Language: Sinhala, Tamil
Currency: Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR)
Calling Code: 94
Sri Lanka is an island sovereign country of Asia,
located in the Bay of Bengal, whose form of government is the
semi-presidential republic. Its territory is organized into nine
provinces and twenty-four districts.
The island was known in antiquity as "Lanka", "Lankadvīpa",
"Simoundou", "Taprobane", "Serendib" and "Selan", becoming popularly
known as the "island of a thousand names". During its colonization,
the island took the name of «Ceylon», which continued to be used
later. Its particular shape and its proximity to India caused it to
be called "The Tear of India."
Due to its location on the road of the main sea routes, Sri Lanka is
a strategic naval link between western Asia and Southeast Asia, and
has been a center of Buddhist religion and culture of antiquity.
Today it is a multireligious and multi-ethnic country, in which
almost a third of the population is a follower of religions other
than Buddhism, especially Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. The
Sinhalese community is the majority. The Tamils, who are
concentrated in the north and east of the island, constitute the
most important ethnic minority. Other communities include Arab
Muslims, Malays and burghers.
Famous for the production and export of cinnamon, tea, coffee,
rubber and coconut, Sri Lanka has a progressive and modern
industrial economy and the highest income per capita in South Asia.
The natural beauty of Sri Lanka in its tropical forests, beaches and
landscape, as well as its rich cultural heritage, make it a
world-famous tourist destination.
After more than two thousand years of local governments by kingdoms,
parts of Sri Lanka were colonized by Portugal and the Netherlands
from the sixteenth century, before control of the entire country was
ceded to the British Empire in 1815. During the Second World War,
Sri Lanka served as an important base for the allied forces in the
fight against the Japanese Empire. A nationalist political movement
emerged in the country at the beginning of the 20th century, in
order to obtain political independence, which was finally granted by
the British after the peace negotiations in 1948.
The history of Sri Lanka has been marked for more than two decades
by an ethnic conflict between the national government and the
insurgent movement of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. In early
2002, the two sides in conflict agreed on a ceasefire, which was
repeatedly broken on both sides. In early 2009, the national
government launched an offensive against the Tigers, which lasted
several months and resulted in the annihilation of the guerrillas
and the death of their high command, but at a very high cost of
civilian lives.
Anuradhapura in North Central Procvince is famous for its religious complex as well as many smaller temples, shrines and other monuments.
Bundala National Park located in a Southern Province of Sri Lanka and contains several biospheres within its borders.
Dambulla Cave Temple is an ancient and medieval religious complex that is located in over 80 natural caves of which five are especially magnificent.
Horton Plains National Park is located in a Central Province of the Southern Sri Lanka.
Kaudulla National Park is a wild life reserve in North Central Province in North- East Sri Lanka.
Minneriya National Park is nature preserve that protects elephans, buffaloes and other animals.
Sigiriya is a pleasure palace and a fortress constructed by king Kashyapa who desperately feared the return of rightfull prince of Sri Lanka.
Udawalawe National Park is located in Sabaragamuwa and Uva Provinces of Sri Lanka.
Wasgamuwa National Park is located in Central and North Central Provinces of Sri Lanka and covers an area of 39,322 ha.
Wilpattu National Park is located in North Western and North Central provinces of Sri Lanka.
Yala National Park is located in Southern and Uva Provinces of the Sri Lanka. It is most visited reserve in the country.
Etymology
In ancient times, Sri Lanka was known to travelers under various
names. According to the historical poem "Mahavamsa", the legendary
prince Vijaya named the island "Tambapani" (meaning "copper-red hands"
or "copper-red earth"), due to the fact that his associates had hands
painted with red soil islands. In Hindu mythology, in particular, in the
Ramayana, the island is referred to as "Lanka" ("Island"). The Tamil
term "Eelam" has been used to refer to the entire island in Sangam
literature.
Ancient Greek geographers called the island
"Taprobana" (ancient Greek Ταπροβανᾶ) or Taprobanē (Ταπροβανῆ), from the
word "Tambapani". The Persians and Arabs called the island Sarandib,
from Serentivu or Simkhaladvipa, Skt. Siṃhaladvīpaḥ. The Portuguese, who
conquered the island in 1505, gave it the name Ceilão, which was
transliterated into English as "Ceylon". As a British colony, the island
was known as "Ceylon", and in 1948 achieved independence as the Dominion
of Ceylon. "Republic of Sri Lanka" was officially adopted as the
country's name in the new 1972 constitution and changed to "Democratic
Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka" in the 1978 constitution.
Description
Official capital since 1982: Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte
(seat of Parliament and Supreme Court), the former official and de facto
capital - Colombo (seat of government, residence of the President).
The island of Sri Lanka is located in South Asia, a little east of
the southern tip of Hindustan, and is washed by the waters of the
Laccadive Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. It is separated
from Hindustan by the Gulf of Mannar and the Strait of Polk. The
so-called Adam's Bridge - a shallow in the Strait of Polk - once
completely connected Sri Lanka with the mainland, but, according to the
annals, was destroyed by an earthquake around 1481. The extreme southern
and western extremities are Cape Dondra and Cape Dutch Bay.
The
25th largest island in the world and the 3rd largest in the Indian
Ocean.
Relief
Most of the territory is occupied by coastal
lowlands. The mountains are located in the central part of the country;
the highest peak is Mount Pidurutalagala (2524 m), another famous peak
is Adam's Peak (2243 m).
Inland waters
Plain rivers are short,
mountain rivers have a large hydropower potential. The largest rivers:
Mahaweli-Ganga, Kelani, Kalu, Aruvi-Aru.
Climate
The climate
is subequatorial, monsoonal: the northeast monsoon lasts from October to
March, the southwest - from June to October.
Flora and fauna
Sri Lanka has a very diverse flora and fauna.
Of the 450 bird
species found on the island, representatives of more than 250 species
are its permanent inhabitants. Of these, 24 are found only in Sri Lanka.
Migratory birds arrive on the island for wintering from Siberia, Europe,
Scandinavia. In March-April, during the migration period, you can
observe a huge variety of butterflies, of which there are more than 240
species on the island.
The island is home to 91 species of
mammals, including wild boars, jackals, wild buffaloes, several species
of deer, bears, porcupines, foxes, monkeys and elephants. In the early
19th century, there were over 30,000 elephants in Sri Lanka. By 2010,
there were about 6,000 elephants left in Sri Lanka.
In the
reservoirs of Sri Lanka, there are 50 species of freshwater fish, of
which 17 were introduced by the British in the 19th century. Of the 38
amphibians, 16 are unique. The island abounds with reptiles (171
species), including two species of crocodiles: the marsh crocodile and
the combed crocodile. The star turtle is the only land turtle on the
island. Five species of sea turtles are now protected by law. Of the 83
species of snakes, only 5 are venomous.
There are about 3,000
plant species on the island, of which 25% are flowering; 750 species of
medicinal herbs, about 150 species of orchids and ferns.
On the
territory of Sri Lanka, despite the high population density, there are
12 national parks, 3 reserves and 51 reservations, which occupy 14% of
the island. Among them are Mineriya, Sinharaja, Bundala, Vilpatu,
Wasgamuwa, Udawalawe, Yala and Wilpattu.
The population is 21.3 million people (July 2009 estimate).
According to the average forecast, the population of the country will be
19.5 million people by 2100.
Annual increase - 0.73%
Birth rate -
17.3 per 1000 people (fertility - 1.99 births per woman);
Mortality -
6.1 per 1000;
Emigration - 1.1 per 1000;
Infant mortality - 18.5
per 1000;
The average life expectancy is 73 years for men, 77 years
for women.
Sinhalese make up 74.88%, Tamils - 11.2% of the
population, mainly in the northern and eastern regions. There are also
Sri Lankan Moors (laracalla - descendants of Arabs) - 9.2%, burghers
(descendants from mixed marriages with Europeans) - about 0.3%, Veddas
(descendants of the ancient population of the island) - about 1 thousand
people.
70.19% of the population (mainly Sinhalese) profess
Buddhism (mainly Theravada), 12.61% - Hinduism (Tamils), 9.71% - Islam,
7.45% - Christianity.
82% of Christians are Catholics, the rest
are Anglicans and other Protestants.
Literacy - 93.2%; men - 94%,
women - 92% (2017).
Sinhalese and Tamil are the official and national languages of Sri Lanka. According to the constitution of Sri Lanka, English has the official status of the language of interethnic communication.
Administratively, the country is divided into 9 provinces, which in turn are divided into 25 districts.
The oldest inhabitants of the island - the ancestors of the Veddas -
belonged to the Australo-Veddoid race.
The Sinhalese arrived on
the island around the 6th century BC. from northern India.
In the
III century BC. Buddhism comes to the island.
In the 3rd-13th
centuries, large Sinhalese kingdoms existed on the island with capitals
first in Anuradhapura, then in Polonnaruwa. The frescoes of the rock of
Sigiriya (Lion Rock) in the central part of the island also belong to
this period.
After the fall of the Polonnaruva dynasty of the
Sinhalese monarchs, the capital was transferred several times, and by
the time the Portuguese arrived on the island in the 16th century, it
was in Kotte.
In 1506, the Portuguese navigator Lourenço de
Almeida discovered the island of Ceylon, and during the 16th century the
Portuguese occupied the coast of the island.
In the 17th century,
the Dutch replaced the Portuguese. However, even during the period of
Dutch domination, the hinterland retained its independence. Since 1795,
the expansion of the British began, squeezing the Dutch out of Ceylon;
in 1796, the Dutch possessions were completely conquered by the British.
In 1802, British Ceylon was declared a colony of the British Empire. The
last Sinhalese kingdom, with its capital in Kandy, was liquidated by the
British in 1815; the entire territory of the island became a colony of
the British Empire.
In 1948, the country gained independence
under the name Dominion of Ceylon (remaining a dominion of Great
Britain).
In 1971, a youth uprising led by the Popular Liberation
Front, organized by Rohan Wijeweer, failed.
In 1972, the country
was renamed Sri Lanka and ceased to be a dominion, remaining a member of
the Commonwealth of Nations.
In December 2004, the country was
hit hard by a tsunami caused by an earthquake off the coast of Sumatra.
More than 38 thousand people died, 6 thousand went missing, hundreds of
thousands lost their homes. Sri Lanka received substantial financial
assistance. The program for economic recovery is being actively
implemented; it is planned to recreate 19 cities destroyed by the
tsunami.
Since 1983, there has been a civil war in Sri Lanka
between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
guerrilla organization. After many setbacks and several truces,
government forces managed to defeat the Tigers. On May 18, 2009, the
50,000-strong group of Sri Lankan government troops completed the last
operation in the civil war. In the north of the country, on the Jaffna
Peninsula, after the capture of Mullaittivu, the main forces of the
Tamil separatists were surrounded and liquidated. Sporadic clashes
continued throughout the week with scattered separatist units hiding in
the jungle, but government forces established firm control over the last
pocket of resistance. During the operation, the permanent leader of the
separatists, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was killed. The International Human
Rights Group in its report noted the presence in the period from 2006 to
2012 of 75 cases of violence against women and men known to it, which
were detained in connection with their possible involvement in the
“tigers”. In April 2013, about 3,000 Tamil film actors in India staged a
one-day hunger strike in support of the Tamil minority of Sri Lanka:
they wanted to punish those who committed war crimes at the end of the
civil war, and to hold a referendum in Sri Lanka on Tamil Eelam.
In 2021, the country experienced the worst economic crisis since
independence, which culminated in mass protests in 2022.
The head of state is the president, elected for a 6-year term by
direct universal suffrage. The President is the head of government and
the supreme commander in chief. The President is responsible to
Parliament; he can be impeached if supported by 2/3 of parliament and
approved by the supreme court. The president forms the government, which
is also responsible to parliament. Assistant to the President - Prime
Minister - head of the ruling party. The last elections were held in
2019, and Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected president of the country.
The Parliament of Sri Lanka is unicameral with 225 seats. Members of
Parliament are elected by popular direct suffrage on the basis of a
proportional system, with the following feature: the party that receives
the most votes in any constituency receives an additional seat. Only
Parliament can legislate. The President has the right to postpone or
cancel the session of Parliament, to dissolve Parliament if he has
worked for at least one year. The last elections took place in 2020.
A feature of the political life of the island, starting from the
1950s, is the sharp rivalry (within the framework of parliamentary
democracy) between the two clans - Senanayake-Jayawardene (the United
National Party (English) Russian, UNP is associated with it) and
Bandaranaike-Kumaratunga (with it associated with the Sri Lanka Freedom
Party, SLFP), who ruled the country for a total of 45 years. There are
also the Communist Party of Sri Lanka and the People's Liberation Front
(Janata Vimukti Peramuna), which is heavily influenced by Maoism, as
well as a large number of Trotskyist parties - Lanka Sama Samaja Party,
Left Liberation Front around Nava Sama Samaja Party, Sri Lanka Socialist
Party , Socialist Equality Party, United Socialist Party, Revolutionary
Workers' Party.
In the January 27, 2010 elections, Mahinda
Rajapakse was re-elected as President of the country with 59%, defeating
United Opposition candidate Sarath Fonsek. On February 9, 2010, he
issued a decree dissolving parliament and ordered the arrest of
opposition leader Sarath Fonseca (in September 2010, a military tribunal
sentenced Fonseca to three years in prison for corruption), thus taking
a sharp course away from democracy towards authoritarianism.
At
the same time, under the leadership of Mahinda Rajapaksa, a number of
major infrastructure projects were implemented, such as: Magampura
Mahinda Rajapaksa Port, hydropower projects, as well as coal-fired power
plants in Sampur and Norocholai. Due to the growing energy demand in the
country, the Hambantota solar power plant was built. By 2010, the
poverty rate in Sri Lanka had dropped to 8.9% from 15.2% in 2006.
During this period, Sri Lanka also rose in the Human Development
Index, but the government came under fire due to high levels of
corruption. Sri Lanka ranked 79th out of 174 countries in Transparency
International's Corruption Index.
Age of Maithripala Sirisena
In November 2014, as signs of declining public and state support began
to appear, Mahinda Rajapakse decides to hold early elections.
Maithripala Sirisena, Secretary General of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom
Party and Minister of Health, has announced his candidacy as an opponent
of President Mahinda Rajapakse in the upcoming presidential election. It
was supported by former President Chandrika Kumaratunga and United
National Party leader Ranil Wikramasinghe, Jathika Hela Urumaya, and
Sarath Fonseka. In his speech, he promised to put an end to banditry,
theft, crime, drug mafia, nepotism and corruption. The largest Muslim
party in Sri Lanka left the current government and also supported
Maithripala Sirisena.
As a result of the presidential elections
in January 2015, Maithripala Sirisena won with 51.28% of the vote. He
removed the chief of justice, Mohan Peiris, and launched a massive
campaign against corruption and abuses of the previous government and
the president, which lasted during his presidency. The president also
pardoned opponents of the previous president, namely former opposition
leader Sarath Fonseca. The new president has set a course for peaceful
coexistence and partnership with all countries of the region.
Rule of Gotabai Rajapaksa
On November 18, 2019, Gotabaya Rajapaksa
became President of Sri Lanka. In his election campaign, he used the
rhetoric of Sinhalese nationalism.
The economic crisis led to
mass protests that began in March 2022. On July 9, protesters broke into
the residence of the president, who had fled from it shortly before. On
the same day, Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced his resignation on July 13,
2022.
The island produces about 10% of all tea in the world, which is more
than 305 thousand tons per year (3rd place, after India and China).
The economy also has a developed production of natural rubber,
cinnamon; mining of precious stones (Ratnapura).
According to
data for 2008, agriculture provides 20% of exports (93% in 1972), the
main industry is textiles (63% of exports). However, Sri Lanka was hit
hard by the cancellation by developed countries in January 2005 of
clothing import quotas that had been in effect (under the WTO) for more
than 30 years, which led to the replacement of Sri Lankan products with
cheaper Chinese.
The main economic center of the country and the
largest port is Colombo.
GDP growth is about 5% per year. Sri
Lanka ranks first in South Asia in terms of GDP per capita ($4,300 in
2008).
In 2018, the volume of foreign trade in exports amounted to $11.1
billion, in imports $18.7 billion, and the negative balance of foreign
trade was $7.57 billion.
The bulk of exports were textiles,
including clothing ($5.61 billion), and agricultural products, including
tea ($858 million), as well as rubber and rubber products ($588
million). Main export partners: USA (24.2%), India (7.76%), Germany
(7.38%), UK (7.26%), Italy (4.44%)
Imports are dominated by
machinery and equipment ($2.88 billion), textile raw materials and
semi-finished products ($2.73 billion), oil products ($2.3 billion), as
well as cars, metals and chemical products. Main import partners: India
(22.7%), China (22.6%), Singapore (9.26%), Japan (6.27%), Malaysia
(3.78%).
Tourism plays an ever-increasing role in the country's economy (9% of
GDP in 2004). Seaside resort towns (Moratuwa, Galle), historical sights
of Kandy, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya, the mountain resort of
Nuwara Eliya are popular. Tourists also visit tea plantations, national
parks and religious and historical monuments of Buddhism, for example,
the Temple of the Tooth Relic in Kandy (the ancient capital of the
island), which houses one of the most revered Buddhist shrines - the
tooth of the Buddha.
In Sri Lanka, as in all countries of South
Asia, cricket is traditionally popular. In 1996 the Sri Lankan team won
the World Cup.
The main holiday in Sri Lanka is February 4, Independence Day. In addition, the country celebrates a number of Buddhist, Muslim and Christian holidays. Days off, except for Saturday and Sunday, are the days of the full moon, Poya Day, intended for meditation.
On February 26, 1986, the Star Lotus was adopted as the national flower of Sri Lanka.
In 2021, the world's largest star sapphire was found in Sri Lanka. Its weight is 510 kg. The cost is estimated at over $200 million.
Ambulance 144
Police 133
Fire 122
Emergency service 120