers to the diplomatic and commercial relations between Sri Lanka and other countries. Sri Lanka has stressed its principle of friendship towards all, enmity towards none in"
"by the Portuguese, Dutch and British. Between 1597 and 1658, a substantial part of the island was under Portuguese rule. The Portuguese lost their possessions in Ceylon due to Dutch intervention in the Eighty Years' War. Following the Kandyan Wars, the island was united under British rule in 1815. Armed uprisings against the British took place in the 1818 Uva Rebellion and the 1848 Matale Rebellion. Independence was finally granted in 1948 but the country remained a Dominion of the British Empire until 1972. In 1972 Sri Lanka assumed the status of a Republic. A constitution was introduced in 1978"
"Sri Lanka and state terrorism The Sri Lankan state has been accused of state terrorism against the Tamil minority as well as the Sinhalese majority. The Sri Lankan government and the Sri Lankan Armed Forces have been charged with massacres, indiscriminate shelling and bombing, extrajudicial killings, rape, torture, disappearance, arbitrary detention, forced displacement and economic blockade. According to Amnesty International state terror was institutionalized into Sri Lanka's laws, government and society. Sri Lanka gained independence from Britain in 1948 as the Dominion of Ceylon, although the British Royal Navy retained a base there until 1956. In 1972, the country became"
"as a thalassocracy, with colonies in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean. For example, the first recorded king of Sri Lanka was a Bengali prince called Vijaya. The region was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Gangaridai. The Greek ambassador Megasthenes chronicled its military strength and dominance of the Ganges delta. The invasion army of Alexander the Great was deterred by the accounts of Gangaridai's power in 325 BCE. Later Roman accounts noted maritime trade routes with Bengal and a Roman amphora has been found in Purba Medinipur district, made in Aelana (present day Aqaba in Jordan) between"
"Herath, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Sangakkara and Chaminda Vaas. Administration and governance are performed by Sri Lanka Cricket, which was founded in July 1922 as the Ceylon Cricket Association (CCA). The main domestic competition is the Premier Trophy which attained first-class status in 1988. Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, has an age-old civilisation. It came under European influence and control after Dutch colonists arrived in the 17th century; although the interior hilly region of the island remained independent for over a century with its capital at Kandy. The British East India Company established control of the"
"Cricket in Sri Lanka Cricket is the most popular sport in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is one of the twelve nations that take part in test cricket and one of the five nations that has won a cricket world cup. Cricket is played at professional, semi-professional and recreational levels in the country and international cricket matches are watched with interest by a large proportion of the population. Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon) was occupied by the British in 1796 and became a British colony in 1815. As in all places that the British arrived in large numbers, cricket soon followed"
"Wars. It is the predecessor to the Ceylon Army. British Ceylon Ceylon (Sinhala: , ""Brithānya Laṃkāva""; Tamil: பிரித்தானிய இலங்கை, ""Birithaniya Ilangai"") was a British Crown colony between 1815 and 1948. Initially the area it covered did not include the Kingdom of Kandy, which was a protectorate from 1815, but from 1817 to 1948 the British possessions included the whole island of Ceylon, now the nation of Sri Lanka. Before the beginning of the Dutch governance, the island of Ceylon was divided between the Portuguese Empire and the Kingdom of Kandy, who were in the midst of a war for control"
"Sri Lanka–United Kingdom relations Sri Lanka–United Kingdom relations, or British-Sri Lankan relations, are foreign relations between Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom. During the Napoleonic Wars 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"
"Sri Lankan Chetties Sri Lankan Chetties (, ) also known as Colombo Chetties, is an ethnicity in the island of Sri Lanka. Formerly considered a Sri Lankan Tamil caste, were classified as a separate ethnic group in the 2001 census. They were a class of Tamil speaking traders, who migrated from the South India under Portuguese rule. The word ""Chetty"" is a very general term denoting all merchant and trading groups of South India. The word is thought to have been derived from the Tamil word ""Etti"", a honorific title bestowed on the leading merchants in the Chola kingdom and"
"years the holders of the title have been formally or informally referred to by the title First Lady or First Lady of Sri Lanka, though there are no provisions for such in the constitution. The office of the President of Sri Lanka was created in 1972 when Sri Lanka became a republic. William Gopallawa who was the Governor-General of Ceylon at the time became the country's inaugural President. His wife, Seelawathie Gopallawa, became the first wife of a President of Sri Lanka. When J. R. Jayewardene became the next president, his wife became known as Lady Elina Jayewardene during and"
"Sri Lanka"", and in 1978 to ""Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka"". All Army units were renamed accordingly. After gaining independence, strategists believed that the navy should be built up and reorganized. The previous navy consisted of the Ceylon Naval Volunteer Force and the Ceylon Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. On 9 December 1950 the Royal Ceylon Navy was created with the main force consisting of the former Ceylon Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. The first ship that was commissioned was the HMCyS Vijaya, an Algerine-class minesweeper. During this time the navy took part in several joint naval exercises and a goodwill"
"Mahinda Rajapaksa, the then president of Sri Lanka, appointed the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) to assess the conflict between the time of the ceasefire agreement in 2002 and the defeat of the LTTE in 2009. The origins of the Sri Lankan Civil War lie in the continuous political rancor between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils. The roots of the modern conflict lie in the British colonial rule when the country was known as Ceylon. There was initially little tension among Sri Lanka's two largest ethnic groups, the Sinhalese and the Tamils, when Ponnambalam Arunachalam, a Tamil,"
"present in the previous one. Overall, the 1972 constitution has been seen as a key turning point for governance in the country, leading to less impartiality throughout the Executive-, Legislative and Judicial systems. Several characteristics of this constitution may be noticed in the newer constitution. Sri Lankan Constitution of 1972 The Sri Lankan Constitution of 1972 was a constitution of Sri Lanka, replaced by the 1978 constitution currently in force. It was Sri Lanka's first republican constitution, and its second since independence in 1948. The constitution changed the country's name to Sri Lanka from Ceylon, and established it as an"
"the Sri Lankan chronicle ""Mahavamsa,"" Prince Vijaya (), a Vanga Kingdom prince, conquered Lanka (modern-day Sri Lanka) and gave the name Sinhala Kingdom to the country. The kingdom of Magadha was formed in the 7thcentury BCE, consisting of the regions now comprising Bihar and Bengal. It was one of the four main kingdoms of India at the time of the lives of Mahavira, founder of Jainism, and Gautama Buddha, founder of Buddhism. It consisted of several janapadas, or kingdoms. Under Ashoka, the Maurya Empire of Magadha in the 3rdcentury BCE extended over nearly all of South Asia, including Afghanistan and"
"Sri Lankan Constitution of 1972 The Sri Lankan Constitution of 1972 was a constitution of Sri Lanka, replaced by the 1978 constitution currently in force. It was Sri Lanka's first republican constitution, and its second since independence in 1948. The constitution changed the country's name to Sri Lanka from Ceylon, and established it as an independent republic. The country was officially designated ""Republic of Sri Lanka"", leading to this constitution being known as ""the 1972 Republican Constitution"". The constitution was promulgated on 22 May 1972. The arrival of the Portuguese in 1505 and their interest in the island altered its"
"British Ceylon Ceylon (Sinhala: , ""Brithānya Laṃkāva""; Tamil: பிரித்தானிய இலங்கை, ""Birithaniya Ilangai"") was a British Crown colony between 1815 and 1948. Initially the area it covered did not include the Kingdom of Kandy, which was a protectorate from 1815, but from 1817 to 1948 the British possessions included the whole island of Ceylon, now the nation of Sri Lanka. Before the beginning of the Dutch governance, the island of Ceylon was divided between the Portuguese Empire and the Kingdom of Kandy, who were in the midst of a war for control of the island as a whole. The island attracted"
"Sri Lankan Civil War The Sri Lankan Civil War was an armed conflict fought on the island of Sri Lanka. Beginning on 23 July 1983, there was an intermittent insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (the LTTE, also known as the Tamil Tigers), which fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the north and the east of the island. After a 26-year military campaign, the Sri Lankan military defeated the Tamil Tigers in May 2009, bringing the civil war to an end. For over 25 years, the war caused significant hardships"
"in the 1960s. On 31 March 1976, the SLAF was awarded the President's Colour. That same year SLAF detachments, which later became SLAF stations, were established at Wirawila, Vavuniya and Minneriya. Dominion of Ceylon Between 1948 and 1972, Ceylon was an independent country in the Commonwealth of Nations that shared a monarch with Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and certain other sovereign states. In 1948, the British Colony of Ceylon was granted independence as Ceylon. In 1972, the country became a republic within the Commonwealth, and its name was changed to Sri Lanka. It was an island"
"Arthur V. Dias Arthur Vincent Dias (10 February 1886 – 31 July 1960), commonly known as Arthur V. Dias, was a philanthropist, temperance movement member and an independence activist of Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon). A planter by profession, he is known for the jackfruit propagation campaign he pioneered throughout the country, which earned him the name ""Kos Mama"" (""Sin."" 'Uncle Jack'). A national hero of Sri Lanka, Dias also helped a number of educational establishments in the country. Before Sri Lanka gained independence from British rule, he was imprisoned by the colonial government and sentenced to death, although"
"Mestiços (Sri Lanka) In Sri Lanka, the names Mestiços (Portuguese for ""Mixed People"") or Casados (""Married"") referred to people of mixed Portuguese and Sri Lankan (Sinhalese and Tamil) descent. The names can be traced back to the 16th century. The first ""mestiços"" descended from Portuguese explorers, soldiers and merchants who reached Sri Lanka after the pioneering voyage of Vasco da Gama. When the Dutch took over coastal Sri Lanka, the descendants of the ""mestiços"" took refuge in the central hills of Kandyan Kingdom under Sinhalese rule. By the middle of the 18th century, the descendants of the ""mestiços"" had partly"