Home to the Balangoda man known for their agriculture and domestication of wild animals to the name present in the holy text of Ramayana this land which boast a coastline of about 1340km Sri Lanka or lovingly known as Ceylon has been known to be the tear of India and the Pearl of the Indian Ocean. If you feel that Sri Lanka will be some old boring island of coast India. Well think again…we at Travizia are committed to give you the best experience of this mystic jewel in the Indian Ocean.
The history of Sri Lanka is the story of change. It is the story of how a small island nation can face all odds and still stand proud and tall in the 21st century.
Sri Lanka has been known to be the home of the Stone Age gatherers for over 2 million years. With Immigration by the Sinhalese from the north India and Tamilians from south of India as early as 5th Century BCE the modern day Sinhalese population was set in place and is well noted in the proto-historical Prakrith chronicles like the Mahavamsa, Dipavamsa, and the Culavamsa . In contrast to the largely Buddhist Sinhalese, most Tamils are Hindu or Christian and form a minority in the Sri Lankan population.
Puttallam was believed to be the place where The legendary north Indian Prince Vijaya and his 700 followers landed and this formed the first Sinhalese kingdom around Anuradhapura. In the 3rd century BCE, Buddhism arrived from India at Mihintale, where the conversion of Sinhalese King Tissa occurred. Buddhism was introduced in the 3rd century BCE by Arhath Mahinda (son of the Indian emperor Ashoka). Who also became the first Tamil ruler of the Anuradhapura Kingdom. Anuradhapura is considered to be an important site for Buddhism, the major reason being it still houses a portion from the Bodhi tree which was brought in by the early Buddhist emissaries. Tensions with Tamil Kingdoms in India were never far away and a Pandyan invasion in 432 led to the establishment of the rock fortress at Sigiriya as the capital.
The island was divided into numerous kingdoms over the following centuries, intermittently (between CE 993–1077) united under Chola dynasty. Sri Lanka was ruled by 181 monarchs from the Anuradhapura to Kandy periods.
This was then followed by the rulers of the land being the Portuguese to the the dutch for 300 years. The Dutch established a trading fort in Galle, destroying the earlier Portuguese outpost. It wasn’t long until the Dutch East India Company controlled most of Ceylon. But France’s control over the Netherlands and defeat in the Napoleonic wars saw British control of Sri Lanka confirmed at the Treaty of Amiens. The armed uprisings of 1818 Uva Rebillion and the 1848 Matale Rebilion shook the nation but it gave hope of freedom.
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 which made the Executive President the head of state. The Sri Lankan Civil War began in 1983, including an armed youth uprising in 1971 and 1987–1989, with the 25-year-long civil war ending in 2009.
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