The most ancient of the inhabitants were probably the ancestors of the Veddas, an aboriginal people (numbering about 3,000) now living in remote mountain areas. They were conquered in the 6th century b.c. by the Sinhalese, who were originally from N India; the Ramaya, the ancient Hindu epic, probably reflects this conquest. The Sri Lanka chronicle Mahavamsa relates the arrival of Vijaya, the first Sinhalese king, in 483 b.c. The Sinhalese settled in the north and developed an elaborate irrigation system. They founded their capital at Anuradhapura, which, after the introduction of Buddhism from India in the 3d century b.c., became one of the chief world centers of that religion; a cutting of the pipal tree under which Buddha attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya was planted there. The Temple of the Tooth at Kandy as well as the Dalada Maligawa are sacred Buddhist sites. Buddhism stimulated the fine arts in Sri Lanka, its classical period lasted from the 4th to the 6th century.
The proximity of Sri Lanka to S India resulted in many Tamil invasions. The Chola of S India conquered Anuradhapura in the early 11th century and made Pollonarrua their capital. The Sinhalese soon regained power, but in the 12th century a Tamil kingdom arose in the north, and the Sinhalese were driven to the southwest. Arab traders, drawn by the island's spices, arrived in the 12th and 13th centuries; their descendants are the Muslim Moors. The Portuguese conquered the coastal areas in the early 16th century and introduced the Roman Catholic religion. By the mid-17th century the Dutch had taken over the Portuguese possessions and the rich spice trade. In 1795 the Dutch possessions were occupied by the British, who made the island a crown colony in 1798. In 1815 the island was brought under one rule for the first time when the central area, previously under the rule of Kandy, was conquered. Under the British, tea, coffee, and rubber plantations were developed, and schools, including a university, were opened. A movement for independence arose during World War I. The constitution of 1931 granted universal adult suffrage to the inhabitants; but demands for independence continued, and in 1946 a more liberal constitution was enacted.

An Independent Nation
Full independence was finally granted to the island on Feb. 4, 1948, with dominion status in the Commonwealth of Nations. In 1950 delegates of eight countries of the Commonwealth met in Colombo and adopted the Colombo Plan for economic aid to S and SE Asia. Riots in 1958 between Sinhalese and the Tamil minority over demands by the Tamils for official recognition of their language and the establishment of a separate Tamil state under a federal system resulted in severe loss of life. In Sept., 1959, Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike was assassinated, and in 1960 his widow, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, became prime minister. The Federal party of the Tamils was outlawed in 1961, following new disorders. Certain Western business facilities were nationalized (1962), and the country became involved in disputes with the United States and Great Britain over compensation. The radical policies of Mrs. Bandaranaike aroused opposition, and the elections in 1965 gave a parliamentary plurality once more to the moderate socialist United National party (UNP) of Dudley Senanayake, who became prime minister with a multiparty coalition. Under Senanayake, closer relations with the West were established and compromise arrangements were made for recompensing nationalized companies. However, economic problems and severe inflation continued, aggravated by a burgeoning population (between 1946 and 1970 the population almost doubled).
In 1970, Mrs. Bandaranaike and her three-party anticapitalist coalition won a landslide victory, following considerable preelection violence. She launched social welfare programs, including rice subsidies and free hospitalization, but failed to satisfy the extreme left, which, under the Marxist People's Liberation Front, attempted to overthrow the government in an armed rebellion in 1971. With Soviet, British, and Indian aid, the rebellion was quelled after heavy fighting. In 1972 the country adopted a new constitution, declared itself a republic while retaining membership in the Commonwealth of Nations, and changed its name to Sri Lanka. In the early 1970s the government was confronted with a severe economic crisis as the country's food supplies and foreign exchange reserves dwindled in the face of rising inflation, high unemployment, a huge trade deficit, and the traditional policy of extensive social-welfare programs.

Civil War
Repression of the Tamil language caused members of the Tamil minority to demand an independent state called Tamil Eelam. The election of a new UNP government under J. R. Jayawardene in 1977 and the implementation of economic reforms geared towards growth did little to restrain increasing terrorist violence. While the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fought (1986) a guerrilla war against the army, radical Sinhalese students were assassinating government officials whom they believed were too soft on the Tamils. In response to a request made by Jayawardene's government, India sent (1987) 42,000 troops to invade and occupy NE Sri Lanka. These troops fought an inconclusive war with the Tigers, and were asked to withdraw by Jayawardene's successor, Ramasinghe Premadasa (elected 1988). The Indian troops withdrew in late 1989 and fighting resumed in 1990. Over 17,000 people had been killed in the conflict by 1992. In 1993 Premadasa was assassinated and was succeeded as president by Prime Min. and UDP leader Dingiri Banda Wijetunga. A year later, the opposition People's Alliance party won its first general election in 17 years. Chandrika Kumaratunga, who is the daughter of Sirimavo Bandaranaike and who had lost both her father and husband to assassins, became prime minister. She promised to intitiate talks aimed at ending the 11-year-old civil war. Bibliography
See L. A. Mills, Ceylon Under British Rule, 1795–1932 (1965); N. E. Weerasooria, Ceylon and Her People (4 vol., 1970–71); M. D. Raghavan, Tamil Culture in Ceylon (1971); L. M. Jacob, Sri Lanka: From Dominion to Republic (1973); R. F. Nyrop et al., Sri Lanka (1985); V. Samaraweera, Sri Lanka (1987); A. J. Wilson, Break-Up of Sri Lanka: The Sinhalese-Tamil Conflict (1989); C. R. De Silva, Sri Lanka (1991).

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