Once a port of call on ancient maritime trade routes, Sri Lanka is located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern tip of India's Deccan Peninsula. The island nation was settled by successive waves of migration from India beginning in the 5 th century BC. Indo-Aryans from northern India established Sinhalese Buddhist kingdoms in the central part of the island. Tamil Hindus from southern India settled in the northeastern coastal areas, establishing a kingdom in the Jaffna Peninsula. Beginning in the 16 th century, Sri Lanka was colonized in succession by the Portuguese, Dutch, and English, becoming the British crown colony of Ceylon in 1815. In the late 19 th century, Tamil laborers were brought from India to work British tea and rubber plantations in the southern highlands. Known as Indian Tamils, the descendants of these workers currently comprise approximately 4% of Sri Lanka's population and are clustered in the south-central "tea country." Descendants of earlier Tamil arrivals, known as Sri Lankan or Ceylon Tamils, constitute up to 13% of the country's population and live predominantly in the North and East. Moorish and Malay Muslims (largely Sunni) account for another 9% of the population. The majority of Sri Lankans (about three-quarters) are ethnic Sinhalese, most of them Buddhist. In 1972, Ceylon was renamed Sri Lanka ("resplendent land"), as it was known in Indian epic literature. Although Ceylon gained its independence from Britain peacefully in 1948, succeeding decades were marred by ethnic conflict between the country's Sinhalese majority clustered in the densely populated South and West, and a largely Hindu Tamil minority living in the northern and eastern provinces. Following independence, the Tamils—who had attained educational and civil service predominance under the British—increasingly found themselves discriminated against by the Sinhalese-dominated government, which made Sinhala the sole official language and gave preferences to Sinhalese in university admissions and government jobs. The Sinhalese, who had deeply resented British favoritism toward the Tamils, saw themselves not as the majority, however, but as a minority in a large Tamil sea that includes approximately 60 million Tamils just across the Palk Strait in India's southern state of Tamil Nadu. The Sri Lankan civil war, a separatist struggle between the two ethnic groups, lasted 26 years, ending with the Sinhalese-dominated government's defeat of Tamil separatist groups in 2009. Although there are no exact figures on the death toll, an estimated 30,000-40,000 people were killed in the war. The government of Sri Lanka has denied any accusations of war crimes and resents recent international pressure to address a more equitable economic and political structure. U.S. policy towards Sri Lanka has historically supported Sri Lanka's sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as its democratic institutions and socio-economic development. The United States has also supported policies that would foster inter-communal harmony and ethnic reconciliation with the Tamil minority of the country. Since 2009, U.S.-Sri Lanka relations have centered on human rights abuses committed at the end of the civil war. Susan Rice, then the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, welcomed the April 2011 U.N. Panel of Experts Report on Sri Lanka and stated that the U.S. supports an effective, transparent post-conflict reconciliation process in Sri Lanka that includes accountability for violations by all parties. The report indicates the need for an independent and full accounting of the facts in order to ensure that all allegations of abuse are addressed and impunity for human rights violations is avoided. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake, who was also previously U.S Ambassador to Sri Lanka, reportedly stated that the U.S. first looks to host governments to take responsibility for such issues but that "international mechanisms can become appropriate in cases where states are either unable or unwilling to meet their obligations." In light of human rights concerns, Washington sponsored a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution in 2012, to the displeasure of Colombo, calling upon the government to provide more comprehensive action and legal support to address human rights violations during the civil war, and to address inequalities between ethnic groups in the nation. In March 2013 UNHRC adopted a U.S.-sponsored reolution which again called on Sri Lanka to address human rights concerns and and to take steps to foster reconcilliation. The 113 th Congress has also expressed its views on the situation in Sri Lanka. H.Res. 247 , "Expressing support for internal rebuilding, resettlement, and reconciliation within Sri Lanka that are necessary to ensure a lasting peace," was introduced on June 4, 2013, and calls for transparency, reconciliation, media freedom, investigation into war crimes, access for humanitarian workers into war-affected regions, demilitarization, as well as the equal distribution of political power. The bill was referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has maintained a presence in Sri Lanka since 1948. A key goal of this assistance is to even the inequitable growth and development between the dominantly Sinhalese-populated and dominantly Tamil-populated provinces, specifically targeting widows, ex-soldiers, and combatants and marginalized communities for economic assistance programs. The USAID funded projects aim for long-term, sustainable development, and include initiatives to improve democratic institutions. USAID has especially assisted Sri Lanka's agricultural sector, through programs focused on farmer productivity, and helping farmers market their products. Its infrastructure assistance has focused on upgrading schools and hospitals, as well as livelihood skills and the educational structures for students. The United States also works with the Sri Lankan defense establishment through the International Broadcast Bureau (IBB), which controls a radio-transmitting station in Sri Lanka. Defense cooperation also assists technical and training opportunities for Sri Lankan defense, as well as other fields such as intellectual property rights, biotechnology, and cybersecurity. The U.S. has most actively been involved in food security, easing cultural tensions between Sinhalese and Tamil populations, as well as promoting peaceful transitions in Sri Lankan provinces. The Republic of Sri Lanka has a multi-party democratic structure with high levels of political conflict and violence. The country's political life long featured a struggle between two broad umbrella parties—President Mahinda Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP). The president's United Freedom People's Alliance (UFPA), of which the SLFP is the main party, has consolidated power. President Rajapaksa gained widespread popularity among the Sinhalese majority for ending the war. The SLFP is viewed as being more Sinhala nationalist and statist than the UNP. The political divisions between the Sinhalese and Tamil populations remain serious. The government has amended the constitution to restrain provinces from merging, making it impossible for Tamils in Sri Lanka to have a majority within the regions where they currently have large populations, as well as constraining the rise of the political groups sympathetic to Tamil causes. The SLFP has, moreover, taken steps to make the central government much stronger, through proposed bills and amendments, in efforts to keep power in President Rajapaksa's government. Sri Lanka follows a strong executive presidential system of government. Under this French-style system, the popularly elected president has the power to dissolve the 225-member unicameral parliament and call new elections, as well as to appoint the prime minister and cabinet. President Rajapaksa's was reelected to a second six-year term in January 2011; the current parliament was elected in April 2011. The president's family plays an important role in government. The U.S. State Department found that "both elections were fraught with violations of the election law by all major parties and were influenced by the governing coalition's massive use of state resources." The ruling UPFA now has a significant majority in parliament. The next presidential election is scheduled for 2015 and the next parliamentary election is to be held by 2016. Given the UPFA's large majority in parliament, it is likely that it will serve out its full term. The current government is accused of a number of serious human rights violations that have persisted since the civil war ended. They include the targeting, surveillance, and limitation of free speech by the media and individuals. President Rajapaksa has also appointed family members to high ranking government positions. Human rights groups say the government has also killed, threatened, or detained human rights defenders, and remains non-trasparent. Sri Lanka's economy mainly relies on the services sector, and has a thriving tourism market. It additionally relies on agriculture and, to a lesser extent, industry, with the largest exports being garments, tea, spices, rubber, gems and jewelry, refined petroleum, fish, and coconuts/coconut products. Nearly 20% of the nation's exports reach the United States, though other large trading partners include neighboring India and several European Union nations. Rajapaksa has identified improving the investment climate in Sri Lanka as a priority. Large trade and balance of payments deficits remain a concern. Other presidential economic priorities reportedly include rural and infrastructure development. Sri Lanka and the United States have an important bilateral economic relation. The U.S. Department of State notes: The United States is Sri Lanka's second-biggest market for garments, taking almost 40% of total garment exports. United States exports to Sri Lanka were estimated at $302 million for 2011, consisting primarily of wheat, aircraft and parts, machinery and mechanical appliances, plastics, and medical and scientific equipment. India remains the largest source of foreign investment in Sri Lanka, with direct investments of over $1 billion in the last ten years.