Sri Lankan Tourism -»
Discover Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka History
Sri Lanka is one of those places where history seems to fade into the mist
of legend. Is not Adam’s Peak said to be the very place where Adam
set foot on earth, having been sent out of heaven? Isn’t that his footprint
squarely on top of the mountain to prove it? Or is it the Buddha’s
footprint on Sri Pada? And isn’t Adam’s Bridge (the chain of islands
linking Sri Lanka to India) the very series of stepping stones Rama, aided
by his faithful ally, the monkey god Hanuman, stepped across in his mission
to rescue Sita from the clutches of the Rawana,King of Lanka, in the epic
Ramayana?
The first entries in the Mahavamsa – or “Great History” –
date back to 543BC, which coincides with the arrival of Prince Vijaya in
Sri Lanka. Some 300 years later, commenced the early Anuradhapura Period,
with King Devanampiya Tissa as the first ruler. It was in this period that
a sapling of the sacred Bo Tree, under which the Lord Buddha attained enlightenment,
was brought to Sri Lanka. The late Anuradhapura Period, which began in the
year 459, saw the reign of King Kasyapa, and the construction of Sigiriya.
The Polonnaruwa period, witnessed the transfer of the capital from Anuradhapura
to Polonnaruwa in 1073. Famed explorer, Marco Polo, arrived in Sri Lanka
in the period between 1254 and 1324, and, in 1505, the Portuguese landed,
and occupied the island’s coastal regions.
Invasion was intermittent and the capital was moved constantly until
the Portuguese arrived in 1505, when the chief city was established at
Kotte, in the western lowlands. The Portuguese came to trade in spices
but stayed to rule until 1656 in the coastal regions, as did the Dutch
thereafter. Dutch rule lasted from 1656 to 1796, in which year they were
displaced by the British. During this period the highland Kingdom, with
its capital in Kandy, retained its independence despite repeated assaults
by foreign powers who ruled the rest of the country. In 1815 the kingdom
of Kandy was ceded to the British and thus they established their rule
over the whole island. Modern communications, western medical services,
education in English, as well as the plantation industry (first coffee
then tea, rubber and coconut) developed during British rule. By a process
of peaceful, constitutional evolution, Sri Lanka won back her independence
in 1948 and is now a sovereign republic, with membership in the Commonwealth
of Nations and the
United Nations Organisation.
The British Period
The French revolution resulted in a major shake-up among the European powers
and in 1796 the Dutch were easily supplanted by the British, who in 1815
also won the control of the kingdom of Kandy, becoming the first European
power to rule the whole island. But in 1802, Sri Lanka became a Crown Colony
and in 1818 a unified administration for the island was set up. Soon the
country was dotted with coffee, cinnamon and coconut plantations and a network
of roads and railways were built to handle this new economic activity. English
became the official language, and is still widely spoken.
Coffee was the main crop and the backbone of the colonial economy, but the
occurence of a leaf blight virtually wiped it out in the 1870s and the plantations
quickly switched over to tea or rubber. Today Sri Lanka is the world’s
second largest tea exporter. The British were unable to persuade the Sinhalese
to work cheaply and willingly on the plantations, so they imported large
number of South Indian labourers from South India. Sinhalese peasants in
the hill country lost land to the estates.
Independence
Between WW I and WW II, political stirrings started to push Sri Lanka
towards eventual independence from Britain – but in a considerably
more peaceful and low-key manner than in India. At the end of WW II it
was evident that independence would come very soon, in the wake of independence
for Sri Lanka’s neighbour. In February 1948 Sri Lanka, or Ceylon
as it was still known, became an independent member of the British Commonwealth.
Sri Lanka History - Reservation Form
