Portal:Sri Lanka

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The Sri Lanka Portal

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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 many 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 Pāli 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 Empire and the Kingdom of Kandy took control of those areas. The Dutch possessions were then taken by the British, who later extended their control over the whole island, colonising it from 1815 to 1948. A national movement for political independence arose in the early 20th century, and in 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 a 26-year 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...)

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A postcard image of a Sri Lankan Tamil woman, 1910.

Sri Lankan Tamils (Tamil: இலங்கை தமிழர், ilankai tamiḻar or ஈழத் தமிழர், īḻat tamiḻar), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, form the plurality in the Eastern Province and are in the minority throughout the rest of the country. 70% of Sri Lankan Tamils in Sri Lanka live in the Northern and Eastern provinces.

Modern Sri Lankan Tamils descend from residents of the Jaffna Kingdom, a former kingdom in the north of Sri Lanka and Vannimai chieftaincies from the east. According to the anthropological and archaeological evidence, Sri Lankan Tamils have a very long history in Sri Lanka and have lived on the island since at least around the 2nd century BCE. (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various Sri Lanka-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Topographic map of Sri Lanka (from Sri Lanka)
Image 2The seated image of Gal Vihara in Polonnaruwa, 12th century, which depicts the dhyana mudra, shows signs of Mahayana influence. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 3The old Sri Lankan Parliament building, near the Galle Face Green in Colombo. It now serves as the Presidential Secretariat's headquarters. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 4Ptolemy's world map of Ceylon, first century CE, in a 1535 publication (from Sri Lanka)
Image 5Kandy women performing the Peacock Dance (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 6Sri Lanka aboriginal Vedda at work (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 7Sri Lanka map of Köppen climate classification (from Sri Lanka)
Image 8The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, Colombo (from Sri Lanka)
Image 9A 17th-century engraving of Dutch explorer Joris van Spilbergen meeting with King Vimaladharmasuriya in 1602 (from Sri Lanka)
Image 10Traditional Sri Lankan harvesting dance (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 11Ceylon Tea (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 12The Sigiriya ("Lion Rock"), a rock fortress and city, built by King Kashyapa (477–495 CE) as a new more defensible capital. It was also used as a Buddhist monastery after the capital was moved back to Anuradhapura. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 13The Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) is an endangered subspecies of leopard native to Sri Lanka. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 14The Sri Lankan elephant is one of three recognised subspecies of the Asian elephant. The 2011 elephant census estimated a population of 5,879. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 15A 1595 map of Sri Lanka created by Dutch cartographer Petrus Plancius (from Sri Lanka)
Image 16Sacred Tooth Temple in Kandy, Sri Lanka (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 17The formal ceremony marking the start of self-rule, with the opening of the first parliament at Independence Square (from Sri Lanka)
Image 18Sigiriya (Also called as Sinhagiriya) (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 19R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 20Ranil Wickremesinghe has been serving as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka since 2022. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 21Tea plantation near Kandy (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 22The World Trade Center in Colombo. Presidential Secretariat, Bank of Ceylon and Galadari Hotel are also visible in the image. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 23A royal palace in Polonnaruwa (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 24Sri Lankan rice and curry (from Sri Lanka)
Image 25Development of life expectancy (from Sri Lanka)
Image 26A view of Sripada from Maskeliya (from Sri Lanka)
Image 27British appointed Kandyan chief headmen in 1905. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 28Ritigala (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 29Hindu devotees engaging in Kavadi at a temple in Vavuniya (from Sri Lanka)
Image 30President J. R. Jayewardene gifting Jayathu, a baby elephant to US President Ronald Reagan in 1984 (from Sri Lanka)
Image 31The Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology is a research institute specialising in the field of nanotechnology. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 32Muttiah Muralitharan holds the record for the highest number of wickets in Test cricket.
Image 33Female dancers in traditional Kandyan dress (from Sri Lanka)
Image 34Cricket in Sri Lanka (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 35The Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre was constructed as a major venue for the performing arts (from Sri Lanka)
Image 36Sri Lanka's population, (1871–2001) (from Sri Lanka)
Image 37Gilded bronze statue of the Bodhisattva Tara, from the Anuradhapura period, 8th century (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 38Sri Lanka's most widely known export, Ceylon tea, which ISO considers the cleanest tea in the world in terms of pesticide residues. Sri Lanka is also the world's 2nd largest exporter of tea. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 39J. R. Jayewardene was the most influential political figure of Sri Lanka in the 1970s. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 40A Low Country drummer playing the traditional Yak Béra (from Sri Lanka)
Image 41The Avukana Buddha statue, a 12-metre-tall (39 ft) standing Buddha statue from the reign of Dhatusena of Anuradhapura, 5th century (from Sri Lanka)
Image 42Esala Perehera festival, around 1885 (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 43Development of real GDP per capita, 1820 to 2018 (from Sri Lanka)
Image 44Sri Vikrama Rajasinha of Kandy, the last ruling native Sri Lankan monarch (from Sri Lanka)
Image 45Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil in Jaffna (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 46Maha rath mala (Rhododendron arboreum ssp. zeylanicum) is a rare sub-species of Rhododendron arboreum found in Central Highlands of Sri Lanka. (from Sri Lanka)

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Major Deshamanya Duncan M. White MBE, ED (1 March 1918 – 3 July 1998) was a Sri Lankan sportsman. He was the first Ceylonese athlete to win an Olympic medal, winning silver in the 400-metre hurdles at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, England. He was also the second South Asian to have won an Olympic medal in track and field after Norman Pritchard of India, with the third being Susanthika Jayasinghe, another Sri Lankan, who won a silver medal in the 200 metres in 2000. (Full article...)

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that A Passage North, which is shortlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize, is set in the aftermath of the Sri Lankan Civil War?
... that shooter Tehani Egodawela was the third person selected from Sri Lanka to compete in the 2020 Summer Olympics?
... that Sri Lanka's ancient tank cascade system of irrigation reservoirs creates habitats for the island's elephants?

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Photo credit: Namunukula
Uva Province (Sinhala: Uva Palata) is Sri Lanka's second least populated province, with 1,187,335 people, created in 1896. It consists of two districts: Badulla and Moneragala. The provincial capital is Badulla. Uva is bordered by Eastern, Southern and Central provinces. Its major tourist attractions are Dunhinda Falls, Diyaluma Falls, Rawana Falls, the Yala National Park (lying partly in the Southern and Eastern Provinces) and Gal Oya National Park (lying partly in the Eastern Province). The Gal Oya hills and the Central mountains are the main uplands, while the Mahaweli Ganga (Sinhalese: great-sandy) and Menik (Sinhalese: gemstone) rivers and the huge Senanayake Samudraya and Maduru Oya Reservoirs are the major waterways.

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... that The Academy Award-winning "The Bridge on the River Kwai" was filmed on the Kelani River (pictured) near Kitulgala?
... that King Vijayabahu I successfully drove the Chola out of Sri Lanka in 1070, reuniting the country for the first time in over a century?
... that Aberdeen where Aberdeen Falls situated, is named after Aberdeen, the third largest city of Scotland and the capital of Aberdeenshire?
... that Dilhara Fernando appeared briefly in English county cricket, playing one County Championship and two Pro40 matches at the end of the season in 2008?

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