Sri Lanka's indigenous Wanniya-laeto (People of the Forest), also known as the Veddha, Archaeological evidence suggests their Neolithic ancestors inhabited this island 10,000 years ago or more.
Historically, for the past twenty-five centuries or more Sri Lanka's indigenous community has been buffeted by successive waves of immigration and colonization that began with the arrival of the Sinhalese from North India in the 5th century BC.
Consequently, the Wanniyalaeto have repeatedly been forced to choose between two alternative survival strategies: either to be assimilated into other cultures or to retreat ever further into a shrinking forest habitat.
