Prehistory

The pre-history of Sri Lanka goes back 125,000 years and possibly even as far back as 500,000 years.^[35] The era spans the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, and early Iron Ages. Among the Paleolithic human settlements discovered in Sri Lanka, Pahiyangala (37,000 BP), named after the Chinese traveller monk Faxian;^[36] Batadombalena (28,500 BP);^[37] and Belilena (12,000 BP) are the most important. In these caves, archaeologists have found the remains of anatomically modern humans which they have named Balangoda Man, and other evidence^[38] suggesting that they may have engaged in agriculture and kept domestic dogs for driving game.^[39]

The earliest inhabitants of Sri Lanka were probably ancestors of the Vedda people,^[40] an indigenous people numbering approximately 2,500 living in modern-day Sri Lanka.

During the protohistoric period (1000–500 BCE) Sri Lanka was culturally united with southern India,^[41] and shared the same megalithic burials, pottery, iron technology, farming techniques and megalithic graffiti.^[42]^[43] This cultural complex spread from southern India along with Dravidian clans such as the Velir, prior to the migration of Prakrit speakers.^[44]^[45]^[42]

One of the first written references to the island is found in the Indian epic Ramayana, which provides details of a kingdom named Lanka that was created by the divine sculptor Vishvakarma for Kubera, the God of Wealth.^[46] It is said that Kubera was overthrown by his rakshasa stepbrother, Ravana.^[47]

Ancient history

According to the Mahāvamsa, a Pāḷi chronicle written in the 5th century CE, the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka are said to be the Yakshas and Nagas. Sinhalese history traditionally starts in 543 BCE with the arrival of Prince Vijaya, a semi-legendary prince who sailed with 700 followers to Sri Lanka, after being expelled from Vanga Kingdom (present-day Bengal).^[48] He established the Kingdom of Tambapanni, near modern-day Mannar. Vijaya (Singha) is the first of the approximately 189 monarchs of Sri Lanka described in chronicles such as the Dipavamsa, Mahāvaṃsa, Cūḷavaṃsa, and Rājāvaliya.^[49]

Once Prakrit speakers had attained dominance on the island, the Mahavamsa further recounts the later migration of royal brides and service castes from the Tamil Pandya Kingdom to the Anuradhapura Kingdom in the early historic period.^[50]

The Anuradhapura period (377 BCE – 1017 CE) began with the establishment of the Anuradhapura Kingdom in 380 BCE during the reign of Pandukabhaya. Thereafter, Anuradhapura served as the capital city of the country for nearly 1,400 years.^[51] Ancient Sri Lankans excelled at building certain types of structures such as tanks, dagobas and palaces.^[52] Society underwent a major transformation during the reign of Devanampiya Tissa, with the arrival of Buddhism from India. In 250 BCE,^[53] Mahinda, a bhikkhu and the son of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka arrived in Mihintale carrying the message of Buddhism.^[54] His mission won over the monarch, who embraced the faith and propagated it throughout the Sinhalese population.^[55]

Succeeding kingdoms of Sri Lanka would maintain many Buddhist schools and monasteries and support the propagation of Buddhism into other countries in Southeast Asia. Sri Lankan Bhikkhus studied in India's famous ancient Buddhist University of Nalanda, which was destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khilji. It is probable that many of the scriptures from Nalanda are preserved in Sri Lanka's many monasteries and that the written form of the Tripiṭaka, including Sinhalese Buddhist literature, were part of the University of Nalanda.^[56] In 245 BCE, bhikkhuni Sanghamitta arrived with the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi tree, which is considered to be a sapling from the historical Bodhi Tree under which Gautama Buddha became enlightened.^[57] It is considered the oldest human-planted tree (with a continuous historical record) in the world. (Bodhivamsa)^[58]^[59]

Sri Lanka experienced the first of many foreign invasions during the reign of Suratissa, who was defeated by two horse traders named Sena and Guttika from South India.^[55] The next invasion came immediately in 205 BCE by a Chola named Elara, who overthrew Asela and ruled the country for 44 years. Dutugamunu, the eldest son of the southern regional sub-king, Kavan Tissa, defeated Elara in the Battle of Vijithapura. During its two and a half millennia of existence, the Sinhala Kingdom was invaded at least eight times by neighbouring South Indian dynasties such as the Chola, Pandya, and Pallava.^{[citation needed]} There also were incursions by the kingdoms of Kalinga (modern Odisha) and from the Malay Peninsula as well.^{[citation needed]}

Thumb — The 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.

The Fourth Buddhist Council of Theravada Buddhism was held at the Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya in Sri Lanka under the patronage of Valagamba of Anuradhapura in 25 BCE. The council was held in response to a year in which the harvests in Sri Lanka were particularly poor and many Buddhist monks subsequently died of starvation. Because the Pāli Canon was at that time oral literature maintained in several recensions by dhammabhāṇakas (dharma reciters), the surviving monks recognised the danger of not writing it down so that even if some of the monks whose duty it was to study and remember parts of the Canon for later generations died, the teachings would not be lost.^[60] After the council, palm-leaf manuscripts containing the completed Canon were taken to other countries such as Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.

Sri Lanka was the first Asian country known to have a female ruler: Anula of Anuradhapura (r. 47–42 BCE).^[61] Sri Lankan monarchs undertook some remarkable construction projects such as Sigiriya, the so-called "Fortress in the Sky", built during the reign of Kashyapa I of Anuradhapura, who ruled between 477 and 495. The Sigiriya rock fortress is surrounded by an extensive network of ramparts and moats. Inside this protective enclosure were gardens, ponds, pavilions, palaces and other structures.^[62]^[63]

In 993 CE, the invasion of Chola emperor Rajaraja I forced the then Sinhalese ruler Mahinda V to flee to the southern part of Sri Lanka. Taking advantage of this situation, Rajendra I, son of Rajaraja I, launched a large invasion in 1017. Mahinda V was captured and taken to India, and the Cholas sacked the city of Anuradhapura causing the fall of Anuradhapura Kingdom. Subsequently, they moved the capital to Polonnaruwa.^[64]

Post-classical period

Following a 17-year-long campaign, Vijayabahu I successfully drove the Chola out of Sri Lanka in 1070, reuniting the country for the first time in over a century.^[65]^[66] Upon his request, ordained monks were sent from Burma to Sri Lanka to re-establish Buddhism, which had almost disappeared from the country during the Chola reign.^[67] During the medieval period, Sri Lanka was divided into three sub-territories, namely, Ruhunu, Pihiti and Maya.^[68]

Sri Lanka's irrigation system was extensively expanded during the reign of Parākramabāhu the Great (1153–1186).^[69] This period is considered as a time when Sri Lanka was at the height of its power.^[70]^[71] He built 1,470 reservoirs – the highest number by any ruler in Sri Lanka's history – repaired 165 dams, 3,910 canals, 163 major reservoirs, and 2,376 mini-reservoirs.^[72] His most famous construction is the Parakrama Samudra,^[73] the largest irrigation project of medieval Sri Lanka. Parākramabāhu's reign is memorable for two major campaigns – in the south of India as part of a Pandyan war of succession, and a punitive strike against the kings of Ramanna (Burma) for various perceived insults to Sri Lanka.^[74]

After his demise, Sri Lanka gradually decayed in power. In 1215, Kalinga Magha, an invader with uncertain origins, identified as the founder of the Jaffna kingdom, invaded and captured the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa. He sailed from Kalinga^[72] 690 nautical miles on 100 large ships with a 24,000 strong army. Unlike previous invaders, he looted, ransacked and destroyed everything in the ancient Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa Kingdoms beyond recovery.^[75] His priorities in ruling were to extract as much as possible from the land and overturn as many of the traditions of Rajarata as possible. His reign saw the massive migration of native Sinhalese people to the south and west of Sri Lanka, and into the mountainous interior, in a bid to escape his power.^[76]^[77]

Sri Lanka never really recovered from the effects of Kalinga Magha's invasion. King Vijayabâhu III, who led the resistance, brought the kingdom to Dambadeniya. The north, in the meanwhile, eventually evolved into the Jaffna kingdom.^[76]^[77] The Jaffna kingdom never came under the rule of any kingdom of the south except on one occasion; in 1450, following the conquest led by king Parâkramabâhu VI's adopted son, Prince Sapumal.^[78] He ruled the North from 1450 to 1467 CE.^[79]

The next three centuries starting from 1215 were marked by kaleidoscopically shifting collections of capitals in south and central Sri Lanka, including Dambadeniya, Yapahuwa, Gampola, Raigama, Kotte,^[80] Sitawaka, and finally, Kandy. In 1247, the Malay kingdom of Tambralinga which was a vassal of Sri Vijaya led by their king Chandrabhanu^[81] briefly invaded Sri Lanka from Insular Southeast Asia. They were then expelled by the South Indian Pandyan dynasty.^[82] However, this temporary invasion reinforced the steady flow of the presence of various Austronesian merchant ethnic groups, from Sumatrans (Indonesia) to Lucoes (Philippines) into Sri Lanka which occurred since 200 BCE.^[83] Chinese admiral Zheng He and his naval expeditionary force landed at Galle, Sri Lanka in 1409 and got into battle with the local king Vira Alakesvara of Gampola. Zheng He captured King Vira Alakesvara and later released him.^[84]^[85]^[86]^[87] Zheng He erected the Galle Trilingual Inscription, a stone tablet at Galle written in three languages (Chinese, Tamil, and Persian), to commemorate his visit.^[88]^[89] The stele was discovered by S. H. Thomlin at Galle in 1911 and is now preserved in the Colombo National Museum.

Early modern period

Thumb — A 17th-century engraving of Dutch explorer Joris van Spilbergen meeting with King Vimaladharmasuriya in 1602

The early modern period of Sri Lanka begins with the arrival of Portuguese soldier and explorer Lourenço de Almeida, the son of Francisco de Almeida, in 1505.^[90] In 1517, the Portuguese built a fort at the port city of Colombo and gradually extended their control over the coastal areas. In 1592, after decades of intermittent warfare with the Portuguese, Vimaladharmasuriya I moved his kingdom to the inland city of Kandy, a location he thought more secure from attack.^[91] In 1619, succumbing to attacks by the Portuguese, the independent existence of the Jaffna kingdom came to an end.^[92]

During the reign of the Rajasinha II, Dutch explorers arrived on the island. In 1638, the king signed a treaty with the Dutch East India Company to get rid of the Portuguese who ruled most of the coastal areas.^[93] The following Dutch–Portuguese War resulted in a Dutch victory, with Colombo falling into Dutch hands by 1656. The Dutch remained in the areas they had captured, thereby violating the treaty they had signed in 1638. The Burgher people, a distinct ethnic group, emerged as a result of intermingling between the Dutch and native Sri Lankans in this period.^[94]

The Kingdom of Kandy was the last independent monarchy of Sri Lanka.^[95] In 1595, Vimaladharmasurya brought the sacred Tooth Relic—the traditional symbol of royal and religious authority amongst the Sinhalese—to Kandy and built the Temple of the Tooth.^[95] In spite of on-going intermittent warfare with Europeans, the kingdom survived. Later, a crisis of succession emerged in Kandy upon king Vira Narendrasinha's death in 1739. He was married to a Telugu-speaking Nayakkar princess from South India (Madurai) and was childless by her.^[95]

Eventually, with the support of bhikku Weliwita Sarankara and ignoring the right of "Unambuwe Bandara", the crown passed to the brother of one of Narendrasinha's princesses, overlooking Narendrasinha's own son by a Sinhalese concubine.^[96] The new king was crowned Sri Vijaya Rajasinha later that year. Kings of the Nayakkar dynasty launched several attacks on Dutch controlled areas, which proved to be unsuccessful.^[97]

During the Napoleonic Wars, fearing that French control of the Netherlands might deliver Sri Lanka to the French, the British Empire occupied the coastal areas of the island (which they called the colony of British Ceylon) with little difficulty in 1796.^[98] Two years later, in 1798, Sri Rajadhi Rajasinha, third of the four Nayakkar kings of Sri Lanka, died of a fever. Following his death, a nephew of Rajadhi Rajasinha, eighteen-year-old Kannasamy, was crowned.^[99] The young king, now named Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, faced a British invasion in 1803 but successfully retaliated. The First Kandyan War ended in a stalemate.^[99]

By then the entire coastal area was under the British East India Company as a result of the Treaty of Amiens. On 14 February 1815, Kandy was occupied by the British in the second Kandyan War, ending Sri Lanka's independence.^[99] Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, the last native monarch of Sri Lanka, was exiled to India.^[100] The Kandyan Convention formally ceded the entire country to the British Empire. Attempts by Sri Lankan noblemen to undermine British power in 1818 during the Uva Rebellion were thwarted by Governor Robert Brownrigg.^[101]

The beginning of the modern period of Sri Lanka is marked by the Colebrooke-Cameron reforms of 1833.^[102] They introduced a utilitarian and liberal political culture to the country based on the rule of law and amalgamated the Kandyan and maritime provinces as a single unit of government.^[102] An executive council and a legislative council were established, later becoming the foundation of a representative legislature. By this time, experiments with coffee plantations were largely successful.^[103]

Soon, coffee became the primary commodity export of Sri Lanka. Falling coffee prices as a result of the depression of 1847 stalled economic development and prompted the governor to introduce a series of taxes on firearms, dogs, shops, boats, etc., and to reintroduce a form of rajakariya, requiring six days free labour on roads or payment of a cash equivalent.^[103] These harsh measures antagonised the locals, and another rebellion broke out in 1848.^[104] A devastating leaf disease, Hemileia vastatrix, struck the coffee plantations in 1869, destroying the entire industry within fifteen years.^[105] The British quickly found a replacement: abandoning coffee, they began cultivating tea instead. Tea production in Sri Lanka thrived in the following decades. Large-scale rubber plantations began in the early 20th century.

By the end of the 19th century, a new educated social class transcending race and caste arose through British attempts to staff the Ceylon Civil Service and the legal, educational, engineering, and medical professions with natives.^[106] New leaders represented the various ethnic groups of the population in the Ceylon Legislative Council on a communal basis. Buddhist and Hindu revivalism reacted against Christian missionary activities.^[107]^[108] The first two decades in the 20th century are noted by the unique harmony among Sinhalese and Tamil political leadership, which has since been lost.^[109]

The 1906 malaria outbreak in Ceylon actually started in the early 1900s, but the first case was documented in 1906.

In 1919, major Sinhalese and Tamil political organisations united to form the Ceylon National Congress, under the leadership of Ponnambalam Arunachalam,^[110] pressing colonial masters for more constitutional reforms. But without massive popular support, and with the governor's encouragement for "communal representation" by creating a "Colombo seat" that dangled between Sinhalese and Tamils, the Congress lost momentum towards the mid-1920s.^[111]

The Donoughmore reforms of 1931 repudiated the communal representation and introduced universal adult franchise (the franchise stood at 4% before the reforms). This step was strongly criticised by the Tamil political leadership, who realised that they would be reduced to a minority in the newly created State Council of Ceylon, which succeeded the legislative council.^[112]^[113] In 1937, Tamil leader G. G. Ponnambalam demanded a 50–50 representation (50% for the Sinhalese and 50% for other ethnic groups) in the State Council. However, this demand was not met by the Soulbury reforms of 1944–45.

Contemporary history

The Soulbury constitution ushered in dominion status, with independence proclaimed on 4 February 1948.^[114] D. S. Senanayake became the first Prime Minister of Ceylon.^[115] Prominent Tamil leaders including Ponnambalam and Arunachalam Mahadeva joined his cabinet.^[112]^[116] The British Royal Navy remained stationed at Trincomalee until 1956. A countrywide popular demonstration against withdrawal of the rice rations resulted in the resignation of prime minister Dudley Senanayake.^[117]

S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike was elected prime minister in 1956. His three-year rule had a profound influence through his self-proclaimed role of "defender of the besieged Sinhalese culture".^[118] He introduced the controversial Sinhala Only Act, recognising Sinhala as the only official language of the government. Although partially reversed in 1958, the bill posed a grave concern for the Tamil community, which perceived in it a threat to their language and culture.^[119]^[120]^[121]

The Federal Party (FP) launched a movement of non-violent resistance (satyagraha) against the bill, which prompted Bandaranaike to reach an agreement (Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam Pact) with S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, leader of the FP, to resolve the looming ethnic conflict.^[122] The pact proved ineffective in the face of ongoing protests by opposition and the Buddhist clergy. The bill, together with various government colonisation schemes, contributed much towards the political rancour between Sinhalese and Tamil political leaders.^[123] Bandaranaike was assassinated by an extremist Buddhist monk in 1959.^[124]

Leaders in 1960

Elizabeth II
Queen of Ceylon

Sirimavo Bandaranaike
Prime Minister

1960 saw the election of Sirimavo Bandaranaike as Ceylon's Prime Minister and the first time in world history that the heads of both state and government in a country were female.

Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the widow of Bandaranaike, took office as prime minister in 1960, and withstood an attempted coup d'état in 1962. During her second term as prime minister, the government instituted socialist economic policies, strengthening ties with the Soviet Union and China, while promoting a policy of non-alignment. In 1971, Ceylon experienced a Marxist insurrection, which was quickly suppressed. In 1972, the country became a republic named Sri Lanka, repudiating its dominion status. Prolonged minority grievances and the use of communal emotionalism as an election campaign weapon by both Sinhalese and Tamil leaders abetted a fledgling Tamil militancy in the north during the 1970s.^[125] The policy of standardisation by the Sirimavo government to rectify disparities created in university enrolment, which was in essence an affirmative action to assist geographically disadvantaged students to obtain tertiary education,^[126] resulted in reducing the proportion of Tamil students at university level and acted as the immediate catalyst for the rise of militancy.^[127]^[128] The assassination of Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiyappah in 1975 by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) marked a crisis point.^[129]^[130]

The government of J. R. Jayawardene swept to power in 1977, defeating the United Front government.^[131] Jayawardene introduced a new constitution, together with a free-market economy and a powerful executive presidency modelled after that of France. It made Sri Lanka the first South Asian country to liberalise its economy.^[132] Beginning in 1983, ethnic tensions were manifested in an on-and-off insurgency against the government by the LTTE. An LTTE attack on 13 soldiers resulted in the start of a civil war, and in response anti-Tamil race riots took place, allegedly backed by Sinhalese hard-line ministers, which resulted in more than 150,000 Tamil civilians fleeing the island, seeking asylum in other countries.^[133]^[134]

Lapses in foreign policy resulted in India strengthening the Tigers by providing arms and training.^[135]^[136]^[137] In 1987, the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord was signed and the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was deployed in northern Sri Lanka to stabilise the region by neutralising the LTTE.^[138] The same year, the JVP launched its second insurrection in Southern Sri Lanka,^[139] necessitating redeployment of the IPKF in 1990.^[140] In October 1990, the LTTE expelled Sri Lankan Moors (Muslims by religion) from northern Sri Lanka.^[141] In 2002, the Sri Lankan government and LTTE signed a Norwegian-mediated ceasefire agreement.^[121]

The 2004 Asian tsunami killed over 30,000 and displaced over 500,000 people in Sri Lanka.^[142]^[143] From 1985 to 2006, the Sri Lankan government and Tamil insurgents held four rounds of peace talks without success. Both LTTE and the government resumed fighting in 2006, and the government officially backed out of the ceasefire in 2008.^[121] In 2009, under the Presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Sri Lanka Armed Forces defeated the LTTE, bringing an end to the 26 year long civil war on 19 May 2009,^[144]^[145]^[146]^[147] and re-established control of the entire country by the Sri Lankan Government.^[148] Overall, between 60,000 and 100,000 people were killed during the course of the 26 year long conflict.^[149]^[150]

2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings carried out by the terrorist group National Thowheeth Jama'ath on 21 April 2019 resulted in the brutal death of 261 innocent people.^[151] On 26 April 2019 an anti terrorist operation was carried out against the National Thowheeth Jama'ath by the Sri Lanka Army with the operation being successful and National Thowheeth Jama'ath's insurgency ending.^[152]^[153]^[154]

Economic troubles in Sri Lanka began in 2019, when a severe economic crisis occurred caused by rapidly increasing foreign debt, massive government budget deficits due to tax cuts, falling foreign remittances, a food crisis caused by mandatory organic farming along with a ban on chemical fertilizers, and a multitude of other factors.^[155] The Sri Lankan Government officially declared the ongoing crisis to be the worst economic crisis in the country in 73 years.^[156] In August 2021, a food emergency was declared.^[157] In June 2022, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe declared the collapse of the Sri Lankan economy in parliament.^[158] The crisis resulted in Sri Lanka defaulting on its $51 billion sovereign debt for the first time in its history, along with double-digit inflation, a crippling energy crisis that led to approximately 15 hour power cuts, severe fuel shortages leading to the suspension of fuel to all non-essential vehicles, and more such economic disorder.^[159]^[160] Due to the crisis, massive street protests erupted all over the country, with protesters demanding the resignation of the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The protests culminated with the storming and siege of the President's House on July 9, 2022, and resulted in President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fleeing to Singapore^[161] and later emailing his resignation to parliament, formally announcing his resignation and making him the first Sri Lankan president to resign in the middle of his term.^[162] On the same day the President's House was stormed, protesters besieged and stormed the private residence of the prime minister and burnt it down.^[163]

After winning the 2022 Sri Lankan presidential election, on 21 July 2022, Ranil Wickremesinghe took oath as the ninth President of Sri Lanka.^[164] He implemented various economic reforms in efforts to stabilize Sri Lanka's economy, which has shown slight improvement since.^[165]^[166] On 23 September 2024, Anura Kumara Dissanayake was sworn in as Sri Lanka's new president after winning the presidential election as a left-wing candidate.^[167]