Sri Lanka

G

Defense

Defense spending rose sharply after 1983, when ethnic conflict between the Sinhalese and the Sri Lanka Tamils triggered a protracted civil war in Sri Lanka. In 1982 the government spent U.S.$54 million (3.1 percent of the budget) on national security; in 2000 the expenditure amounted to U.S.$1.1 billion (17 percent of the budget). In 2001 the armed forces comprised an army of 95,000 personnel, a navy of 18,000, and an air force of 10,000. Paramilitary forces include the Ministry of Defense Police, which includes an antiguerrilla security force.

H

International Organizations

Sri Lanka is a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which also includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, the Maldives, and Bhutan. Sri Lanka is also a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and the United Nations (UN).

VII

History

The first large-scale migrations from the Indian subcontinent to the island now known as Sri Lanka began around 500 bc. Indo-Aryan people migrated from the northern areas of the Indian subcontinent. Over time they became known as the Sinhalese and developed a distinct language, Sinhala, based on the Sanskrit language. Early migrations to the island also took place from south India among Dravidian peoples, who spoke the Tamil language.

The principal source for the early history of Sri Lanka is the Mahavamsa (Great Chronicle), written by Buddhist monks in the 500s ad. It provides a legendary account of the first Sinhalese ruler in the 5th century bc and documents the rise and fall of successive Buddhist kingdoms. Later Sinhalese history is chronicled in the Dipavamsa (Lesser Chronicle), completed in the late 1700s ad. Because the chronicles were written to glorify Buddhism and its royal patrons, they present a relatively one-sided narrative of events.

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According to the Mahavamsa, the first ruler of the island was Vijaya, a banished prince from northern India, whose arrival coincided with the parinibbana (passing away) of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, in 483 bc. This legend helped establish the powerful belief among the Sinhalese that they were the chosen guardians of Buddhism.

A

Ancient Kingdoms

In 377 bc the Sinhalese established Anuradhapura as the capital of their kingdom. In 250 bc Sinhalese king Devanampiya Tissa converted to Buddhism during a missionary visit by Mahinda, son of Indian emperor Ashoka. The Sinhalese monarch became a powerful patron of Buddhism, firmly establishing it as the official religion of his kingdom. The art and architecture of Anuradhapura flourished under Buddhist influence and state patronage.

The kingdom prospered under a system of settled agriculture. By the 1st century ad, the Sinhalese had built several large-scale irrigation works that included a complex system of dams, reservoirs, and canals. The irrigation works allowed them to cultivate rice and other crops on a grand scale in the dry north central plains, where Anuradhapura was centered.

Despite recurring invasions from south India, Sinhalese kings held sway over Anuradhapura for several centuries. In the late 900s, however, the Cholas (a Tamil-speaking people from south India) conquered the capital and annexed Rajarata, the agricultural center of the Sinhalese kingdom.

In 1070 Sinhalese king Vijayabahu I drove the Cholas out of Sri Lanka and established a new capital at Polonnaruwa, about 80 km (about 50 mi) southeast of Anuradhapura. The kingdom prospered until about 1200, when it entered a period of decline marked by dynastic succession disputes, social and economic instability, and repeated invasions from south India. When the kingdom finally collapsed in the late 1200s, the Sinhalese abandoned their settlements in the north central plains and migrated to the southwest. In the north, meanwhile, a Tamil kingdom centered at Nallur (near present-day Jaffna) in the Jaffna Peninsula expanded its influence during the 1200s and 1300s.

B

Foreign Contacts

Sri Lanka was known to seafarers since ancient times. Maps that the Greek astronomer Ptolemy compiled in the 2nd century labeled the island Tabrobane. Arab seafarers called it Serendip. From as early as the 700s, Muslim traders called Moors established coastal trading communities in the island. Muslim communities began to claim a significant share of maritime trade in the Indian Ocean in the 1100s.

From about the 1400s, European maps identified the island as Seylan, which was later anglicized to Ceylon. In the 1500s Portugal and Spain established their dominance in the maritime trade of South and Southeast Asia. In the 1600s the Dutch emerged as the dominant colonial power in the region, followed in the 1700s by the British.

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