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The history of civilization of Sri Lanka is around 2500 years
old. Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon in the earlier times. Amongst
the first settlers of Sri Lanka was the nomadic Veddahs. The
Sinhalese overpowered Veddahs in the 5th or 6th BC. Mahindra,
the son of the Indian Mauryan emperor Ashoka, introduced Buddhism
in the island nation. Soon, Buddhism became the established
religion of Sri Lanka.
Portuguese arrived in Colombo in 1505 and took formal control
of the island by 1597. But the Portuguese failed to dislocate
Sinhalese Kingdom, who with the help of Dutch expelled the
Portuguese from Sri Lanka in 1658. The British arrived in
Sri Lanka in 1796. In 1815, Britain defeated Sinhalese kingdom
and became the first European power to rule the Island.
The British made English as the national language of Sri
Lanka. The island nation achieved independence in 1948 and
adopted democratic system of governance. In 1972, the country
became republic and received the official name of Sri Lanka.
Since the early 1980s, there has been an ongoing ethnic conflct
in Sri Lanka between the Sri Lankan government and members
of the Tamil ethnic group. This conflict resulted in death
of thousands of people. A cease fire was declared in 2002,
but the violence still continues on and off.
Sri Lanka is divided into 9 provinces, which are further sub-divided
into districts. The various provinces of Sri Lanka include,
Kandy, Anuradhapura, Trincomalee, Kurunegala, Galle, Badulla,
Ratnapura and Colombo.
India Sri Lanka Tours offer online booking and reservation
of various Tours to Sri Lanka. Please fill in the form given
below to book your tour.
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