Sri Lanka History

In the Beginning
(5th or 6th century BC - 4th century BC)

The earliest accounts of Sri Lanka dates back to around the fifth century before Christ according to the Mahavansa - The earliest recorded manuscript. It was during this period that people started arriving from northern India and started colonising the island. They eventually replaced the indigenous people called the Veddhas. During this period, Sri Lanka was called Ceylon or the land of Sinhala's.

Around 540BC, the exiled prince Vijaya arrived with 700 of his loyal followers arrived in the island. he conquered all three tribes of the Veddhas. This explains the common roots of both Tamil and Sinhala.

Anuradhapura
(400 BC - 1000 AD)

The Singhalese people first developed in the dry, north plain region and then took root across the island to the west and the south during the 4th century BC. The strongest Singhalese group in this period was the Singhalese kingdom of Anuradhapura in the north.

In the 3rd century BC, Arahat Mahinda, the son of Ashoka Mauryan emperor of India, introduced Buddhism to the people of Anuradhapura. He convinced the Anuradhapura king and his followers to convert to Buddhism. Following the teaching of Buddhism, Anuradhapura people were getting a strong sense of national purpose and national identity.

For almost 1500 years of Anuradhapura as a center of Singhalese kingdom, Buddhism had flourished the kingdom with cultural greatness and civilization; however, because of its proximity to South India, it suffered from the repeated invasion and takeover of Anuradhapura by South Indian kingdom, which was a major struggle to the state progression.

Between the mid-2nd century BC and the end of 6th century AD, a large part of Sri Lanka came under the rule of an Indian invader whose dynasty called Lambakarna and who paid attention to the development of irrigation. Today, the remnants of the enormous 'Tanks' -- artificial lakes developed for irrigation purposes in the dry regions - that are scattered over the country are the reminders of this period of Sri Lanka history.

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Polonnaruwa
(11th century AD - 13th century AD)

After facing several repeated invasions from South India, at the end of 10th century AD Vijayabahu I decided to abandon Anuradhapura and moved further southeast to established Polonnaruwa, as his capital and it continuously became a capital of the Singhalese over the next two centuries.

After Vijayabahu I, the founder of this kingdom, there were other two great kings in this kingdom, the first king was Parakramabahu I, the Vijayabahu I's successor, who indulged in building his capital and constructing many tanks around the country. During his period, Polonnaruwa and the country achieved its triumph as a civilization center with a genius network of hydraulic engineering -- the construction of water tanks and irrigation canals -- and architectural buildings. However, these constructions had resulted in massive extravagance and probably wore the country out.

Nissanka Malla, also the Parakramabahu I's successor, was the second and the last great king of Polonnaruwa who was followed by a series of weak rulers. During the declining period, the internal conflicts that occurred in the country welcomed several incursions from many parties, from 1247 to 1258, the island suffered from raids from Malay pirates, and in 1411, the Chinese admiral kidnapped a local king, and finally the Indian invasion that arose again in the north region of the island.

By the end of the kingdom, in 16th century, tanks were neglected or destroyed and malaria started to spread out as a result of the decay of the irrigation system. Additionally, the internal divisions and factional quarrels had divided the island into three kingdoms, which were a Tamil kingdom of Jaffna in the north (which originated from south India), the Singhalese kingdom of Kandy in the central highlands and the Kotte kingdom in the southwest, which was the most powerful.

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Portuguese Period
(1505 AD - 1658 AD)

The first Portuguese, Lorenco de Almeida, arrived in Colombo in 1505 AD. He established a friendly relationship with the king of Kotte and gained the monopoly on the spice and cinnamon trade for Portugal.

The original trading relationship later turned in the direction of aiding the king fighting the neighboring kingdoms that threatened the island integrity. Help and protection of the Portuguese soon resulted in Portugal taking over and ruling Kotte and, by 1597 AD, other parts of the island excepted for the areas of the kingdom of Kandy in the central highlands.

As the highlands were remote and inaccessible, the king of Kandy was always able to defeat, and on several occasion, able to drive the Portuguese back to the coast.

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Dutch Colonization
(1658 AD - 1796 AD)

Portuguese rule was at its worst characterized by greed, cruelty, and intolerance. Dutch arrival in Sri Lanka was a result of attempts by the Kandy king to seek for help in expelling the Portuguese from the island. However, the consequence came out was only the substitution of one colonial power to another. By 1658, Dutch took the control over the costal areas of the island.

However, after continual attacks Dutch also unsuccessfully occupied the central highlands areas of Kandy. The Dutch were much more interested in trade and profits than the Portuguese, who were more focused on spreading their religion and extending physical control, the island was then turned into a stopping point in their trading routes with the Far East, China, India and Japan.

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British Ruling
(1796 AD - 1915 AD)

The arrival of British in 1796 resulted in expelling Dutch out of the country and in 1815, the British who managed to conquer the kingdom of Kandy became the first European power that ruled the entire island. Kandy was then established as a capital of British Rule and the unified administration for the island was set up in 1818.

The British took over control of Singhalese people and the change in property laws in 1832 benefited British settlers to also take over most of land ownerships from Sri Lankans. In India as well, the British changed the whole structure of the country and abolished slavery.

Network of roads and railways were built to handle the economic activities following the growth of the plantation industry, together with modern communication systems and western medical services. English became the national language, which lead to the enhancement of education system.

Coffee was the main crop and the backbone of the country economy but the epidemic during 1870s that affected the coffee crop forced the plantation owners to switch to tea. At the same time, rubber was introduced as a main crop in the island. The growth of plantation industry required British to import Tamil labors from South India to substitute Singhalese who were unwilling to work for such low wages. Because of the increased Tamil migration, the hill-country Singhalese lost their land to the newcomers and this was the beginning of the continual conflicts between Tamil and Singhalese, which lead to occasional outbreak of violence over a long period until today.

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Independence
(1915 AD - 1948 AD)

The demand for country independence arose subsequent to the independence of India after WWI. Sri Lanka was only involved in the WWI as a part of the British Empire. However, Allies' wartime propaganda about the virtue of freedom and self-determination of nations, heard and noted by Sri Lanka nationalist, had sparked off the growth of nationalism in Sri Lanka. In 1915, the British misconstrued the communal riot and uprising that broke out in the west coast as antigovernment conspiracy and consequently put it down with brutal forces. This was considered the turning point in the nationalist movement in Sri Lanka.

Learning that, in 1917, the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League in India had joined for more nationalist progression, two years later, in 1919, the major Singhalese and Tamil political organization in Sri Lanka united to form the Ceylon National Congress, which proposed for a new constitution that was then written in 1920. The constitution was amended in 1924, which resulted in increasing Sri Lankan representations. However, as the changed constitution failed to provide qualified representative persons for government, in 1931, further constitutional changes were implemented providing Sri Lankan a practice of self-government and allowing Singhalese and Tamil's to further extend their influence in government.

During WWII, Sri Lanka became a central base for British operations in Southeast Asia after felling of Singapore to the Japanese in February 1942. In this time, Sri Lanka was not only the base for warfare operations but it was also the supplier for essential products for Allies especially rubber enabling the country to save a surplus in a hard currency. As its role of a seat of the Southeast Asia command, a broad infrastructure of health services and modern amenities was built to accommodate the large number of troops posted into all parts of the country. The inherited infrastructure improved the standard of living in the postwar.

Relationships between British and Sri Lanka that were maintained since WWII influenced British to eventually promise the full participatory government after the war. British negotiated the island's dominion status with the Vice Chairman of the Board of Ministers, Don Stephen Senanayake, who also the founder and the leader of the United Nation Party (UNP). The negotiation ended with the Ceylon Independence Act of 1947 which formalized the transfer of power which was later implemented as a new constitution (and making Sri Lanka a dominion) on 4 February 1948.

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Senanayake Rule
(1948 AD - 1956 AD)

Following the independence, D.S Senanayake was elected as a prime minister and, together with his UNP party, formed the first independent government. His opponents mostly were Tamils and communists. At first, his government ran smoothly, concentrating on maintaining a strong economy, strengthening social services and weakening the opposition. In order to achieve the last policy, the government disfranchised the hill-country Tamils by depriving their citizenships. (Eventually, between 1960s and 1980s some of the hill-country Tamils were repatriated to India while others were granted Sri Lankan citizenship.) D.S Senanayake was killed in an accident in 1952 and was succeed by his son, Dudley Senanayake.

During the period of Dudley Senanayake as a prime minister, he failed to accomplish one of the first policies instituted after the independence. It was free rations of rice policy but as this rice was imported and its price started to escalate worldwide, the attempts to increase the price of rice in the country (in 1953) resulted in mass riots and many deaths followed by the announcement of state of emergency. Dudley resigned and was replaced by his uncle, Sir John Kotelawala, who easily was defeated in 1956 general election and the next coalition led by SWRD Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).

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Bandaranaike Period
(1956 AD - 1972 AD)

Bandaranaike and his SLFP apparently acted as a defender of a besieged Sinhalese culture, during his rule, the passage of an Official Language Act - 'Sinhalese only' that would increase the power and job prospects of Sinhalese, precipitated the antagonism between Sinhalese and Tamils. In May 1958 when the situation became intense, nationwide communal riots caused hundreds of deaths, which were mostly of Tamils. This disturbance was the first major episode of communal violence on the island that left a deep psychological scar between two ethnic groups. The government declared the state of emergency and forcibly relocated more than 25,000 Tamil refugees to the Tamil areas in the north.

Bandaranaike was assassinated by a Buddhist monk in 1959 and, in the next year, was replaced by his widow and the succeeding leader of SLFP, Sirimavo, who then became the world's first female prime minister. She continued her husband's socialist policies but seriously worsened the economy. She was defeated in the 1965 election by Dudley Senanayake but able to regain the power again in the 1970. In the second time as a prime minister, he again failed to come to grips with the economic crisis, consequently, in 1971, there was a poorly organized revolt led by Sinhalese Marxists (mostly students and young people) under the banner of JVP, the People's Liberation Army.

They were quickly and ruthlessly eradicated by the Sri Lanka army resulting in many thousands of deaths. One year later, the country became a republic and 'Sri Lanka' became its official name.

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Tamil Unrest
(1971 AD - 1982 AD)

Misery of Tamils that had long been presented was particularly pushed (for uprising) by two pieces of registrations approved in the Bandaranaike period. The first one, passed in 1970, was apparently designed to reduce their places in universities and the second one was the new 1972 constitution declaring Buddhism as a state's primary religion. Subsequent civil unrest resulted in a state of emergency in Tamil areas of the north for several years. During this time, many Tamil organizations were formed among them was the Tamil United Front founded in 1972, which later became the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) in 1976.

In 1977, Bandaranaike lost the election for the reorganized UNP making Junius Richard (JR) Jayewardene, the UNP's leader, became a prime minister. While Indian Tamils in the plantation areas had no interest in gaining Tamil state, Sri Lanka Tamils gave support to Jayewardene and became involved in the parliament under the banner of TULF. The TULF was later known as the Tamil Tigers (comprised mostly of Tamil youths), with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a strongest group, was responsible for some of the earliest and most gruesome acts of Tamil terrorism including a trigger of the most brutally communal riots. As a result, Jayewardene promoted Tamil as a 'national language' to be used in Tamil areas and granted Tamil greater local government control. Nevertheless, the violence did not stop.

The introduction of a new constitution (Sri Lanka's third) in 1978 was marked as the country's political development in which greatest power conferred on the new post of president. Jayewardene himself was elected as the Sri Lanka first president and re-elected for the second time in 1982.

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Riots & the Civil War
(1983 AD - 1994 AD)

There had been a series of anti Tamil outbursts in 1958, 1977 and 1981 but the riot happened in 1983 was the worst. It was sparked by the massacre of an army patrol by Tamil Tiger secessionists in the northern Jaffna region, the heartland of Tamils. For several days afterwards, Sinhalese mobs and gangs indulged in an orgy of killing, burning and looting against Tamils and their property in town over the island especially in Colombo. The Tamil deaths were estimated between 400 and 2,000. Ten of thousands of Tamils fled to safer, Tamil-majority areas while many others left the country, Sinhalese moved out of Jaffna and other Tamil areas.

The violence between both sides escalated by reprisals to each other. There were several massacres which the worst was in May 1985 in which 150 people (mostly Sinhalese) were gunned down by terrorists. The violence extremely affected on Sri Lanka's economy as many businesses were destroyed, tourism slumped badly and tea prices plunged. The government lost a big amount of money into defense and the violation of human rights resulted in the Western aid-giving countries intimidated of withdrawing their support.

In 1987 after the government forced Tamils back to Jaffna of the north, the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) intervened to defuse the ethnic conflict by disarming the Tamil Tiger and to keep the peace in the north and the east. However, the concern of Sinhalese and Muslims in the south about Indian occupation activated riots, by late 1988, the center and the south of the country were terrorized and the economy was crippled.

At the end of 1988, Jayewardene retired and the next UNP leader, Ranasinghe Premadasa, won a year-following election and became a president. One of his winning campaigns was the removal of the IPKF who seemingly had almost eliminated the LTTE. However, as soon as the Indian peacekeepers completed their withdrawal in March 1990 the war between LTTE and Sri Lankan began all over again - starting three years of terror.

A LTTE suicide bomber assassinated Premadasa in 1993. A year later, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, daughter of Sirimavo Bandaranaike, who was then a leader of SLFP, formed the People's Alliance (PA), a coalition that included the SLFP and small parties. She also won a presidential election in 1994, the leader of her opposite party had been assassinated by a suicide bomber just two weeks before the election, making her a first female president appointing to her mother prime minister.

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Incoming Peace
(1995 AD - present)

Peace talk began in January 1995 in keeping with the PA promise of ending the civil war. The hostilities were briefly halted and, by the end of 1995, the government dispatched massive military troops into the Jaffna Peninsular in Operation Riviresa (Operation Sunshine) to dislodge both the Tiger and Tamil population of the city. It seemed that Sri Lanka was on the path to lasting peace but as the Tiger re-grouped, in the mid-1996, and were able to launched damaging attacks on government troops stationed in northern Sri Lanka and terror hit in Colombo.

In December 1999, just before the presidential election, Kumaratunga who was the target of a suicide bomber was attacked causing her losing the sight of one eye but she later won a president position. Later in 2000 some hope had been brought by the Norwegian, Erik Solheim, who was invited to bring the LTTE and the government to the negotiation. Progress has been extremely slow with both sides battling extremist views and long-held prejudices. The fighting still continues, despite the ceasefire, the Jaffna peninsula remains in the hand of Sri Lanka army.

In December 2001 the UNP returned to office on a policy of a negotiated settlement with the Tigers, with Wickremasinghe as Prime Minister. A cease fire began, the first long cessation of hostilities since the beginning of the conflict. But the 1978 constitution left the Prime Minister with little power against a hostile President, and Kumaratunga did all she could to frustrate Wickremesinghe's government. In March 2004 she dismissed Wickremesinghe and called fresh elections, which returned the SLFP to office under Mahinda Rajapakse.

By 2005 there had been no further progress towards either a military or political solution. The assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in August 2005, by the LTTE (although they denied responsibility), further hardened attitudes. His successor was Anura Bandaranaike, the President's brother and putative political heir. Twenty years of civil conflict had done immense damage to Sri Lankan society and the economy, which has fallen behind other Asian economies, although it remains the second most prosperous nation in South Asia.

In elections held on 17 November 2005, Mahinda Rajapakse, the son of Don Alwin Rajapaksa, was elected President, defeating Wickremasinghe. He appointed Ratnasiri Wickremanayake Prime Minister and Mangala Samaraweera Foreign Minister. Negotiations with the LTTE stalled and low-intensity conflict began. The violence dipped off after talks in February, but escalated in April.

At present all indicators point to an undeclared Eelam War IV in progress.

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