Sri Lanka

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
  • ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජය (Sinhala)
  • இலங்கை சனநாயக சோசலிசக் குடியரசு (Tamil)
  • Sinhalese:Śrī Laṅkā Prajātāntrika Samājawādī Janarajaya
    Tamil:Ilaṅkai Jaṉanāyaka Sōsalisak Kuṭiyarasu
Emblem
Anthem: "Sri Lanka Matha"
(English: "Mother Sri Lanka")
CapitalSri Jayawardenepura Kotte (legislative)[1]
Colombo (executive and judicial)[2]
6°56′N 79°52′E / 6.933°N 79.867°E / 6.933; 79.867
Largest cityColombo
Official languagesSinhala
Tamil[3]
Recognised languagesEnglish
Ethnic groups
(2012[4])
74.9% Sinhalese
11.2% Sri Lankan Tamils
9.2% Sri Lankan Moors
4.2% Indian Tamils
0.5% Others (incl. Burghers, Malays, Veddas, Chinese,
Religion
(2012)
70.2% Buddhism (official)[5]
12.6% Hinduism
9.7% Islam
7.4% Christianity
0.1% Other/None
Demonym(s)Sri Lankan
GovernmentUnitary parliamentary constitutional republic
• President
Anura Kumara Dissanayake
Harini Amarasuriya
Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena[6]
Jayantha Jayasuriya
LegislatureParliament
Independence 
from the United Kingdom
• Dominion
4 February 1948
• Republic
22 May 1972
7 September 1978
Area
• Total
65,610 km2 (25,330 sq mi) (120th)
• Water (%)
4.4
Population
• 2019 estimate
21,803,000[7] (58th)
• 2012 census
20,277,597[8]
• Density
327/km2 (846.9/sq mi) (43rd)
GDP (PPP)2020 estimate
• Total
$321.856 billion[9] (58th)
• Per capita
$14,509[9] (91st)
GDP (nominal)2020 estimate
• Total
$92.111 billion[9] (65th)
• Per capita
$4,152[9] (109th)
Gini (2016)39.8[10]
medium
HDI (2019) 0.782[11]
high · 72nd
CurrencySri Lankan rupee (Rs) (LKR)
Time zoneUTC+5:30 (SLST)
Date format
  • dd-mm-yyyy
  • yyyy-mm-dd
Driving sideleft
Calling code+94
ISO 3166 codeLK
Internet TLD
  • .lk
  • .ලංකා
  • .இலங்கை
Website
www.gov.lk

The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (ශ්‍රී ලංකා in Sinhala, இலங்கை in Tamil) is a tropical island nation located in the Indian Ocean just off the Southern coast of India. The capital of the country is Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte while the largest city is Colombo. Sri Lanka shares a sea boundary with the Maldives in the south-west and India in the north-west.

It was known as Ceylon before 1972, and Serendib and Sinhale, among other names, before that.

Ethnic make-up

Sri Lanka has three main ethnic groups.

The largest of the three groups are the Sinhalese. Most of them are Buddhist. Their language is Sinhala.They make up about 75% of the population.

The second largest group are the Tamils. They are mostly Hindu and mostly live in the north. There are about 2,271,000 Tamils in Sri Lanka.

The third largest group are the Sri Lankan Moors. They are Muslims. There are over 1.5 million people in this group. They are predominantly Tamil speakers.

Other than these three main groups, there are burghers (descendants of colonial ancestors), Malays and Chinese.

There is also a small indigenous population called 'veddas'.

The total population of the island is over 22 million people.

History

The island has a recorded history of over 2500 years. Buddhist missionaries were sent from India in 250 BC during the reign of Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan Empire. The kings of the island, and eventually most of the Sinhalese people, became Buddhists. Legend has it that Buddha visited the island three times.

There were many Sinhalese Kingdoms such as Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Dambadeniya, Kotte and Kandy. The Island also faced several invasions from India and one such invasion led to the establishment of the Jaffna Kingdom in the North.

The island was subject to colonisation beginning with the Portuguese in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Dutch in the 17th and 18th centuries, and lastly the British from 1796 to 1948. The British traded as the others had done, but also developed plantations of coffee and tea. Tea was planted after a fungus destroyed the coffee plantations in 1869. The tea plantations were the basis of Sri Lankan prosperity for a hundred years. Lastly, rubber plantations were started in the early 20th century. In 1965, Ceylon became the world's leading exporter of tea, with 200,000 tonnes of tea being shipped internationally annually.[12]

Independence from Britain was gained in 1948, together with Dominion status in the British Commonwealth of Nations. In 1972, Ceylon changed its name officially to the Republic of Sri Lanka, and is still a member of the Commonwealth.[13]

The Sri Lankan Civil War against Tamil separatists(LTTE) erupted in 1983 and only came to an end in 2009. In the 2010s, tourism rapidly grew as a source of foreign investment and currency. An economic crisis in the early 2020s led to civil unrest.

National symbols of Sri Lanka

  • National animal of Sri Lanka
  • National bird of Sri Lanka - Ceylon Junglefowl
  • National tree of Sri Lanka
  • National flower of Sri Lanka
  • National Flag of Sri Lanka

Flag

The Sri Lanka flag also known as the Lion flag has a Lion holding a sword in its right paw. The lion represents bravery. There is a Bodhi leaf in each corner which represent the four Brahmaviharas of Buddhism. The colours Crimson, Orange and Green represent the Sinhalese, Tamils and Moors respectively.

Provinces

Sri Lanka has 9 provinces.

Notes

References

  1. ↑ "Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  2. ↑ "Colombo". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  3. ↑ "Department of Official Languages". Archived from the original on 2016-09-06. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  4. ↑ "South Asia: Sri Lanka". CIA. 8 March 2022.
  5. ↑ "Ashik v Bandula And Others (Noise Pollution Case)" (PDF). www.lawnet.gov.lk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  6. ↑ "Hon. Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena elected as the New Speaker". Parliament of Sri Lanka. 20 August 2020. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  7. ↑ "Mid-year population projection" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 November 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  8. ↑ "Census of Population and Housing 2011 Enumeration Stage February–March 2012" (PDF). Department of Census and Statistics – Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 December 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2019". IMF.org. International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  10. ↑ "Gini Index". World Bank.
  11. ↑ Human Development Report 2020 The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 15 December 2020. pp. 343–346. ISBN 978-92-1-126442-5. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  12. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-10. Retrieved 2015-01-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ↑ Dominion of Ceylon: definition of Dominion of Ceylon in the Free Online Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com. [1]

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