For a small island, Sri Lanka has many nicknames such as Serendib, Ceylon, Teardrop of India, Resplendent Isle, Island of Dharma, Pearl of the Orient. This colourful collection reveals its richness and beauty, and the intensity of the affection it evokes in its visitors. The beach thing may be a cliche, but don't miss them. Then head to the hills to cool off amidst tea plantations and ancient cities. The island teems with bird life, and even the occasional elephant or leopard.
To top it all off, the people are friendly, the food is delicious and costs are low. Climatically the driest and best seasons are from December to March on the west and south coasts and in the Hill Country, and from May to September on the east coast. December to March is also the time when most foreign tourists come, the majority of them escaping the European winter.
Highlands make up Sri Lanka's south-central region and core, with narrow gorges and deep river valleys. The surrounding lowlands include hills and fertile plains. The developing mixed economy is largely based on agriculture, services, and light industries. Clothing, tea, gemstones, and rubber are exported. The island is world-famous for its gemstones, which include sapphires, rubies, and topaz. It is also a major producer of high-grade graphite.
Sri Lanka is a republic with one legislative house; its head of state and government is the president, assisted by the prime minister. The Sinhalese people are probably the result of aboriginal inhabitants mixing with Indo-Aryans who began migrating from India
c. the 5th century BC. The Tamils were later immigrants from Dravidian India, migrating over a period from the early centuries AD to
c. 1200. Buddhism was introduced during the 3rd century BC. As Buddhism spread, the Sinhalese kingdom extended its political control over the island but lost it to invaders from southern India in the 10th century. Between 1200 and 1505, Sinhalese power gravitated to southwestern Sri Lanka, while a southern Indian dynasty seized power in the north and established the Tamil kingdom in the 14th century. Foreign invasions from India, China, and Malaya occurred in the 13th – 15th centuries. In 1505 the Portuguese arrived, and by 1619 they controlled most of the island. The Sinhalese enlisted the Dutch to help oust the Portuguese, and the island eventually came under the control of the Dutch
East India Company, which relinquished it in 1796 to the British. In 1802 it became the British crown colony of Ceylon, which gained independence in 1948. It became the Republic of Sri Lanka in 1972 and took its present name in 1978. Civil strife between Tamil and Sinhalese groups has beset the country since the early 1980s, the Tamils demanding a separate autonomous state in northern Sri Lanka. In 2004 Sri Lanka was struck by a tsunami that badly damaged much of the coastline and killed tens of thousands of people.
The pear-shaped island has a population composed mainly (about 75%) of Sinhalese, who are Theravada Buddhists; Hindu Tamils make up a large minority (some 18%), and there are smaller groups of Muslim Moors, Burghers (descendants of Dutch and Portuguese colonists), and Eurasians (descended from British colonists). The official language is Sinhalese (Sinhala); Tamil is a second national language, and English is commonly used in government. Education is free through the university level; the literacy rate is about 90%.
The country's economy is primarily agricultural; the emphasis is on export crops such as tea, rubber, and coconut (all plantation-grown). Cocoa, coffee, cinnamon, cardamom, pepper, cloves, nutmeg, citronella, and tobacco are also exported. Rice, fruit, and vegetables are grown for local consumption. Sri Lanka is an exporter of amorphous graphite, its principal mineral industry. Petroleum refining is also important, and precious and semiprecious gems, mineral sands, clays, and limestones are mined. Substantial deposits of iron ore have not yet been exploited. The island's swift rivers have considerable hydroelectric potential. Industry has been centered chiefly around the processing of agricultural products, especially the money crops—tea, rubber, and coconut. By the mid-1980s, however, textiles and garments had become Sri Lanka's biggest export. A great variety of consumer goods are also manufactured. Sri Lanka opened itself to foreign banks in 1979 and has developed an offshore insurance and banking industry. It has a persistent balance of trade problem, however, and the country is dependent on large amounts of foreign aid. Although coastal lagoons provide many sheltered harbors, only Sri Lanka lies on the main world shipping routes. The port of Colombo, on which most of the country's railroads converge, handles most of the foreign trade. The United States, Japan, India, and the United Kingdom are the largest trading partners.
The most ancient of the inhabitants were probably the ancestors of the Veddas, an aboriginal people (numbering about 3,000) now living in remote mountain areas. They were conquered in the 6th cent. B.C. by the Sinhalese, who were originally from N India; the Ramayana, the ancient Hindu epic, probably reflects this conquest. The Sri Lanka chronicle Mahavamsa relates the arrival of Vijaya, the first Sinhalese king, in 483 B.C. The Sinhalese settled in the north and developed an elaborate irrigation system. They founded their capital at Anuradhapura, which, after the introduction of Buddhism from India in the 3d cent. B.C., became one of the chief world centers of that religion; a cutting of the pipal tree under which Buddha attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya was planted there. The Temple of the Tooth at
Kandy as well as the Dalada Maligawa are sacred Buddhist sites. Buddhism stimulated the fine arts in Sri Lanka, its classical period lasted from the 4th to the 6th cent. Full independence was finally granted to the island on Feb. 4, 1948, with dominion status in the Commonwealth of Nations.
Out of season travel has its advantages - it's less crowded, and many airfares and accommodation prices go right down. Nor does it rain all the time. Reefs may protect a beach area and make swimming quite feasible at places like Hikkaduwa, which during the monsoon can be quite pleasant. July/August is the time of the Kandy Esala Perahera, the 10-day festival honouring the sacred tooth relic of the Buddha, and also the time for the Kataragama Festival in the South. In both towns accommodation just before, during and immediately after the festivals is very difficult to come by, and rates usually double or treble.
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