Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is an island country in South Asia, located in the Indian Ocean to the southwest of the Bay of Bengal and to the southeast of the Arabian Sea. The island is geographically separated from the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait.

Sri Lanka’s documented history spans 3,000 years, with evidence of pre-historic human settlements dating back to at least 125,000 years. It has a rich cultural heritage, and the first known Buddhist writings of Sri Lanka, the Pāli Canon, date back to the Fourth Buddhist council in 29 BC. Its geographic location and deep harbours made it of great strategic importance from the time of the ancient Silk Road through to the modern Maritime Silk Road

Sri Lanka was known in the west and from the beginning of British colonial rule as Ceylon. A nationalist political movement arose in the country in the early 20th century to obtain political independence, which was granted in 1948; the country became a republic and adopted its current name in 1972. Sri Lanka’s recent history has been marred by a 26-year civil war, which ended decisively when the Sri Lanka Armed Forces defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009.

The population is made up of three major ethnic groups; Sinhalese are about 75% or of the population and are principally Buddhist, Tamils are about 11% of the population and are mainly Hindus and the Sri Lankan moors are about 9% and are Muslim. There are quite a number of people who identify as Christians (of mainly Sinhalese ethnicity).

The official languages are Sinhalese and Tamil – although English is widely spoken and most road signs and shops have English translations.

Capital: Colombo
Population: 21,44 million