General Information About Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has been known by many names for the years from the Greeks and Romans who called it Taprobane, to the Arab sailors at the time of Sinbad who called it Serendib, the Portuguese and Dutch to whom it was Ceilao and Ceylan and to the British who settled for Ceylon. To the people of the island it has always been SRI LANKA a name going back to the days of epic battle of the “Ramayana” legend.


Strategically situated on the seaways between east and west and endowed with great natural wealth, the island was frequent prey to invasions from China, India and the Arabian coasts. The first European contacts were felt in the 15th century when the Portuguese were attracted by the lucrative spice trade. Before long, they had conquered a major part of the coastal belt and remained until they were supplanted by the Dutch in 1658. The Dutch helped to develop and control the Maritime Provinces until 1796, when the British arrived and by 1815 succeeded in annexing the Kandyan Kingdom as well.New laws were introduced and European customs and beliefs began to influence the life-style of leading groups of people. Modern communications, western medical services and English education were introduced. The plantation industry on which the economy was based for over a century was founded with Coffee and then tea, Rubber and Coconut, The country was opened up by an inflow of British capital and economic enterprise. Independence came in 1948 through a peaceful negotiation and constitutional evolution.