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Sri Lanka History

Sri Lanka is one of those places where history seems to fade into the mist of legend. Is not Adam’s Peak said to be the very place where Adam set foot on earth, having been sent out of heaven? Isn’t that his footprint squarely on top of the mountain to prove it? Or is it the Buddha’s footprint on Sri Pada? And isn’t Adam’s Bridge (the chain of islands linking Sri Lanka to India) the very series of stepping stones Rama, aided by his faithful ally, the monkey god Hanuman, stepped across in his mission to rescue Sita from the clutches of the Rawana,King of Lanka, in the epic Ramayana?

The first entries in the Mahavamsa - or "Great History" - date back to 543BC, which coincides with the arrival of Prince Vijaya in Sri Lanka. Some 300 years later, commenced the early Anuradhapura Period, with King Devanampiya Tissa as the first ruler. It was in this period that a sapling of the sacred Bo Tree, under which the Lord Buddha attained enlightenment, was brought to Sri Lanka. The late Anuradhapura Period, which began in the year 459, saw the reign of King Kasyapa, and the construction of Sigiriya. The Polonnaruwa period, witnessed the transfer of the capital from Anuradhapura to Polonnaruwa in 1073. Famed explorer, Marco Polo, arrived in Sri Lanka in the period between 1254 and 1324, and, in 1505, the Portuguese landed, and occupied the island’s coastal regions.

Invasion was intermittent and the capital was moved constantly until the Portuguese arrived in 1505, when the chief city was established at Kotte, in the western lowlands. The Portuguese came to trade in spices but stayed to rule until 1656 in the coastal regions, as did the Dutch thereafter. Dutch rule lasted from 1656 to 1796, in which year they were displaced by the British. During this period the highland Kingdom, with its capital in Kandy, retained its independence despite repeated assaults by foreign powers who ruled the rest of the country. In 1815 the kingdom of Kandy was ceded to the British and thus they established their rule over the whole island. Modern communications, western medical services, education in English, as well as the plantation industry (first coffee then tea, rubber and coconut) developed during British rule. By a process of peaceful, constitutional evolution, Sri Lanka won back her independence in 1948 and is now a sovereign republic, with membership in the Commonwealth of Nations and the United Nations Organisation.

The civilisational history of Srilanka is more than 2500 years old. In earlier times it was known as Ceylon. Sri Lanka's first settlers were the nomadic Veddahs. They were conquered by the Sinhalese around the 5th or 6th century BC. A number of Sinhalese kingdoms, including Anuradhapura in the north, took root across the island during the 4th century BC. Buddhism was introduced by Mahinda, son of the Indian Mauryan emperor Ashoka, in the 3rd century BC, and it quickly became the established religion and the focus of a strong nationalism. Anuradhapura was established as capital of Sri Lanka in ancient times. Continuous struggle between South Indian kingdoms and Sinhalese kingdom went on for over 1000 years. In 11 century AD, the capital was shifted from Anuradhapura to Polonnaruwa.

The Portuguese arrived in Colombo in 1505 and gained a monopoly on the invaluable spice trade. By 1597, Potuguese had taken formal control of the island. But they failed to dislodge the powerful Sinhalese kingdom in Kandy. With the help of Dutch the Sinhalese kings were able to expel Portuguese from Sri Lanka in 1658. The Dutch were more interested in trade and profits than in ruling the country. They only half-heartedly resisted when the British arrived in 1796. In 1815 Britain defeated the Sinhalese kingdom of Kandy and became the first European power to rule the entire island. Coffee, tea, cinnamon and coconut plantations sprang up and English was introduced as the national language.

Sri Lanka achieved independence in 1948 and adopted democratic system of governance. In 1972, the country became a republic and adopted Sri Lanka as its official name-hitherto it was known as Ceylon. Shortly after independence an ethnic conflict between majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils started. The conflict has taken a heavy toll on the island country and has resulted in the death of thousands of people. Peace talks brokered by Norway resulted in ceasefire in 2001 and currently the peace talks are going on between the two sides.

History -Sri Lanka War Between English and French
The British Period
The French revolution resulted in a major shake-up among the European powers and in 1796 the Dutch were easily supplanted by the British, who in 1815 also won the control of the kingdom of Kandy, becoming the first European power to rule the whole island. But in 1802, Sri Lanka became a Crown Colony and in 1818 a unified administration for the island was set up. Soon the country was dotted with coffee, cinnamon and coconut plantations and a network of roads and railways were built to handle this new economic activity. English became the official language, and is still widely spoken.

Coffee was the main crop and the backbone of the colonial economy, but the occurence of a leaf blight virtually wiped it out in the 1870s and the plantations quickly switched over to tea or rubber. Today Sri Lanka is the world’s second largest tea exporter. The British were unable to persuade the Sinhalese to work cheaply and willingly on the plantations, so they imported large number of South Indian labourers from South India. Sinhalese peasants in the hill country lost land to the estates.

Independence
Between WW I and WW II, political stirrings started to push Sri Lanka towards eventual independence from Britain – but in a considerably more peaceful and low-key manner than in India. At the end of WW II it was evident that independence would come very soon, in the wake of independence for Sri Lanka’s neighbour. In February 1948 Sri Lanka, or Ceylon as it was still known, became an independent member of the British Commonwealth.

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