Sri Lanka

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 which is an Indo-Aryan language. They make up about 75% of the population.

The second largest group are the Tamils who are Dravidian. They are mostly Hindu and mostly live in the north. They speak the Tamil language which is a Dravidian language. There are about 2,271,000 Tamils in Sri Lanka.

The third largest group are the Sri Lankan Moors. They are Muslim. 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.

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.

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.

## 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.
- Central
- North Central
- North
- Eastern
- North Western
- Sabaragamuwa
- Southern
- Uva
- Western

## Related pages

- List of rivers of Sri Lanka
- Sri Lanka at the Olympics
- Sri Lanka national football team
- History of Sri Lanka
- Burning of Jaffna library

### Government

- Official web portal of the Government of Sri Lanka
- Office of the President of Sri Lanka
- Ministry of Defence, Sri Lanka
- Central Bank of Sri Lanka
- World Terrorism Blog On Sri Lanka

### Business

- Board of Investment of Sri Lanka
- Sri Lanka Export Development Board
- Colombo Stock Exchange
- Sri Lankan Business Directory

### Other

- Virtual Library Sri Lanka
- The CIA World Factbook - Sri Lanka
- Sri Lanka - UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Collection of slides of Sri Lanka, University of Pennsylvania library
- NIGHANTAYA | The Environment Friendly E Community | Sri Lanka

## Infobox (infobox)

- **subbox**: yes
- **bodystyle**: font-size:75%;font-weight:normal;
- **rowclass1**: mergedrow
- **label1**: Sinhala language, Sinhalese:
- **rowclass2**: mergedrow
- **label2**: Tamil language, Tamil:
- **rowclass3**: mergedrow


## Infobox (country)

- **common name**: Sri Lanka
- **image flag**: Flag of Sri Lanka.svg
- **image coat**: Emblem of Sri Lanka.svg
- **symbol width**: 50px
- **symbol type**: Emblem
- **national anthem**: "Sri Lanka Matha"
()

- **image map**: Sri Lanka (orthographic projection).svg
- **capital**: Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (legislative)
Colombo (executive and judicial)
- **largest city**: Colombo
- **official languages**: Sinhala language, Sinhala
Tamil language, Tamil
- **languages sub**: yes
- **languages2 type**: Recognised languages
- **languages2**: Sri Lankan English, English
- **ethnic groups**: 74.9% Sinhalese people, Sinhalese
11.2% Sri Lankan Tamils
9.2% Sri Lankan Moors
4.2% Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka, Indian Tamils
0.5% Others (incl. Burgher people, Burghers, Sri Lankan Malays, Malays, Veddas, Chinese people in Sri Lanka, Chinese,
- **ethnic groups year**: 2012
- **religion**: 70.2% Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Buddhism (state religion, official)
12.6% Hinduism in Sri Lanka, Hinduism
9.7% Islam in Sri Lanka, Islam
7.4% Christianity in Sri Lanka, Christianity
0.1% Other/None
- **religion year**: 2012
- **demonym**: Sri Lankan
- **government type**: Unitary state, Unitary Parliamentary system, parliamentary constitutional republic
- **leader title1**: President of Sri Lanka, President
- **leader name1**: Anura Kumara Dissanayake
- **leader title2**: Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Prime Minister
- **leader name2**: Harini Amarasuriya
- **leader title3**: Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, Speaker of the Parliament
- **leader name3**: Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena
- **leader title4**: Chief Justice of Sri Lanka, Chief Justice
- **leader name4**: Jayantha Jayasuriya
- **legislature**: Parliament of Sri Lanka, Parliament
- **sovereignty type**: History of Sri Lanka#Independence, Independence
- **sovereignty note**: from the United Kingdom
- **established event1**: Dominion of Ceylon, Dominion
- **established date1**: 4 February 1948
- **established event2**: Republic
- **established date2**: 22 May 1972
- **established date3**: 7 September 1978
- **area km2**: 65,610
- **area rank**: 120th
- **area sq mi**: 25,332
- **percent water**: 4.4
- **population estimate**: 21,803,000
- **population census**: 20,277,597
- **population estimate year**: 2019
- **population estimate rank**: 58th
- **population census year**: 2012
- **population density km2**: 327
- **population density rank**: 43rd
- **gdp ppp**: $321.856 billion
- **gdp ppp year**: 2020
- **gdp ppp rank**: 58th
- **gdp ppp per capita**: $14,509
- **gdp ppp per capita rank**: 91st
- **gdp nominal**: $92.111 billion
- **gdp nominal year**: 2020
- **gdp nominal rank**: 65th
- **gdp nominal per capita**: $4,152
- **gdp nominal per capita rank**: 109th
- **gini**: 39.8
- **gini year**: 2016
- **hdi**: 0.782
- **hdi year**: 2019
- **hdi change**: increase
- **hdi rank**: 72nd
- **currency**: Sri Lankan rupee (Rs)
- **currency code**: LKR
- **time zone**: Sri Lanka Standard Time, SLST
- **utc offset**: +5:30
- **drives on**: Right- and left-hand traffic, left
- **calling code**: Telephone numbers in Sri Lanka, +94
- **iso3166code**: LK