Portal:Sri Lanka

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The Sri Lanka Portal

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Sri Lanka, historically known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian peninsula by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. It shares a maritime border with the Maldives in the southwest and India in the northwest.

Sri Lanka has a population of approximately 22 million and is home to many cultures, languages and ethnicities. The Sinhalese people form the majority of the population, followed by the Sri Lankan Tamils, who are the largest minority group and are concentrated in northern Sri Lanka; both groups have played an influential role in the island's history. Other long-established groups include the Moors, Indian Tamils, Burghers, Malays, Chinese, and Vedda.

Sri Lanka's documented history goes back 3,000 years, with evidence of prehistoric human settlements dating back 125,000 years. The earliest known Buddhist writings of Sri Lanka, known collectively as the Pāli canon, date to the fourth Buddhist council, which took place in 29 BCE. Also called the Pearl of the Indian Ocean, or the Granary of the East, Sri Lanka's geographic location and deep harbours have made it of great strategic importance, from the earliest days of the ancient Silk Road trade route to today's so-called maritime Silk Road. Because its location made it a major trading hub, it was already known to both East Asians and Europeans as long ago as the Anuradhapura period. During a period of great political crisis in the Kingdom of Kotte, the Portuguese arrived in Sri Lanka and sought to control its maritime trade, with a part of Sri Lanka subsequently becoming a Portuguese possession. After the Sinhalese-Portuguese war, the Dutch Empire and the Kingdom of Kandy took control of those areas. The Dutch possessions were then taken by the British, who later extended their control over the whole island, colonising it from 1815 to 1948. A national movement for political independence arose in the early 20th century, and in 1948, Ceylon became a dominion. It was succeeded by the republic of Sri Lanka in 1972. Sri Lanka's more recent history was marred by a 26-year civil war, which began in 1983 and ended in 2009, when the Sri Lanka Armed Forces defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. (Full article...)

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[Red] The area of Sri Lanka claimed by the LTTE as Tamil Eelam, where almost all of the fighting took place

The Sri Lankan Civil War (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සිවිල් යුද්ධය, romanized: śrī laṁkāvē sivil yuddhaya; Tamil: இலங்கை உள்நாட்டுப் போர், romanized: Ilaṅkai uḷnāṭṭup pōr) was a civil war fought in Sri Lanka from 1983 to 2009. Beginning on 23 July 1983, it was an intermittent insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, also known as the Tamil Tigers) led by Velupillai Prabhakaran. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the north-east of the island, due to the continuous discrimination and violent persecution against Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lanka government.

Violent persecution erupted in the form of the 1956, 1958, 1977, 1981 and 1983 anti-Tamil pogroms, as well as the 1981 burning of the Jaffna Public Library. These were carried out by the majority Sinhalese mobs often with state support, in the years following Sri Lanka's independence from the British Empire in 1948. Shortly after gaining independence, Sinhalese was recognized as the sole official language of the nation. After a 26-year military campaign, the Sri Lankan military defeated the Tamil Tigers in May 2009, bringing the civil war to an end. (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various Sri Lanka-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1President J. R. Jayewardene gifting Jayathu, a baby elephant to US President Ronald Reagan in 1984 (from Sri Lanka)
Image 2Sri Lanka's population, (1871–2001) (from Sri Lanka)
Image 3The formal ceremony marking the start of self-rule, with the opening of the first parliament at Independence Square (from Sri Lanka)
Image 4The World Trade Center in Colombo. Presidential Secretariat, Bank of Ceylon and Galadari Hotel are also visible in the image. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 5The Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology is a research institute specialising in the field of nanotechnology. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 6Development of life expectancy (from Sri Lanka)
Image 7The Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre was constructed as a major venue for the performing arts (from Sri Lanka)
Image 8The old Sri Lankan Parliament building, near the Galle Face Green in Colombo. It now serves as the Presidential Secretariat's headquarters. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 9Sri Lanka map of Köppen climate classification (from Sri Lanka)
Image 10R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 11The Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) is an endangered subspecies of leopard native to Sri Lanka. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 12Sacred Tooth Temple in Kandy, Sri Lanka (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 13Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil in Jaffna (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 14Tea plantation near Kandy (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 15Sri Lankan rice and curry (from Sri Lanka)
Image 16Hindu devotees engaging in Kavadi at a temple in Vavuniya (from Sri Lanka)
Image 17Ceylon Tea (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 18Topographic map of Sri Lanka (from Sri Lanka)
Image 19A 17th-century engraving of Dutch explorer Joris van Spilbergen meeting with King Vimaladharmasuriya in 1602 (from Sri Lanka)
Image 20Muttiah Muralitharan holds the record for the highest number of wickets in Test cricket.
Image 21Esala Perehera festival, around 1885 (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 22Cricket in Sri Lanka (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 23Sri Vikrama Rajasinha of Kandy, the last ruling native Sri Lankan monarch (from Sri Lanka)
Image 24Sri Lanka's most widely known export, Ceylon tea, which ISO considers the cleanest tea in the world in terms of pesticide residues. Sri Lanka is also the world's 2nd largest exporter of tea. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 25A Low Country drummer playing the traditional Yak Béra (from Sri Lanka)
Image 26J. R. Jayewardene was the most influential political figure of Sri Lanka in the 1970s. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 27The Avukana Buddha statue, a 12-metre-tall (39 ft) standing Buddha statue from the reign of Dhatusena of Anuradhapura, 5th century (from Sri Lanka)
Image 28Ranil Wickremesinghe has been serving as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka since 2022. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 29A 1595 map of Sri Lanka created by Dutch cartographer Petrus Plancius (from Sri Lanka)
Image 30Maha rath mala (Rhododendron arboreum ssp. zeylanicum) is a rare sub-species of Rhododendron arboreum found in Central Highlands of Sri Lanka. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 31The Sri Lankan elephant is one of three recognised subspecies of the Asian elephant. The 2011 elephant census estimated a population of 5,879. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 32Gilded bronze statue of the Bodhisattva Tara, from the Anuradhapura period, 8th century (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 33The Sigiriya ("Lion Rock"), a rock fortress and city, built by King Kashyapa (477–495 CE) as a new more defensible capital. It was also used as a Buddhist monastery after the capital was moved back to Anuradhapura. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 34Sigiriya (Also called as Sinhagiriya) (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 35Development of real GDP per capita, 1820 to 2018 (from Sri Lanka)
Image 36British appointed Kandyan chief headmen in 1905. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 37Traditional Sri Lankan harvesting dance (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 38Kandy women performing the Peacock Dance (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 39Ritigala (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 40Sri Lanka aboriginal Vedda at work (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 41The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, Colombo (from Sri Lanka)
Image 42A royal palace in Polonnaruwa (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 43The seated image of Gal Vihara in Polonnaruwa, 12th century, which depicts the dhyana mudra, shows signs of Mahayana influence. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 44Female dancers in traditional Kandyan dress (from Sri Lanka)
Image 45A view of Sripada from Maskeliya (from Sri Lanka)
Image 46Ptolemy's world map of Ceylon, first century CE, in a 1535 publication (from Sri Lanka)

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Muhammad Lafir with Indian actor Shivaji Ganesan

Muhammad Junaid Muhammad Lafir (27 May 1930 - 26 April 1981) also known as either Mohammed Lafir or M J M Lafir was a Sri Lankan snooker player. He won the IBSF Amateur World Championship in 1973 and is regarded as the greatest snooker player of Sri Lanka. (Full article...)

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that Sri Lanka's ancient tank cascade system of irrigation reservoirs creates habitats for the island's elephants?
... that shooter Tehani Egodawela was the third person selected from Sri Lanka to compete in the 2020 Summer Olympics?
... that A Passage North, which is shortlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize, is set in the aftermath of the Sri Lankan Civil War?

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Photo credit:Chamal
Devon Falls is the 19th highest waterfall in Sri Lanka.

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... that the ISGA proposals were made in lieu of the LTTE renouncing its claim for an independent country called Tamil Eelam for the minority Sri Lankan Tamil people?
... that after 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake (pictured) the underground sources of water have also been salinated?
... that Ediriweera Sarachchandra sat Ceylon Civil Service examination (because of his parents' insistence) and came first in the island?
... that Aberdeen where Aberdeen Falls situated, is named after Aberdeen, the third largest city of Scotland and the capital of Aberdeenshire?

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