Portal:Sri Lanka

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Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It is located in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, and is separated from India by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. Sri Lanka shares a maritime border with the Maldives to the southwest and India to the northwest, and lies across the Bay of Bengal from Bangladesh and Myanmar to the northeast and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India to the east. Its executive and judicial capital is Colombo, which is also its largest city and the political, financial and cultural centre of the country; neighboring Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is the legislative capital. Sri Lanka's population is 22 million. About 74% of the population are Sinhalese, who speak the Sinhala language, and about 15% are Tamils who speak the Tamil language. Other long-established ethnic groups include the Moors, Indian Tamils, Burghers, Malays, Chinese, and Vedda.

The island has a documented history of over 3,000 years, with evidence of prehistoric human settlement dating back 125,000 years. Sri Lanka has been given various names throughout its long history, with Ceylon most notably being used prior to its independence in 1948. The earliest known Buddhist writings in the island, known collectively as the Pali Canon, date back to 29 BCE. Sri Lanka, owing to its strategic geographical location, played a role as a major trading hub, and was well known to explorers across the world as early as the Anuradhapura period. The Portuguese Empire established a colony in the sixteenth century, during a period of political upheaval in the Kingdom of Kotte where it also faced attacks from neighbouring kingdoms of Kandy and Sitawaka. Following the Sinhalese–Portuguese War, the Dutch colonial empire controlled the coastal areas. By the early 19th century, the British Empire established a colony on the island, which lasted until 1948. The early 20th century saw the rise of nationalist movements and increasing calls for independence. In 1948, Sri Lanka gained independence as the Dominion of Ceylon, eventually becoming a republic in 1972. Sri Lanka's recent history has been marred by a prolonged civil war between the Tamil separatist militant organisation of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lankan Armed Forces, which lasted from 1983 to 2009, and ended with the defeat of the separatists.

In the 21st century, Sri Lanka has emerged as a developing country, with a strategically important geographical location in the Indian Ocean, with its deep harbours giving it significant geopolitical leverage as a major trading post from the ancient Maritime Silk Road. It has the highest level of human development in South Asia and the second-highest GDP per capita in the region. Sri Lanka has a long history of international engagement and cooperation, and is a member of several international organisations—including SAARC, the G77, the Non-Aligned Movement and the Commonwealth of Nations. (Full article...)

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The Battle of Kilinochchi was a land battle fought between the Sri Lankan Military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for control of the town of Kilinochchi in the Northern Theatre of Eelam War IV during the Sri Lankan civil war between November 2008 and January 2009. The town of Kilinochchi was the administrative center and de facto capital of the LTTE's proposed state of Tamil Eelam.

The Sri Lankan Army (SLA) conducted an offensive through November and December 2008, during which three attempts were made to capture the town during December. These were thwarted by the LTTE, and both sides claimed that they suffered minimal casualties while inflicting maximum damage on the other during these assaults. The Sri Lanka Air Force launched air strikes against LTTE positions in Kilinochchi throughout this period. On 2 January 2009m divisions of the Sri Lanka Army advanced into Kilinochchi from the northern, southern and western directions of the town, and the LTTE fighters withdrew into positions in nearby jungles. Mahinda Rajapaksa, the president of Sri Lanka, later announced that the military had taken control of the town and urged the LTTE to lay down arms and surrender. However, the LTTE stated that the SLA captured a "ghost town" after they withdrew, and described it as an insignificant loss. (Full article...)

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General images

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

Image 1The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, Colombo (from Sri Lanka)
Image 2The Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology, a research institute specialising in nanotechnology (from Sri Lanka)
Image 3Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2020 (from Sri Lanka)
Image 4Esala Perehera festival, around 1885 (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 5Topographic map of Sri Lanka (from Sri Lanka)
Image 6Sacred Tooth Temple in Kandy, Sri Lanka (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 7Kandy women performing the Peacock Dance (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 8The seated image of Gal Vihara in Polonnaruwa, 12th century, which depicts the dhyana mudra, shows signs of Mahayana influence. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 9Sigiriya (Also called as Sinhagiriya) (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 10Gilded bronze statue of the Bodhisattva Tara, from the Anuradhapura period, 8th century (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 11Sri Lanka's population, 1871–2001 (from Sri Lanka)
Image 12A view of Sripada from Maskeliya (from Sri Lanka)
Image 13Tea plantation near Kandy (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 14J. R. Jayewardene was the most influential political figure of Sri Lanka in the 1970s and 1980s. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 15Ancient Ceremonial Temple or Clan Flag from Sri Lanka. Courtesy of the Wovensouls Collection (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 16Cricket in Sri Lanka (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 17A Low Country drummer playing the traditional Yak Béra (from Sri Lanka)
Image 18A 17th-century engraving of Dutch explorer Joris van Spilbergen meeting with King Vimaladharmasuriya in 1602 (from Sri Lanka)
Image 19Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka (from Sri Lanka)
Image 20Ceylon tea (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 21Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil in Jaffna (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 22Development of real GDP per capita, 1820 to 2018 (from Sri Lanka)
Image 23Colombo Port is the largest and busiest port in Sri Lanka (from Sri Lanka)
Image 24The 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 25Life expectancy at birth in Sri Lanka over time (from Sri Lanka)
Image 26Ritigala (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 27Sri Lanka map of Köppen climate classification (from Sri Lanka)
Image 28Female dancers in traditional Kandyan dress (from Sri Lanka)
Image 29A 1595 map of Sri Lanka created by Dutch cartographer Petrus Plancius (from Sri Lanka)
Image 30The formal ceremony marking the start of self-rule, with the opening of the first parliament at Independence Square (from Sri Lanka)
Image 31The Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) is an endangered subspecies of leopard native to Sri Lanka. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 32The 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 33Traditional Sri Lankan harvesting dance (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 34British appointed Kandyan chief headmen in 1905. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 35Sri Lanka's commercial capital Colombo city at night, in 2024 (from Sri Lanka)
Image 36R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo (from Sri Lanka)
Image 37Sri Lankans protesting in front of the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo, 13 April 2022 (from Sri Lanka)
Image 38The 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 39Ptolemy's world map of Ceylon, first century CE, in a 1535 publication (from Sri Lanka)
Image 40A royal palace in Polonnaruwa (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 41Sri Vikrama Rajasinha of Kandy, the last ruling native Sri Lankan monarch (from Sri Lanka)
Image 42The 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 43Muttiah Muralitharan holds the record for the highest number of wickets in Test cricket.
Image 44The Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre was constructed as a major venue for the performing arts. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 45Sri Lankan rice and curry (from Sri Lanka)
Image 46Maha 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 47Hindu devotees engaging in Kavadi at a temple in Vavuniya (from Sri Lanka)
Image 48Sri 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 3rd largest exporter of tea. (from Sri Lanka)
Image 49Sri Lanka aboriginal Vedda at work (from Culture of Sri Lanka)
Image 50The World Trade Center in Colombo. Presidential Secretariat, Bank of Ceylon and Galadari Hotel are also visible in the image. (from Sri Lanka)

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Vithana Kuruppu Arachchilage Clarence Arthur Somasinghe Wijewardena JP (Sinhala: ක්ලැරන්ස් විජේවර්ධන, Tamil: கிளாரன்ஸ் விஜேவர்தன; 3 August 1943 – 13 December 1996), known professionally as Clarence Wijewardena, was a Sri Lankan singer, composer and musician. Considered one of the most respected musicians in Sri Lanka, Wijewardena revolutionized Sri Lankan Sinhala Pop Music with the use of the electric guitar in Sinhala music, in the 1960s. Due to his influence on Sinhala pop music, he is often named as the "father of Sri Lankan pop music". (Full article...)

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... that during the colonial period, the Dutch East Indies was the third-largest exporter of tea after the British Raj and Ceylon?

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Sigiriya used as a rock fortress and castle in the reign of King Kasyapa.

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... that Aberdeen where Aberdeen Falls situated, is named after Aberdeen, the third largest city of Scotland and the capital of Aberdeenshire?
... that The Academy Award-winning "The Bridge on the River Kwai" was filmed on the Kelani River (pictured) near Kitulgala?
... that late President Dingiri Banda Wijetunga entered Parliament for the first time when he successfully contested the Udunuwara electorate at the 1965 general election?
... that King Vijayabahu I successfully drove the Chola out of Sri Lanka in 1070, reuniting the country for the first time in over a century?

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