The History of Sri Lanka ______________

Sri Lanka has a long history that goes back to the dawn of time. The history of the Sinhala people began with the arrival of an Indian prince named Vijaya. On the island of Lanka, Vijaya discovered that it was already inhabited, by a people called Yaksha. He took as his wife the queen of the Yakshas. Later, Vijaya took another wife, a Pandyan princess from South India, and They were regarded as the earliest settlers of Lanka.

Buddhism was introduced to Lanka in the 3rd century BC. It came about when a Buddhist missionary, Bhikkhu Mahinda, who is the brother of the Buddhist Emperor Asoka of India, arrived in Lanka, and succeeded in converting the Sinhalese King Devanampiyatissa at Mihintale.

The first ancient capital of Lanka was the city of Anuradhapura. Next came Polonnaruwa. There were a succession of other cities that served as capital. Throughout history, there was repeated invasions by armies from South India, resulting in the shifting of the capital.

Colonial powers arrived in Sri Lanka in 1505, when the Portuguese landed. At that time there were three kingdoms on the island, namely Yarlpanam (Anglicised Jaffna) in the north, Kandy in the central hills and Kotte at the Western coast. In 1956, the Dutch defeated the Portuguese and became the second colonial power in Sri Lanka. As the Portuguese and Dutch were mainly interested in the spice trade, and so concentrated only on the coastal areas. The hilly region remained independent, allowing the Kingdom of Kandy to continue flourishing uninterrupted, until the arrival of the British. 

Great Britain replaced the Dutch in 1796 - at a time when the Netherlands were weakened by the Napoleon invasion back home. The coastal areas became a crown colony in 1802. The kingdom of Kandy fell in 1815, setting in motion the unification of the entire island under a single administration, which happened in 1818.

A struggle for independence started in the 1930s, and Sri Lanka won its independence in 1948, becoming a member of the British Commonwealth. Under British rule, it was known as Ceylon, a name that it held until 1972, when it changed its name to Sri Lanka. The name Sri Lanka, which has its origin in Sanskrit, means "venerable Lanka". Lanka is a name that has long been associated with the island since ancient times.