History
Sri Lanka's first settlers were the nomadic
Veddahs. Legend
relates them to the Yakkhas, demons conquered by the Sinhalese
around the 5th or 6th century BC. A number of Sinhalese kingdoms,
including Anuradhapura in the north, took root across the island
during the 4th century BC. Buddhism was introduced by Mahinda,
son of the Indian Mauryan emperor Ashoka, in the 3rd century BC,
and it quickly became the established religion and the focus of
a strong nationalism. Anuradhapura was not impregnable. Repeated
invasions from southern India over the next 1000 years left
Sri Lanka in an ongoing state of dynastic power struggles.
The Portuguese arrived in Colombo in 1505
and gained a monopoly
on the invaluable spice trade. By 1597, the colonizers had taken
formal control of the island. However, they failed to dislodge
the powerful Sinhalese kingdom in Kandy which, in 1658, enlisted
Dutch help to expel the Portuguese. The Dutch were more interested
in trade and profits than religion or land, and only half-heartedly
resisted when the British arrived in 1796. The Brits wore down
Kandy's sovereignty and in 1815 became the first European power
to rule the entire island. Coffee, tea, cinnamon and coconut
plantations sprang up and English was introduced as the national language.
Then known as
Ceylon, Sri Lanka finally achieved full independence as a dominion
within the British Commonwealth in 1948. The government adopted
socialist policies, strengthening social services and maintaining a
strong economy, but also disenfranchising 800,000 Tamil plantation
workers. Sinhalese nationalist Solomon Bandaranaike was elected in
1956 and pushed a 'Sinhala Only' law through parliament, making
Sinhalese the national language and effectively reserving the best
jobs for the Sinhalese. This was partly instituted to address the
imbalance of power between the majority Sinhalese and the
English-speaking, Christian-educated elite. However, it enraged
the Tamil Hindu minority who began pressing for a federal system
of government with greater autonomy in the main Tamil areas in
the north and east.
