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Sri Lankan Moors

20th century Sri Lankan Moors
Group of early 20th century Sri Lankan Moors.
Total population
~2 million (2005)
Regions with significant populations
Sri Lanka 8% or ~2 million (2005) Middle East
Languages
Tamil, Sinhalese[citation needed] (formerly Arwi and Arabic)
Religion
Islam
Related ethnic groups
Arabs, Sri Lankan people

The Sri Lankan Moors (commonly referred to as Muslims) are the third largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka comprising 10% of the country's total population (approx. 2 million people in 2005). They are predominantly followers of Islam. The Moors trace their ancestry to Arab traders who settled in Sri Lanka some time between the 8th and 15th centuries. The Arabic language brought by the early merchants is no longer spoken, though many Arabic words and phrases are still commonly used. Until the recent past, the Moors employed Arwi as their native language,^[1] though this is also extinct as a spoken language.

Moors today use Tamil as their primary language with influence from Arabic.^[1] Those from central and southern Sri Lanka also widely use Sinhala, an Indo-European language spoken by the ethnic Sinhalese majority in Sri Lanka. There are many Muslim schools in Southern, Central and Western Sri Lanka that offer education in Sinhala medium^{[citation needed]}along with Tamil medium. Some Madrasahs also teach in Sinhala.^{[citation needed]}

The Sri Lankan Moors lived primarily in coastal trading and agricultural communities, preserving their Islamic cultural heritage while adopting many Southern Asian customs. During the period of Portuguese colonisation, the Moors suffered widespread persecution, and many fled to the Central Highlands and the East Coast, where their descendants remain.

History[link]

The Jami-ul-Alfar Mosque in Pettah, Colombo was built in 1901.

The Tamils of Sri Lanka, throughout history, have attempted to categorize the Sri Lankan Moors as belonging to the Tamil ethnic group.^{[citation needed]} However many Moors feel that this is wrong and that many Arab traders adopted the Tamil language when they settled in Sri Lanka.^{[citation needed]} This meant that mistakenly Tamils concluded that the Moors were from their race. The features of Sri Lankan Moors are also very different, they commonly have lighter skin tone hair color. As a result some view the Sri Lankan Moors and Tamils as two ethnic groups, who speak the same language.^{[citation needed]} Tamil culture and traditions are very different. Tamils follow the Hindu culture and religion whereas the Sri Lankan Moors follow the Arabic cultural traditions and practice the religion Islam. It is claimed that this was a bid to eliminate the minority community from having its own unique identity.^{[citation needed]} The Government of Sri Lanka, however, treats the Muslims as of origin and as a distinct ethnic group compared to the Tamils.^[1] Many ethnic Tamil people of Sri Lanka have also converted to Islam^{[citation needed]}.

The manner in which Islam developed in Sri Lanka is very similar to that on the Malabar Coast of India. Tradition has recorded that Arabs who had settled down on the Malabar coast used to travel from the port of Cranganore to Sri Lanka on pilgrimage to pay homage to what they believed to be the footprint of Adam on the top of a mountain, which, even today, is called Adam's Peak.^[1]

Ibn Batuta, the famous 14th-century Arab traveller, recorded many facets about early Arab influence in Sri Lanka in his travelogues.

Before the end of the 7th century, a colony of Muslim merchants had established themselves in Ceylon. Fascinated by the scenic splendour and captivated by the traditions associated with Adam's Peak, Muslim merchants arrived in large numbers and some of them decided to settle in the island encouraged by the cordial treatment they received by the local rulers. Most of them lived along the coastal areas in peace and prosperity, maintaining contacts, both cultural and commercial, with Baghdad, Hadramout, Oman and other Islamic cities.^[1]

According to Tikiri Abeyasinghe in his Portuguese Rule in Ceylon, 1594–1612, Colombo (1966), Lake House Investments Ltd., p 192, tradition has it that,

[...]the first Mohammadans of Ceylon were a portion of those Arabs of the House of Hashim, who were driven from Arabia in the early part of the 8th. century by the tyranny of the Caliph, Abdel Malik bin Marwan, and who proceeding from the Euphrates southwards made settlements in the concan in the southern parts of the peninsula of India, on the island of Ceylon and Malacca. The division of them that came to Ceylon formed eight considerable settlements along the Nort-East, North and Western coast of that island; viz., one at Trincomalee, one at Jaffna, one at Colombo, one at barbareen, and one at Point de Galle.[...]

The first Arabs who practiced Islam arrived in Sri Lanka around the 7th–8th century, and there is evidence that there was a settled community of Arabs in Ceylon in pre-Islamic times.^[1]

The circumstances that helped the growth of Muslim settlements were varied. Most of the majority Sinhalese depended more on agriculture than trade, thus trade was open to the Muslims. The Sinhalese Kings considered the Muslim settlements favorably on account of the revenue that they brought them through their contacts overseas both in trade and in politics. The religious tolerance of the local population was also another vital factor in the development of Muslim settlements in Ceylon.^[1]

Kechimalai Mosque, Beruwala. One of the oldest mosques in Sri Lanka. It is believed to be the site where the first Arabs landed in Sri Lanka

The early Muslim settlements were set up mainly around ports on account of the nature of their trade. It is also assumed that many of the Arab traders may not have brought their womenfolk along with them when they settled in Ceylon. Hence they would have been compelled to marry the Sinhalese and Tamil women of the island after converting them to Islam. The fact that a large number of Moors in Sri Lanka speak the Tamil language can be attributed to the possibility that they were trading partners with the Tamils of South India and had to learn Tamil in order to carry out their business.^{[citation needed]} The integration with the Muslims of Tamil Nadu (Marakkar), in South India, may have also contributed to this. Moors are also sometimes referred to as Marakkala in Sinhala language. It is also possible that the Arabs who had already migrated to Ceylon, prior to Islam, had adopted the Tamil language as a medium of communication in their intercourse with the Tamil-speaking Muslims of South India. The Muslims were very skillful traders who gradually built-up a very lucrative trading post in Ceylon. A whole colony of Arab Muslims is said to have landed at Beruwela (South Western coast) in the Kalutara District in 1024.^[1]

Though the Muslims did not engage in propagating Islam amongst the natives of Ceylon, many of the native women they married were converted to Islam.^[1]

There is also a report in the history of Sri Lanka of a Muslim ruler, Vathimi Raja, who reigned at Kurunegala (North Central Province) in the 14th century. This factor cannot be found in history books due to their omission, for reasons unknown, by modern authors. Vathimi Raja was the son of King Bhuvaneka Bahu I, by a Muslim spouse, the daughter of one of the chiefs. The Sinhalese son of King Bhuvaneka Bahu I, Parakrama Bahu III, the real heir to the throne was crowned at Dambadeniya under the name of Pandita Parakrama Bahu III. In order to be rid of his step brother, Vathimi Raja, he ordered that his eyes be gouged out. It is held that the author of the Mahavamsa (ancient history of Ceylon) had suppressed the recording of this disgraceful incident. The British translator, Mudaliyar Wijesinghe, states that original Ola (leaf script) was bodily removed from the writings and fiction inserted instead. The blinded Vathimi Raja (Bhuvaneka Bahu II or Al-Konar, abbreviated from Al-Langar-Konar, meaning Chief of Lanka of Alakeshwara) was seen by the Arab traveller Ibn Batuta during his visit to the island in 1344. His son named Parakrama Bahu II (Alakeshwara II) was also a Muslim. The lineage of Alakeshwara kings (of Muslim origin) ended in 1410. Although all the kings during this reign may not have been Muslims, the absence of the prefix -Shri Sangha Bodhi- (pertaining to the disciples of the Buddha) to the name of these kings on the rock inscriptions during this hundred year period may be considered as an indicator that they were not Buddhists. Further during Ibn Batuta's visit a Muslim ruler called Jalasthi is reported to have been holding Colombo, maintaining his hold over the town with a garrison of about 500 Abyssinians.^[1]

In spite of this the Muslims have always maintained very cordial relationships with the Sinhalese Royalty and the local population. There is evidence that they were closer to the Sinhalese than to the Tamils. The Muslims' relationship with the Sinhalese kings grew stronger and in the 14th century they even fought with them against the expanding Tamil kingdom and its maritime influence.^[1]

By the beginning of the 16th century, the Muslims of Sri Lanka, the descendants of the original Arab traders, had settled down comfortably on the island. They were very successful in trade and commerce and integrated socially with the customs of the local people. They had become an inseparable, and even more, an indispensable part of society. This period was one of ascendancy in peace and prosperity for the Sri Lankan Muslims.^[1]

Present[link]

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the population of Moors in Sri Lanka has grown from approximately 100,000 persons in the 19th century to over 2 million in 2005. (The population of Sri Lanka is 21,128,772 as of 2009.) In the past, Moors were found throughout Sri Lanka, mostly within urban coastal regions. However, during Portuguese rule in the 17th century they were persecuted on the basis of their religion and were forced to retreat into the Kandyan highlands and the East Coast, which were under the rule of local kings. As a result, there are substantial Moor populations in these regions today. In recent times, the Sri Lankan Civil War has produced large population movements in the northern region of the country, resulting in significant demographic changes. Hence the once-flourishing Muslim (mostly Moor) community is now non-existent in the Northern Province of the country as a result of the Hindu Tamil Tigers' ethnic cleansing carried out by Tamil Tiger rebels in 1991. This caused the Moors to fled towards the southern and western Sri Lanka. Most of the expelled Northern population now reside in the western Puttalam region of the country. Overall, the majority of Sri Lankan Muslims still reside in Sri Lanka, however there are small growing communities in the Arab World, Europe, North America and Australia.

Distribution[link]

Distribution of Moors in Sri Lanka based on 2001 and 1981 (italic) census. (Note: Large population movements have occurred since 1981, hence 2001 data for Northeastern areas (italic) do not exist

East Coast Moors[link]

On the east coast, Last generation of Sri Lankan Moors are primarily farmers, fishermen, and traders, but the present generation is a significant mark on Muslims education of the Island. Their family lines are traced through women, as in kinship systems of the southwest Indian state of Kerala, but they govern themselves through Islamic law.^[2]

Central and West Coast Moors[link]

Many moors in the central and west of the island are related to business, industrialists, professionals or civil servants and are mainly concentrated in Kandy, Colombo, Kalutara, Beruwala, Puttalam and Mannar . Moors in the west coast trace their family lines through their father. Along with those in the Central Province, the surname of many Moors in Colombo, Kalutara and Puttalam is their fathers' first name, which is similar to the traditional Arab and Middle Eastern kinship system.

Culture[link]

The Sri Lankan Moors possess a unique culture that differentiates them from the dominant Sinhalese and Tamil ethnic groups on the island.^{[citation needed]}The cultural domain of Sri Lankan Moors has been strongly shaped by Islam, hence most customs and practices are dictated by Islamic law. While preserving many of their ancestral customs, the Moors have also adopted several South Asian practices.^[1]

Religion[link]

Sri Lankan Moors are predominantly followers of Islam, hence their cultural identity is strongly defined by their religion. Unlike the Sinhalese and Tamil people who adhere to several faiths, virtually all Moors adhere to Islam, hence in a Sri Lankan context the term Muslim is often used interchangeably as both a religious and ethnic term to describe the Moors. Most Sri Lankan Moors follow Sunni Islam through the Shafi school of thought, though there are also small populations that follow other Islamic sects such as Shia Islam.

Languages[link]

The Moors speak a modified form of the Tamil language influenced by Arabic.^[1] However since there is not an official name for the dialect, it is commonly referred as Tamil, however there are certain words and phrases that are different from the original Tamil language spoken by the Tamils. some Moors still use Arabic to read and write in this 21st century. The Sinhala language has also had strong influence on speech, especially in the central region of Sri Lanka where most Moors are multilingual. Arabic is used extensively as a liturgical language. In the past, the Arwi language was used extensively by the Moor community, however it is now virtually extinct as a spoken language and is confined only to religious texts. Today, the Tamil script is commonly used; however the official script used in religious affairs is still Arwi, which is a modified form of the Arabic script.^{[3][dead link]}

Many Arabic and Arabized words exist in the form of Tamil spoken by Moors. Among many examples, greetings and blessings are exchanged in Arabic instead of Tamil, such as Assalamu Alaikum instead of Vanakkam and Jazakallah instead of Nandri. Furthermore, to a smaller extent words have also been absorbed from Portuguese, Dutch, English and notably, Sri Lankan Creole Malay.

In recent times, with the advent of teaching Arabic as a compulsory language at schools and the rising of Islamic sentiments of Islamic people worldwide, Arabic has become more popular and used among Sri Lankan Moors.

Arwi[link]

Prior to the adoption of Tamil and Sinhala^{[citation needed]}, the Arwi language was used as a native language by the Sri Lankan Moors. Arwi is linguistically related to both Semitic and Dravidian tongues now spoken predominantly in the Middle East and Southern India, respectively. It is also believed to be also related to Brahui, a Dravidian language spoken today by nearly 350,000 in East Baluchistan, Pakistan.^{[citation needed]}

The Arwi alphabet.

The linguistic "marriage" of Arabic with Sri Lankan dialects is a process that has been active in the region for several centuries. The distinctiveness of the speech behaviour of the Moors of Sri Lanka, has been referred to as Arabic-Tamil, Arabuthamul, Arwi, or Shonakam. It enjoys a religious knowledge affinity with a dialect of Jawi, used by the Malays of the island, as well as with other northern India derived languages such as Urdu, used by smaller groups of Muslims in the country. The linguistic medium of Arwi is composed of more than one set of grammars and vocabularies that a speaker may switch back and forth from, depending on the situation. Spoken forms of coastal regional Arwi also differ from central regional forms. Compared to many among the Sinhalese, Tamil, or Burgher peoples of Sri Lanka who have traditionally tended to be monolingual, Moors were much more at home with Sinhala and Tamil, and in some instances English, as well as Arwi.

As a written language Arwi employs an invented orthography for a creolized, or mixed, system of speech patterns. Arwi spoken in Sri Lanka, contained a mixture of words that have Semitic, Dravidian and Indo-European origins (i.e. Arabic, Tamil and Sinhalese, respectively).^[3] Research on its history has only very recently begun to appear in print. It is believed to have originated during the early stages of Islamizing contact between Sri Lankan peoples with Arab and Persian traders. The principles of its development and structure are possibly related to similar systems known for other similar Islamized speech and writing systems such as Maldivian, Jawi, Urdu, and Persian.

Arwi is known to be a matter of at least scholarly interest in some parts of Sri Lanka today. Languages such as Sinhala, Tamil and English have replaced it in many contexts. Several reasons can be attributed to the decline of Arwi including the popularization of English during colonial times and the lack of competitive printing facilities. Furthermore, the early 20th century adoption of an Arabic-dominant Islamic school curriculum by scholars has also contributed to the extinction of Arwi as a spoken language and its overall decline in Sri Lanka.

Today, the Arwi language exists only as a written medium for religious uses. Alongside standard Arabic, it is often used in formal religious ceremonies; however, unlike Arabic, Arwi is seldom taught in religious schools and is consequently in deep decline. The most notable usage of Arwi can be found in devotional chants such as the Talaifatiha, which is exclusively conducted exclusively by women during certain religious festivals.

See also[link]

• Islam in Sri Lanka
• Sri Lankan Malays
• List of Sri Lankan Moors
• Sri Lanka Moor Families Sri Lankan Malay Families^[4]

References[link]

•  This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Library of Congress Country Studies.
• Victor C. de Munck. Experiencing History Small: An analysis of political, economic and social change in a Sri Lankan village. History & Mathematics: Historical Dynamics and Development of Complex Societies. Edited by Peter Turchin, Leonid Grinin, Andrey Korotayev, and Victor C. de Munck, pp. 154–169. Moscow: KomKniga, 2006. ISBN 5-484-01002-0
• Pieris, Kamalika. The Muslims and Sri Lanka.[1].Mission Islam, 2006.
• Vamadevan, Varma. The Muslims of Sri Lanka. Published in Sydney, 2004.
• Balachandran, BK. Lankan Muslims' historical links with India.[2]

Hindustan Times.2006

• Sailan Muslim – reaching out to Sri Lankan Muslims [3]
• McGilvray, D.B (1998). Arabs, Moors and Muslims: Sri Lankan Muslim ethnicity in regional perspective. Colombo: SAGE Publications. p. 50. 
• http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-13175.html
• Arwi: Comments, Questions and Answers: 7/9/'98. Rabi al Awwal 14 1419. Cordoba Institute. http://www.armu.com/armu/frame.html

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A self-depiction by the Muslims in Iberia. Taken from the Tale of Bayad and Riyad

Santiago Matamoros ("Saint James the Moor-slayer"). St. James is on horseback and a beheaded Moor lies on the ground, by the 15th-century Flemish-Spanish painter Juan de Flandes.

The Almoravides dynasty, c. 1100 CE. At the dynasty's greatest expanse of control, a succession of Moroccan-based states existed from modern Senegal to the Iberian Peninsula.

The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of Berber, Black African and Arab descent from Northern Africa, who came to conquer, occupy and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years.^{[citation needed]} At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed other religions. They called the territory Al Andalus, comprising most of what is now Spain and Portugal.

" Moors" are not a distinct or self-defined people. Medieval and early modern Europeans applied the name primarily to Berbers, but also at various times to Arabs, Muslim Iberians^[1] and West Africans from Mali and Niger who had been absorbed into the Almoravid dynasty.^[2] Mainstream scholars observed in 1911 that "The term 'Moors' has no real ethnological value."^[3]

The Andalusian Moors of the late Medieval era inhabited the Iberian Peninsula after the Moorish conquests of the Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates, and the final Umayyad conquest of Hispania.^{[citation needed]} The Moors' rule stretched at times as far as modern-day Mauritania, West African countries, and the Senegal River. Earlier, the Classical Romans interacted with (and later conquered) parts of Mauretania, a state that covered northern portions of modern Morocco and much of north western and central Algeria during the classical period. The people of the region were noted in Classical literature as the Mauri.

The term Mauri, or variations, was later used by European traders and explorers of the 16th to 18th centuries to designate ethnic Berber and Arab groups speaking the Hassaniya Arabic dialect.^{[citation needed]} Today such groups inhabit Mauritania and parts of Algeria, western Sahara, Morocco, Niger and Mali.^[4] Speakers of European languages have historically designated a number of associated ethnic groups as "Moors". In modern Iberia, the term is applied to people of Moroccan ethnicity living in Europe. "Moor" is sometimes colloquially applied to any person from North Africa. Some people to whom it is applied consider the term pejorative and racist.

Etymology[link]

In Latin, the word maurus (plural mauri) means coming from Mauretania, a Roman province on the northwestern fringe of Africa. In the Medieval Romance languages (such as Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian,Romanian), the root appeared in such forms as mouro, moro, moir, mor and maur. Derivatives are found in today's versions of the languages. Some derive the word from the ancient Greek mauros, meaning "dark".

Through nominalization, the root has taken on a variety of meanings. Moreno, from the Latin root, can mean "tanned" in Spain and Portugal, as well as in Brazil. In Cuba and other Spanish-speaking countries, it can mean "black person" or "mulatto".^{[citation needed]} Also in Spanish, morapio is a humorous name for "wine", especially that which has not been "baptized" or mixed with water, i.e., pure unadulterated wine. Among Spanish speakers, moro ("Moor") came to have a broader meaning, applied to both Moros of Mindanao in the Philippines, and the moriscos of Granada. Moro is used to describe all things dark, as in "Moor", moreno, etc. It was used as a nickname; for instance, the Milanese Duke Ludovico Sforza was called Il Moro because of his dark complexion. In Polish murzyn means a black person and can be perceived either as a neutral or pejorative term.

In Portugal and Spain, mouro (feminine, moura) may also refer to supernatural beings known as enchanted moura, where "moor" implies 'alien' and 'non-Christian'; These beings were siren-like fairies with golden or reddish hair and a fair face. They were believed to have magical properties.^[5] From this root, the name moor is also applied to unbaptised children, meaning not Christian.^[6][7] In Basque, mairu means moor and also refers to a mythical people.^{[8][dead link]}

History[link]

Overview[link]

Eastern Hemisphere in 476 CE, showing the Moorish kingdoms after the fall of Rome.

Although the Moors came to be identified as Muslim, the name Moor pre-dates Islam. It derives from the small Numidian Kingdom of Maure of the 3rd century BCE in what is now northern central and western part of Algeria and a part of northern Morocco.^[9] The name was applied to people of the entire region. "They were called Maurisi by the Greeks", wrote Strabo, "and Mauri by the Romans."^[10] During that age, the Maure or Moors were trading partners of Carthage, the independent city state founded by Phoenicians. During the second Punic war between Carthage and Rome, two Moorish Numidian kings took different sides, Syphax with Carthage, Masinissa with the Romans, decisively so at Zama.

Thereafter, the Moors entered into treaties with Rome. King Jugurtha responded to violence against merchants with war. Juba, a later king, was a friend of Rome. Eventually, the Roman Empire incorporated the region as the provinces of Mauretania Caesariensis and Mauretania Tingitana. The area around Carthage was already part of the province of Africa. Roman rule was effective enough so that these provinces became integrated into the empire.

During the Christian era, two prominent Berber churchmen were Tertullian and St. Augustine. After the fall of Rome, the Germanic kingdom of the Vandals ruled much of the area.

Neither Vandal nor Byzantine could extend effective rule; the interior remained under Moorish Berber control.^[11] For more than 50 years, the Berbers resisted Arab armies from the east. Among its memorable resistance were the forces led by Kahina, the Berber prophetess of the Awras, during 690–701. By 700 CE, or the 92nd lunar year after the Hijra, the Arab Muslims dominated North Africa.^[12]

Moors of Iberia[link]

Progress of the Reconquista (790–1300).

In 711 AD, the now Islamic Moors conquered Visigothic Christian Hispania. Their general, Tariq ibn-Ziyad, brought most of Iberia under Islamic rule in an eight-year campaign. They moved northeast across the Pyrenees Mountains, but were defeated by the Frank Charles Martel at the Battle of Poitiers in 732 AD.

The Moorish state fell into civil conflict in the 750s. The Moors ruled in North Africa and in most of the Iberian peninsula for several decades. They were resisted in areas in the northwest (such as Asturias, where they were defeated at the battle of Covadonga) and the largely Basque regions in the Pyrenees. Though the number of Moor colonists was small, many native Iberian inhabitants converted to Islam. According to Ronald Segal, by 1200 AD, some 5.6 million of Iberia's 7 million inhabitants, nearly all native inhabitants, were Muslim.^[13] In the late 15th century, the persecution of Muslims and forced conversion to Catholicism caused a mass exodus.

In a process of decline, the Al Andalus had broken up into a number of Islamic-ruled fiefdoms, or taifas, which were partly consolidated under the Caliphate of Córdoba.^{[citation needed]}

Coat of arms of Alcanadre. La Rioja, Spain. Depicting slayed heads of the Moors

The Asturias, a small northwestern Christian Iberian kingdom, initiated the Reconquista (the "reconquest") soon after the Islamic conquest in the 8th century. Christian states based in the north and west slowly extended their power over the rest of Iberia. Navarre, Galicia, León, Portugal, Aragón, Catalonia or Marca Hispanica, and Castile began a process of expansion and internal consolidation during the next several centuries under the flag of Reconquista.

Reconstruction of costumes of Moorish nobility from a German book published in 1880

In 1212, a coalition of Christian kings under the leadership of Alfonso VIII of Castile drove the Muslims from Central Iberia. The Portuguese side of the Reconquista ended in 1249 with the conquest of the Algarve (Arabic الغرب — Al-Gharb) under Afonso III. He was the first Portuguese monarch to claim the title "King of Portugal and the Algarve".

The Moorish Kingdom of Granada continued for three more centuries in the southern Iberia. On January 2, 1492, the leader of the last Muslim stronghold in Granada surrendered to armies of a recently united Christian Spain (after the marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, the Catholic Monarchs). They forced the remaining Muslims and Jews to leave Spain, convert to Roman Catholic Christianity or be killed for not doing so. To exert social and religious control, in 1480, Isabella and Ferdinand agreed to allow the Inquisition in Spain.

The Inquisition was aimed mostly at Jews and Muslims who had overtly converted to Christianity but were thought to be practicing their faiths secretly. They were respectively called marranos and moriscos. The Inquisition also attacked heretics who rejected Roman Catholic orthodoxy, including alumbras, who practiced a personal mysticism or spiritualism. The latter represented a significant portion of the peasants in some territories, such as Aragon, Valencia or Andalusia. In the years from 1609 to 1614, the government expelled such subjects. The historian Henri Lapeyre estimated that this affected 300,000 out of an estimated total of 8 million inhabitants.^[14]

Christian and Moor playing chess, from The Book of Games of Alfonso X, c. 1285

Many Muslims converted to Christianity and remained permanently in Iberia. This is indicated by a "high mean proportion of ancestry from North African (10.6%)" that "attests to a high level of religious conversion (whether voluntary or enforced), driven by historical episodes of social and religious intolerance, that ultimately led to the integration of descendants.".^[15][16]

In the meantime, the tide of Islam had rolled not just to Iberia, but also eastward, through India, the Malayan peninsula, and Indonesia up to the Philippines. This was one of the major islands of an archipelago which the Spaniards had reached during their voyages westward from the New World. By 1521, the ships of Magellan^{[citation needed]} and other Spanish explorers had reached that island archipelago, which they named Las Islas de Filipinas, after Philip II of Spain. In Mindanao, the Spaniards named the kris-bearing people as Moros or 'Moors'. Today in the Philippines, this ethnic group of people in Mindanao, who are generally Muslims, are called 'Moros'. This identification of Islamic people as Moros persists in the modern Spanish language spoken in Spain, and as Mouros in the modern Portuguese language. See Reconquista, and Maure.

According to historian Richard A. Fletcher,^[17] 'the number of Arabs who settled in Iberia was very small. "Moorish" Iberia does at least have the merit of reminding us that the bulk of the invaders and settlers were Moors, i.e. Berbers from Algeria and Morocco.'.

• 

  Reconquista

• 

  The Moors request permission from James I of Aragon

• 

  Christian and Moor playing lute, 13th century

• 

  Muhammad XII of Granada, last Moorish sultan in Spain

• 

  Leo Africanus, born in Granada

Medieval Southern Italy[link]

Muslim musicians at the court of the Norman King Roger II of Sicily.

The first Muslim conquest of Sicily and parts of southern Italy lasted 75 years (827–902). By 827, Sicily was almost entirely in control of the Aghlabids with the exception of some minor strongholds in the rugged interior until 909 when it was then replaced by Shiite Fatimids. Four years later, the Fatimid governor was ousted from Palermo when the island declared its independence under Emir Ahmed ibn-Kohrob.

In 1038, a Byzantine army under George Maniaces crossed the strait of Messina. This included a corps of Normans which saved the situation in the first clash against the Muslims from Messina. After another decisive victory in the summer of 1040, Maniaces halted his march to lay siege to Syracuse. Despite his conquest of the latter, Maniaces was removed from his position, and the subsequent Muslim counter-offensive reconquered all the cities captured by the Byzantines.

The Norman Robert Guiscard, son of Tancred, invaded Sicily in 1060. The island was split between three Arab emirs, and the majority Christian population rose up against the ruling Muslims. One year later, Messina fell, and in 1072, Palermo was taken by the Normans. The loss of the cities, each with a splendid harbor, dealt a severe blow to Muslim power on the island. Eventually all of Sicily was taken. In 1091, Noto in the southern tip of Sicily and the island of Malta, the last Arab stongholds, fell to the Christians.

Islamic authors would marvel at the tolerance of the Norman kings of Sicily. Ibn al-Athir wrote: "They [the Muslims] were treated kindly, and they were protected, even against the Franks. Because of that, they had great love for king Roger."^[18]

Many repressive measures were introduced by Frederick II to please the popes who were intolerant of Islam in the heart of Christendom. This resulted in a rebellion by Sicilian Muslims, which in turn triggered organized resistance and systematic reprisals and marked the final chapter of Islam in Sicily. The Muslim problem characterized Hohenstaufen rule in Sicily under Henry VI and his son Frederick II. The complete eviction of Muslims and the annihilation of Islam in Sicily was completed by the late 1240s when the final deportations to Lucera took place.

Modern age[link]

Moorish man in Mauritania

Beside its usage in historical context, Moor and Moorish (Italian and Spanish: moro, French: maure, Portuguese: mouro, Romanian: maur) is used to designate an ethnic group speaking the Hassaniya Arabic dialect. They inhabit Mauritania and parts of Algeria, Western Sahara, Tunisia, Morocco, Niger and Mali. In Niger and Mali, these peoples are also known as the Azawagh Arabs, after the Azawagh region of the Sahara.^[19]

In Spain, modern colloquial Spanish use of the term "Moro" is derogatory for Moroccans in particular^{[20][21][22][23][24]} and North Africans in general. Similarly, in modern, colloquial Portuguese, the term "Mouro" was primarily used as a designation for North Africans and secondarily as a derogatory and ironic term by northern Portuguese to refer to the inhabitants of the southern parts of the country (Lisbon, Alentejo and Algarve). However, this designation has gotten more acceptance in the South.

In the Philippines, a former Spanish colony, many residents call the local Muslim population in the Southern islands Moros. They also self-identify that way (see Muslim Filipino). The term was introduced by the Spanish colonizers. Within the context of Portuguese colonization, in Sri Lanka (Portuguese Ceylon), Muslims of Arab origin are called Moors (see Sri Lankan Moors).

Religious relations[link]

The initial rule of the Moors in the Iberian peninsula under this Caliphate of Córdoba is regarded as tolerant in its acceptance of Christians, Muslims and Jews living in the same territories.^{[citation needed]} The Caliphate of Córdoba collapsed in 1031 and the Islamic territory in Iberia fell under the rule of the Almoravid dynasty. This second stage inaugurated an era of Moorish rulers guided by a version of Islam that left behind the tolerant practices of the past.^{[citation needed][dubious – discuss]}

Architecture[link]

Interior of the Mezquita, Córdoba

Moorish architecture is a term used to describe the articulated Islamic architecture of North Africa and parts of Spain and Portugal where the Moors were dominant from 711–1492. The best surviving examples are La Mezquita in Córdoba and the Alhambra palace (mainly 1338–1390),^[25] and also the Giralda in 1184.^[26] Other notable examples include the ruined palace city of Medina Azahara (936–1010), the church (former mosque) San Cristo de la Luz in Toledo, the Aljafería in Saragossa and baths at for example Ronda and Alhama de Granada.

Heraldry[link]

Arms of the great Bristol merchant and shipper William II Canynges(d.1474), as depictd on his canopied tomb in St Mary Redcliffe Church, showing the couped heads of three Moors wreathed at the temples, possibly slaves

In European heraldry the Moors are shown as black Africans, most frequently as a couped (i.e. severed) head with the temples wreathed.^{[citation needed]}

Population genetics[link]

Shomarka Keita, a biological anthropologist from Howard University, has claimed that populations in Carthage circa 200 BC and northern Algeria 1500 BC were very diverse. As a group, they plotted closest to the populations of Northern Egypt and intermediate to Northern Europeans and tropical Africans. Keita claimed that "the data supported the comments from ancient authors observed by classicists: everything from fair-skinned blonds to peoples who were dark-skinned 'Ethiopian' or part Ethiopian in appearance."^[27] Modern evidence showed a similar diversity among present North Africans. Moreover, this "diversity" of phenotypes and peoples was probably due to in situ differentiation, not foreign influxes. Of course foreign influxes certainly had an impact but they did not replace the indigenous Berber population.^[28]

The Y chromosome p49a,f TaqI Haplotype V, which corresponds to Y haplogroup E1b1b1b (M81) —formerly E3b1b, E3b2 and colloquially referred to as the "Berber marker"— has been found among 68.9% of modern Berbers in North Africa and as high as 80% in one group. It is believed to be about 5,600 years old,^[29] and to have arrived with the Neolithic expansion from the Near East. M81 is not found in Sub-Saharan Africa. This haplotype has also been observed in as high as 40% of one small group of Andalusians tested. Generally it appears at much lower frequencies among Iberian populations, and lower as distance from North Africa increases.^[30]

Y DNA haplogroup E1b1b (formerly E3b) predominates among North African populations; its E1b1b1b subgroup (M81) is identified especially with Berbers. The Vb subtype of p49a,f Haplotype V, apparently corresponding to E3b1b, has been found to occur in two-thirds of the Haplotype V Southern Iberians, that is, in about a quarter of all Andalusians tested. The frequency of Vb is at its highest among Berbers, and was found to decline rapidly from West to East among North Africans sampled. It is uncommon in France and Italy.^[30]

A 2006 mitochondrial DNA study of 12th to 13th century Islamic remains from Priego de Córdoba, Spain, indicates a higher proportion (4%) of sub-Saharan African lineages. This is attributed only partially to the period of Moorish occupation; researchers believe that more ancient migrations from Africa to Europe were more significant.^[31]

Notable Moors[link]

Aureus of Macrinus. Its elaborate symbolism celebrates the liberalitas ("prodigality") of Macrinus and his son.

Ptolemy of Mauretania the son of king Juba II of Mauretania.

• Lusius Quietus, a Roman general, governor of Iudaea in 117. Originally a Berber prince, his military ability won him the favor of Trajan, who even designated him as his successor. During the emperor's Parthian campaign, the numerous Jewish inhabitants of Babylonia revolted and were relentlessly suppressed by Quietus, who was rewarded by being appointed governor of Judea. Restlessness in the region caused Trajan to send his favorite, as a legate of consular rank, to Judea, where he continued his sanguinary course.
• Macrinus, 164–218, a Berber officer, prefect of the Praetorian Guard under Caracalla. In 217–218, he became the first Roman emperor who was not a senator.
• Gildo, a Berber chieftain who instigated a rebellion against the Roman Empire in 398.
• Tariq ibn Ziyad, Berber general who defeated the Visigoths and conquered Hispania in 711.
• Al-Mansur, reigned 754–775, second Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate; his mother was a Berber.
• Abd ar-Rahman I, founder of the Umayyad Emirate of Córdoba in 756; along with its succeeding Caliphate of Córdoba, the dynasty ruled Islamic Spain for three centuries.
• Abbas Ibn Firnas, 810–887, Berber inventor and aviator who invented an early parachute and made the first attempt at controlled flight with a hang glider.
• Maslamah Ibn Ahmad al-Majriti, died 1007, Andalusian writer believed to have been the author of the Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity and the Picatrix.
• Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis), Andalusian physician and surgeon who established the discipline of surgery as a profession with his Al-Tasrif in 1000.
• Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm al-Zarqālī (Arzachel), 1028–1087, Andalusian astronomer and engineer who developed the equatorium and universal (latitude-independent) astrolabe and compiled a Zij later used as a basis for the Tables of Toledo.
• Ibn Bajjah (Avempace), died 1138, Andalusian physicist and polymath whose theory of motion, including the concept of a reaction force, influenced the development of classical mechanics.
• Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar), 1091–1161, Andalusian physician and polymath who discovered the existence of parasites and pioneered experimental surgery.
• Muhammad al-Idrisi, circa 1100–1166, Moorish geographer and polymath who drew the Tabula Rogeriana, the most accurate world map in pre-modern times.
• Ibn Tufail, circa 1105–1185, Arabic writer and polymath who wrote Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, the first philosophical novel.
• Ibn Rushd (Averroes), 1126–1198, classical Islamic philosopher and polymath who wrote The Incoherence of the Incoherence and the most extensive Aristotelian commentaries, and established the school of Averroism.
• Ibn al-Baitar, died 1248, Andalusian botanist and pharmacist who compiled the most extensive pharmacopoeia and botanical compilation in pre-modern times.
• Ibn Battuta, 1304–1368, a Berber traveller who was the most prolific explorer in pre-modern times, travelling 73,000 miles across much of the Old World.
• Ibn Khaldun, a pioneer of the social sciences and forerunner of sociology, historiography and economics, who wrote the Muqaddimah in 1377.
• Abū al-Hasan ibn Alī al-Qalasādī, 1412–1486, Moorish mathematician who took the first steps toward the introduction of algebraic symbolism.
• Othello, the fictitious hero in the eponymous play by William Shakespeare, published in 1604. The character of Othello was a mercenary who served in the war between Venice and the Ottoman Empire, who married the daughter of a Venetian nobleman.
• Estevanico, also referred to as "Stephen the Moor", was an explorer in the service of Spain of what is now the southwest of the United States.
• Monostatos, a fictional corrupt henchman in Mozart's The Magic Flute.

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Moors

Bibliography[link]

This section's bibliographical information is not fully provided. If you know these sources and can provide full information, you can help Wikipedia by completing it.

• Jan Carew, Rape of Paradise
• David Brion Davis, "Slavery: Black, White, Muslim, Christian"
• Herodotus, The Histories
• Shomark O.Y. Keita, "Genetic Haplotyes in North Africa"
• Shomark O.Y. Keita, "Craniometric Data from North Africa
• Shomark O.Y. Keita, "Further Craniometric Data from North Africa"
• Shomark O.Y. Keita, "Bernal vs. Snowden"
• Bernard Lewis, "The Middle East"
• Bernard Lewis, "The Muslim Discovery of Europe"
• Bernard Lewis, "Race and Slavery in Islam"
• Stanley Lane-Poole, Turkey (1888)
• Stanley Lane-Poole, The Barbary Corsairs (1890)
• Stanley Lane-Poole, The History of the Moors in Spain
• J.A. Rogers, Nature Knows no Color Line
• Ronald Segal, "Islam's Black Slaves"
• Ivan van Sertima, The Golden Age of the Moor
• Frank Snowdon, "Before Color Prejudice"
• Frank Snowdon, "Blacks in Antiquity"
• David M. Goldenberg, "The Curse of Ham"
• Lucotte and Mercier, various genetic studies
• Eva Borreguero. "The Moors Are Coming, the Moors Are Coming! Encounters with Muslims in Contemporary Spain". Islam and Christian-Muslim relations, 2006, vol. 17, no4, pp. 417–432. Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
• "The Moors" by Ross Brann, published on New York University website.

See also[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Moorsgate.com
• Pbs.org
• Encyclopedia - Britannica Online Encyclopedia (2006)
• Moors, Classic Encyclopedia (1911)
• Khalid Amine, Moroccan Shakespeare: From Moors to Moroccans. Paper presented at an International Conference Organized by The Postgraduate School of Critical Theory and Cultural Studies, University of Nottingham, and The British Council, Morocco, 12–14 April 2001.
• Heraldry: The Moor's Head, Hidden Histories - African in Medieval and Renaissance Art, Victoria and Albert Museum (n.d)
• Sean Cavazos-Kottke. Othello's Predecessors: Moors in Renaissance Popular Literature: (outline). Folger Shakespeare Library, 1998.

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජය (Sinhala) இலங்கை சனநாயக சமத்துவ குடியரசு (Tamil)
Flag Emblem
Anthem:  Sri Lanka Matha Mother Sri Lanka
Capital		Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte[1][2] 6°54′N 79°54′E / 6.9°N 79.9°E / 6.9; 79.9
Largest city		Colombo
Official language(s)		Sinhala, Tamil
Demonym		Sri Lankan
Government		Unitary republic Democratic Socialist Semi-presidential system
-	President	Mahinda Rajapaksa
-	Prime Minister	D. M. Jayaratne
-	Speaker of the House	Chamal Rajapaksa
-	Chief Justice	Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake
Legislature		Parliament
Independence		from the United Kingdom
-	Dominion (Self rule)	4 February 1948
-	Republic	22 May 1972
Area
-	Total	65,610 km2 (122nd) 25,332 sq mi
-	Water (%)	4.4
Population
-	2010 estimate	20,860,000[3] (56th)
-	Mid 2010 census	20,653,000[4]
-	Density	308.5/km2 (44th) 798.9/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2011 estimate
-	Total	$116.541 billion[5] (64th)
-	Per capita	$5,673[5] (111th)
GDP (nominal)		2011 estimate
-	Total	$59.095 billion[5] (68th)
-	Per capita	$2,877[5] (123rd)
Gini (2010)		36[6] (medium)
HDI (2011)		0.691[7] (medium) (97th)
Currency		Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR)
Time zone		Sri Lanka Standard Time Zone (UTC+5:30)
-	Summer (DST)	not observed (UTC)
Date formats		dd/mm/yy(AD)
Drives on the		left
ISO 3166 code		LK
Internet TLD		.lk, .ලංකා, .இலங்கை
Calling code		94

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (ⁱ/ʃriː ˈlɑːŋkə/, /sriːˈlɑːŋkə/, or /sriːˈlæŋkə/;^[8][9] Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකාව, Tamil: இலங்கை), is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent in South Asia. Known until 1972 as Ceylon ( /sɨˈlɒn/, /seɪˈlɒn/, or /siːˈlɒn/), Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar, the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the Maldives.

As a result of its location in the path of major sea routes, Sri Lanka is a strategic naval link between West Asia and South East Asia.^[10] It was an important stop on the ancient Silk Road.^[11] Sri Lanka has also been a center of the Buddhist religion and culture from ancient times, being the nation where the Buddhist teachings were first written down as well as the oldest continually Buddhist country.^[12] Sri Lanka boasts a diverse range of cultures, languages and religions. The Sinhalese people form the majority of the population; Tamils, who are concentrated in the north and east of the island, form the largest ethnic minority. Other communities include Moors, Burghers, Kaffirs, Malays and the aboriginal Vedda people.^[13]

Sri Lanka is a republic and a unitary state which is governed by a semi-presidential system with its official seat of government in Sri Jayawardenapura-Kotte, the capital. The country is famous for the production and export of tea, coffee, gemstones, coconuts, rubber and cinnamon, the last of which is native to the country.^[14] The natural beauty of Sri Lanka has led to the title The Pearl of the Indian Ocean.^[15] The island is laden with lush tropical forests, white beaches and diverse landscapes with rich biodiversity. The country lays claim to a long and colorful history of over three thousand years, having one of the longest documented histories in the world.^[16] Sri Lanka's rich culture can be attributed to the many different communities on the island.^[17] The country is a founding member state of SAARC and a member of United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, G77 and Non-Aligned Movement. As of 2011, Sri Lanka was one of the fastest growing economies of the world.^[18]

Etymology[link]

In ancient times, Sri Lanka was known by a variety of names: Known in India as Lanka or Sinhala, ancient Greek geographers called it Taprobane^[19]  /təˈprɒbəniː/ and Arabs referred to it as Serendib (the origin of the word "serendipity").^[20] Ceilão was the name given to Sri Lanka by the Portuguese when they arrived in 1505,^[21] which was transliterated into English as Ceylon.^[22] As a British crown colony, the island was known as Ceylon, and achieved independence under the name Dominion of Ceylon in 1948.

In Sinhala the country is known as ශ්‍රී ලංකා śrī laṃkā, IPA: [ʃɾiːˈlaŋkaː], and the island itself as ලංකාව laṃkāva, IPA: [laŋˈkaːʋə]. In Tamil they are both இலங்கை ilaṅkai, IPA: [iˈlaŋɡai]. The name derives from the Sanskrit श्री लंका śrī (venerable) and lankā (island),^[23] the name of the island in the ancient Indian epics Mahabharata and the Ramayana. In 1972, the official name of the country was changed to "Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka". In 1978 it was changed to the "Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka".^[24] The name Ceylon is still in use in the names of a number of organisations; in 2011, the Sri Lankan government announced a plan to rename all of those for which it is responsible.^[25]

History[link]

Pre-historic Sri Lanka[link]

The pre-history of Sri Lanka dates back over 125,000 years Before Present (BP) and possibly even as early as 500,000 BP.^[26] The era spans the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and early Iron ages. Among the Paleolithic (Homo Erectus) human settlements discovered in Sri Lanka, Pahiyangala (named after the Chinese traveler monk Fa-Hsien), which dates back to 37,000 BP,^[27] Batadombalena (28,500 BP)^[28] and Belilena (12,000 BP) are the most important. The remains of Balangoda Man, an anatomically modern human, found inside these caves,^[29] suggests that they may have engaged in agriculture and kept domestic dogs for driving game.^[30]

Frescos on the Sigiriya rock fortress in Matale District, 5th century

This article contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.

One of the first written references to the island is found in the Indian epic Ramayana, which provides details of a kingdom named Lanka that had been created by the divine sculptor Vishwakarma, for Kubera, the lord of wealth.^[31] It is said that Kubera was overthrown by his demon stepbrother Ravana, the powerful Emperor who built a mythical flying machine named Dandu Monara.^[32] The modern city of Wariyapola is described as Ravana's airport.^[33]

Ravana belonged to the tribe Raksha, which lived alongside four Hela tribes named Yaksha, Deva, Naga and Gandharva.^[34] These early inhabitants of Sri Lanka were probably the ancestors of the Vedda people,^[35] an indigenous community living in modern-day Sri Lanka, which numbers approximately 2,500. Irish historian James Emerson Tennent theorised Galle, a southern city in Sri Lanka, was the ancient seaport of Tarshish, from which King Solomon is said to have drawn ivory, peacocks and other valuables. Early inhabitants of the country spoke the Elu language, which is considered the early form of the modern Sinhala language.^[36]

Ancient Sri Lanka[link]

Avukana Buddha statue, a 12m standing Buddha statue belongs to the reign of Dhatusena, 5th century AD

According to the Mahāvamsa, a chronicle written in Pāli language, the ancient period of Sri Lanka begins in 543 BC with the landing of Vijaya, a semi-legendary king who arrived in the country with 700 followers from the southwest coast of what is now the Rarh region of West Bengal.^[37] He established the Kingdom of Tambapanni, near modern day Mannar. Vijaya is the first of the approximately 189 native monarchs of Sri Lanka that the chronicles like Dipavamsa, Mahāvamsa, Chulavamsa, and Rājāvaliya describe (see List of Sri Lankan monarchs). Sri Lankan dynastic history spanned a period of 2359 years, from 543 BC to AD 1815, until the land became part of the British Empire.^[38]

The Sigiriya rock fortress.

The Kingdom of Sri Lanka moved to Anuradhapura in 380 BC, during the reign of Pandukabhaya. Thereafter, Anuradhapura served as the capital of the country for nearly 1400 years.^[39] Ancient Sri Lankans excelled in various constructions such as tanks, dagobas and palaces.^[40] The society underwent a major transformation during the reign of Devanampiya Tissa, with the arrival of Buddhism from India. In 250 BC,^[41] bhikkhu Mahinda, the son of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka arrived in Mihintale, carrying the message of Buddhism.^[42] His mission won over the monarch, who embraced the faith and propagated it throughout the Sinhalese population.^[43] The succeeding kingdoms of Sri Lanka would maintain a large number of Buddhist schools and monasteries, and support the propagation of Buddhism into other countries in Southeast Asia as well.^[44] In 245 BC, bhikkhuni Sangamitta arrived with the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi tree, which is considered to be a sapling from the historical Bodhi tree under which Gautama Buddha became enlightened.^[45] It is considered the oldest tree in the world, with a continuous historical record. (Bodhivamsa)^[46]

Sri Lanka experienced the first foreign invasion during the reign of Suratissa, who was defeated by two horse traders named Sena and Guttika from South India.^[43] The next invasion came immediately in 205 BC by a Chola king named Elara, who overthrew Asela and ruled the country for 44 years. Dutugemunu, the eldest son of the southern regional sub-king, Kavan Tissa, defeated Elara in the Battle of Vijithapura. He built Ruwanwelisaya, the second stupa in ancient Sri Lanka, and the Lovamahapaya.^[47] During its two and a half millennia of existence, the Kingdom of Sri Lanka was invaded at least eight times by neighbouring South Asian dynasties such as the Chola, Pandya, Chera, and Pallava.^[48] There also were incursions by the kingdoms of Kalinga (modern Orissa) and from the Malay Peninsula as well. Kala Wewa and the Avukana Buddha statue were built during the reign of Dhatusena.^[49]

Claudius Ptolemy's map of Ceylon, 1st century AD

Sri Lanka was the first Asian country to have a female ruler; Queen Anula who reigned during 47–42 BC.^[50] Sri Lankan monarchs attained some remarkable construction achievements like Sigiriya, the so-called "Fortress in the Sky". It was a constructed during the reign of Kashyapa I. Sigiriya is a rock fortress surrounded by an extensive network of gardens, reservoirs, and other structures. The 5th century palace is also renowned for frescos on the rock the surface.^[49] It has been declared by UNESCO as the 8th Wonder of the world.^[51][52] Among the other constructions, large reservoirs, important for conserving water in a climate that alternates rainy seasons with dry times, and elaborate aqueducts, some with a slope as finely calibrated as one inch to the mile, are most notable. Biso Kotuwa, a peculiar construction inside a dam, is a technological marvel based on precise mathematics, allowing water to flow outside the dam keeping the pressure to a minimum.^[53] Ancient Sri Lanka was the first country in the world to have established a dedicated hospital, in Mihintale in the 4th century.^[54] It was also the leading exporter of cinnamon in the ancient world, and has maintained close ties with European civilizations including the Roman Empire. For example, King Bhatikabhaya (22 BC—AD 7) had sent an embassy to Rome and got down coral for a net to be cast over the Ruwanwelisaya.^[55] Bhikkhuni Devasāra and ten other fully ordained bhikkhunis from Sri Lanka went to China and established the bhikkhuni sāsana there in AD 429.^[56]

Medieval Sri Lanka[link]

A Buddhist statue in the ancient capital city of Polonnaruwa, 12th century

The medieval period of Sri Lanka begins with the fall of Anuradhapura. In AD 993, the invasion of Chola emperor Rajaraja I forced the then Sri Lankan ruler Mahinda V to flee to the southern part of the country.^[57] Taking advantage of this situation, Rajendra I, son of Rajaraja I, launched a large invasion in AD 1017. Mahinda V was captured and taken to India, and the Cholas sacked the city of Anuradhapura.^[57] Subsequently, they moved the capital to Polonnaruwa.^[58] This marked the end of the two great houses of dynasties of ancient Sri Lanka, the Moriya and the Lambakanna. Following a seventeen year long campaign, Vijayabahu I successfully drove the Chola out of Sri Lanka in 1070, reuniting the country for the first time in over a century.^[59][60] Upon his request, ordained monks were sent from Burma to Sri Lanka to re-establish Buddhism, which had almost disappeared from the country during the Chola reign.^[61] During the medieval period, Sri Lanka was divided to three sub-territories, namely Ruhunu, Pihiti and Maya.^[62]

Sri Lanka's irrigation system was extensively expanded during the reign of Parākramabāhu the Great ( AD 1153–1186).^[63] This period is considered as a time when Sri Lanka was at the height of its power.^[64][65] He built 1470 reservoirs – the highest number by any ruler in the history, repaired 165 dams, 3910 canals, 163 major reservoirs, and 2376 mini reservoirs.^[66] His most famous construction is the Parakrama Samudra,^[67] the largest irrigation project of medieval Sri Lanka. Parākramabāhu's reign is memorable for two major campaigns — in the south of India as part of a Pandyan war of succession, and a punitive strike against the kings of Ramanna (Myanmar) for various perceived insults to Sri Lanka.^[68]

After his demise, Sri Lanka gradually decayed in power. In AD 1215, Kalinga Magha, a South Indian with uncertain origins, invaded and captured the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa with a 24,000 strong army on 100 large ships from Kalinga.^[66] Unlike the previous invaders, he looted, ransacked, and destroyed everything in the ancient Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa Kingdoms beyond recovery.^[69] His priorities in ruling were to extract as much as possible from the land and overturn as many of the traditions of Rajarata as possible. His reign saw the massive migration of native Sinhalese people to the south and west of Sri Lanka, and into the mountainous interior, in a bid to escape his power. Sri Lanka never really recovered from the impact of Kalinga Magha's invasion. King Vijayabâhu III, who led the resistance, brought the kingdom to Dambadeniya. The north, in the meanwhile, eventually evolved into the Jaffna kingdom.^[70][71] The Jaffna kingdom never came under the rule of any kingdom of the south except on one occasion; in 1450, following the conquest led by king Parâkramabâhu VI's adopted son, Prince Sapumal.^[72] He ruled the North from AD 1450 to 1467.^[73] The next three centuries stating from 1215 were marked by kaleidoscopically shifting collections of kingdoms in south and central Sri Lanka, including Dambadeniya, Yapahuwa, Gampola, Raigama, Kotte,^[74] Sitawaka, and finally, Kandy.

Early modern Sri Lanka[link]

A 17th century painting of Dutch explorer Joris van Spilbergen meeting with King Vimaladharmasuriya in 1602.

The early modern period of Sri Lanka begins with the arrival of Portuguese soldier and explorer Lorenzo de Almeida, the son of Francisco de Almeida, in 1505.^[75] The Portuguese founded a fort at the port city of Colombo in 1517 and gradually extended their control over the coastal areas. In 1592 Vimaladharmasuriya I moved the kingdom to the inland city of Kandy, a location more secure against an attack from western invaders.^[76] Intermittent warfare continued through the 16th century. In 1619, due to the attacks of Portuguese, independent existence of Jaffna kingdom, came to an end.^[77]

Colonial Coat of arms of British Ceylon

During the reign of the Rajasinghe II, Dutch explorers arrived in the island. In 1638, the king signed a treaty with the Dutch East India Company to get rid of Portuguese who ruled most of the coastal areas.^[78] The following Dutch–Portuguese War resulted in Dutch victory, with Colombo falling into Dutch hands by 1656. The Dutch remained in the areas they captured, violating the treaty. An ethnic group named Burgher people integrated into the Sri Lankan society as a result of Dutch rule.^[79] The Kingdom of Kandy was the last independent monarchy of Sri Lanka.^[80] In 1595, Vimaladharmasurya brought the sacred Tooth Relic – the traditional symbol of royal and religious authority amongst the Sinhalese – to Kandy, and built the Temple of the Tooth.^[80] Even with intermittent warfare with Europeans, the kingdom was able to survive. A succession crisis emerged in Kandy, upon king Vira Narendrasinha's death in 1739. He was married to a Telugu-speaking Nayakkar princess from South India and was childless by them.^[80] Eventually, with the support of bhikku Weliwita Sarankara, the crown passed to the brother of one of Narendrasinha's princess, overlooking the right of "Unambuwe Bandara", Narendrasinha's own son by a Sinhalese concubine.^[81] The new king was crowned Sri Vijaya Rajasinha later that year. Kings of Nayakkar dynasty, launched several attacks on Dutch controlled areas, which proved to be unsuccessful.^[82]

During the Napoleonic Wars, fearing that French control of the Netherlands might deliver Sri Lanka to the French, Great Britain occupied the coastal areas of the island (which they called Ceylon) with little difficulty in 1796.^[83] Two years later, in 1798, Rajadhi Rajasinha, 3rd of the four Nayakkar kings of Sri Lanka died of a fever. Following the death, a nephew of Rajadhi Rajasinha, 18-year-old Konnasami was crowned.^[84] The new king, Sri Vikrama Rajasinha faced a British invasion in 1803, but was able to retaliate successfully. By then, the entire coastal area was under the British East India Company, as a result of the Treaty of Amiens. But on 14 February 1815, Kandy was occupied by the British, in the second Kandyan War, finally ending Sri Lanka's independence.^[84] Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, the last native monarch of Sri Lanka was exiled to India.^[85] The Kandyan Convention formally ceded the entire country to the British Empire. Attempts of Sri Lankan noblemen to undermine the British power in 1818 during the Uva Rebellion were thwarted by Governor Robert Brownrigg.^[86]

Modern Sri Lanka[link]

Sri Lanka under the British rule[link]

Tea plantation was introduced to Sri Lanka by James Taylor, a British planter in 1867.

The beginning of the modern period of Sri Lanka is marked by the Colebrooke-Cameron reforms of 1833.^[87] They introduced a utilitarian and liberal political culture to the country based on the rule of law and amalgamated the Kandyan and maritime provinces as a single unit of government.^[87] An Executive Council and a Legislative Council were established, later becoming the foundation of representative legislature in the country. By this time, experiments with coffee plantation were largely successful. Soon it grew to become the primary commodity export of the country. The falling coffee prices as a result of the depression of 1847 stalled economic development and prompted the governor to introduce a series of taxes on firearms, dogs, shops, boats, etc., and reintroduce a form of rajakariya, requiring six days free labour on roads or payment of a cash equivalent.^[88] These harsh measures antagonized the locals, and another rebellion broke out in 1848.^[89] A devastating leaf disease, Hemileia vastatrix, struck the coffee plantations in 1869, destroying the entire industry within 15 years. The British officials desperately searched for a substitute, and the promising replacement they found was tea. Production of tea in Sri Lanka thrived within the decades to come.

By the end of the 19th century, a new educated social class which transcended the divisions of race and caste was emerging as a result of British attempts to nurture a range of professionals for the Ceylon Civil Service and for the legal, educational, and medical professions.^[90] The country's new leaders represented the various ethnic groups of the population in the Ceylon Legislative Council on a communal basis. In the meantime, attempts were underway for Buddhist and Hindu revivalism and to react against Christian missionary activities on the island.^[91][92] The first two decades in the 20th century are distinguished for the harmony that prevailed among Sinhalese and Tamil political leadership, which has not been the case ever since.^[93] In 1919, major Sinhalese and Tamil political organizations united to form the Ceylon National Congress, under the leadership of Ponnambalam Arunachalam.^[94] It kept pressing the colonial masters for more constitutional reforms. But due to its failure to appeal to the masses and the governor's encouragement for "communal representation" by creating a "Colombo seat" that dangled between Sinhalese and Tamils, the Congress lost its momentum towards the mid 1920s.^[95] The Donoughmore reforms of 1931 repudiated the communal representation and introduced universal adult franchise (the franchise stood at 4% before the reforms). This step was strongly criticized by the Tamil political leadership, who realized that they would be reduced to a minority in the newly created State Council of Ceylon, which succeeded the legislative council.^[96][97] In 1937, Tamil leader G. G. Ponnambalam demanded a 50–50 representation (50% for the Sinhalese and 50% for other ethnic groups) in the State Council. However, this demand was not met by the Soulbury reforms of 1944/45.

Post independence Sri Lanka[link]

The Soulbury constitution ushered the Dominion status for Ceylon, delivering it independence on 4 February 1948.^[98] The office of Prime Minister of Ceylon was created in 1947, with D. S. Senanayake as the first prime minister.^[99] Prominent Tamil leaders like Ponnambalam and Arunachalam Mahadeva joined his cabinet.^[96][100] Although the country gained independence, the British Royal Navy stationed at Trincomalee, remained there until 1956. 1953 hartal, against the withdrawal of the rice ration, resulted in the resignation of the then prime minister, Dudley Senanayake.^[101] S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike was elected as the prime minister in 1956. His 3 year rule had a profound impact on the direction of the country. He emerged as the "defender of the besieged Sinhalese culture" and promised radical changes in the system.^[102] He introduced the controversial Sinhala Only Act, recognising Sinhala as the only official language of the government. Although it was partially reversed in 1958, the bill posed a grave concern for the Tamil community, which perceived their language and culture were threatened.^{[103][104][105]} Federal Party (FP) launched satyagraha against the move, which prompted Bandaranaike to reach an agreement (Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact) with S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, leader of the FP, to resolve the looming ethnic conflict.^[106] However the pact was not carried out due to protests by opposition and the Buddhist clergy. The bill, together with various government colonisation schemes, contributed much towards the political rancour between Sinhalese and Tamil political leaders.^[107] Bandaranaike was assassinated by an extremist Buddhist monk in 1959.^[108]

The formal ceremony marking the start of self rule, with the opening of the first parliament at Independence Square.

Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the widow of late S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, who took office as prime minister in 1960, faced an attempted coup d'état in 1962. During the second term as prime minister, her government instituted socialist economic polices, strengthening ties with the Soviet Union and China, while promoting a policy of non-alignment. In 1971, Ceylon experienced a Marxist insurrection, which was quickly suppressed. In 1972, with the adoption of a new constitution, the country became a republic, repudiating the dominion status and changing its name to Sri Lanka. Prolonged minority grievances and the use of communal emotionalism as an election campaign weapon by both Sinhalese and Tamil leaders abetted a fledgling Tamil militancy in the north, during 1970s.^[109] The policy of standardization by Sirimavo government to rectify disparities created in university enrollment, which was in essence an affirmative action to assist geographically disadvantaged students to gain tertiary education,^[110] in turn reducing the number of Tamil students within the Sri Lankan university student populace; acted as the immediate catalyst for the rise of militancy.^[111][112] Assassination of Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiyappah in 1975 marked an important turn of the events.^[113][114]

The Government of J. R. Jayawardene swept to power in 1977, defeating the largely unpopular United Front government, towards its final years.^[115] Jayawardene introduced a new constitution, together with a powerful executive presidency modelled after France, and a free market economy. It made Sri Lanka the first South Asian country to liberalise its economy.^[116] From 1983, ethnic tensions blew into on-and-off insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Following the riots in July 1983, more than 150,000 Tamil civilians fled the island, seeking asylum in other countries.^[117] Lapses in foreign policy resulted in neighbouring India strengthening the Tigers by providing arms and training.^{[118][119][120]} In 1987, the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord was signed and Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was deployed in northern Sri Lanka to stabilize the region by neutralising the LTTE.^[121] The same year, the JVP launched its second insurrection in Southern Sri Lanka.^[122] As their efforts did not become successful, IPKF was called back in 1990.^[123] In 2002, the Sri Lankan government and LTTE signed a Norwegian-mediated ceasefire agreement.^[105]

Sri Lanka was affected by the devastating 2004 Asian tsunami, which left at least 35,000 people dead.^[124] From 1985 to 2006, Sri Lankan government and Tamil insurgents held 4 rounds of peace-talks, none of them helping a peaceful resolution of the conflict. Both LTTE and the government resumed fighting in 2006, and the government officially backed out of the ceasefire in 2008.^[105] In 2009, under the Presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa the Sri Lanka Armed Forces defeated the LTTE, and re-established control of the entire country under the Sri Lankan Government.^[125][126] The 26 year war caused 60,000 to 100,000 deaths.^[127][128] U.N Secretary General's experts panel report had said that at least 40,000 Tamil civilians could have been killed in the final phases of the Sri Lankan civil war.^[129] Following the LTTE's defeat, Tamil National Alliance, the largest political party in Sri Lanka dropped its demand for a separate state, in favour of a federal solution.^[130][131] The final stages of the war left some 294,000 people displaced.^[132][133] According to the Ministry of Resettlement, most of the displaced persons had been released or returned to their places of origin, leaving only 6,651 in the camps as of December 2011.^[134] In May 2010, President Rajapaksa appointed the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) to assess the conflict between the time of the ceasefire agreement in 2002 and the defeat of the LTTE in 2009.^[135][136] Sri Lanka, emerging after a 26 year war, has become one of the fastest growing economies of the world.^[18][137]

Geography[link]

Topographic map of Sri Lanka

The island of Sri Lanka lies atop the Indian tectonic plate, a minor plate within the Indo-Australian Plate.^[138] It is positioned in the Indian Ocean, to the southwest of the Bay of Bengal, between latitudes 5° and 10°N, and longitudes 79° and 82°E.^[139] Sri Lanka is separated from the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. According to the Hindu mythology, a land bridge existed between the Indian mainland and Sri Lanka. It now amounts to only a chain of limestone shoals remaining above sea level.^[140] It was reportedly passable on foot up to 1480 AD, until cyclones deepened the channel.^[141][142]

A view of Sripada from Maskeliya

The island consists mostly of flat-to-rolling coastal plains, with mountains rising only in the south-central part. Amongst these is the highest point Pidurutalagala, reaching 2,524 metres (8,281 ft) above sea level. The climate of Sri Lanka can be described as tropical and warm. Its position endows the country with a warm climate moderated by ocean winds and considerable moisture. The mean temperature ranges from about 17 °C (62.6 °F) in the central highlands, where frost may occur for several days in the winter, to a maximum of approximately 33 °C (91.4 °F) in other low-altitude areas. The average yearly temperature ranges from 28 °C (82.4 °F) to nearly 31 °C (87.8 °F). Day and night temperatures may vary by 14 °C (57.2 °F) to 18 °C (64.4 °F).^[143]

Rainfall pattern of the country is influenced by Monsoon winds from the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal. The "wet zone" and some of the windward slopes of the central highlands receive up to 2,500 millimetres (98.4 in) of rain each month, but the leeward slopes in the east and northeast receive little rain. Most of the east, southeast, and northern parts of the country comprise the "dry zone", which receives between 1,200 mm (47 in) and 1,900 mm (75 in) of rain annually.^[144] The arid northwest and southeast coasts receive the least amount of rain at 800 mm (31 in) to 1,200 mm (47 in) per year. Periodic squalls occur and sometimes tropical cyclones bring overcast skies and rains to the southwest, northeast, and eastern parts of the island. Humidity is typically higher in the southwest and mountainous areas and depends on the seasonal patterns of rainfall.^[145]

The longest of the 103 rivers in the country is Mahaweli River, covering a distance of 335 kilometres (208 mi).^[146] These waterways give rise to 51 natural waterfalls, having a height of 10 meters or more. The highest one is Bambarakanda Falls, with a height of 263 metres (863 ft).^[147] Sri Lanka's coastline is 1,585 km long.^[148] It claims to an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) extending 200 nautical miles. This is approximately 6.7 times the country's land area. The coastline and adjacent waters support highly productive marine ecosystems such as fringing coral reefs, shallow beds of coastal and estuarine seagrasses.^[149] Sri Lanka inherits 45 estuaries and 40 lagoons too.^[148] Country's mangrove ecosystem which spans over 7,000 hectares, played a vital role in buffering the force in the waves of 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.^[150] The island is rich with minerals such as Ilmenite, Feldspar, Graphite, Silica, Kaolin, Mica and Thorium.^[151][152] Existence of Petroleum in the Gulf of Mannar has also been confirmed and extraction attempts are underway.^[153]

Flora and fauna[link]

The Sri Lankan Elephant is one of three recognized subspecies of the Asian Elephant, and native to Sri Lanka. According to the 2011 elephant census, the country is home to at least 5879 elephants.^[154]

Lying within the Indomalaya ecozone, Sri Lanka is one of the 25 biodiversity hotspots in the world.^[155] Although the country is relatively small in size, it has the highest biodiversity per 10,000 square km in Asia.^[156] Remarkably high proportion of the species among its flora and fauna, 27% of the 3,210 flowering plants and 22% of the mammals (see List), are endemic.^[157] Sri Lanka has declared 24 wildlife reserves, which are home to a wide range of native species such as Asian elephants, leopards, sloth bears, the unique small loris, a variety of deer, the purple-faced langur, the endangered wild boar, porcupines and anteaters.^[158]

Varieties of flowering acacias are well adapted to the arid conditions and flourish on the Jaffna Peninsula. Among the trees of the dry-land forests, are some valuable species such as satinwood, ebony, ironwood, mahogany and teak. In the wet zone, the dominant vegetation of the lowlands is a tropical evergreen forest, with tall trees, broad foliage, and a dense undergrowth of vines and creepers. Subtropical evergreen forests resembling those of temperate climates flourish in the higher altitudes.^[159]

The Sri Lankan Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) is an endangered subspecies of leopard native to Sri Lanka.

The Yala National Park in the southeast protects herds of elephant, deer, and peacocks, and the Wilpattu National Park, the largest national park in Sri Lanka, in the northwest preserves the habitats of many water birds, such as storks, pelicans, ibis, and spoonbills. The island has four biosphere reserves, Bundala, Hurulu Forest Reserve, the Kanneliya-Dediyagala-Nakiyadeniya, and Sinharaja.^[160] Out of these, Sinharaja forest reserve is home to 26 endemic birds and 20 rainforest species, including the elusive Red-faced Malkoha, Green-billed Coucal and Sri Lanka Blue Magpie. The untapped genetic potential of Sinharaja flora is enormous. Out of the 211 woody trees and lianas so far identified within the reserve, 139 (66%) are endemic. The Total vegetation density, including trees, shrubs, herbs and seedlings has been estimated to be around 240,000 individuals per hectare.

In addition, Sri Lanka is home to over 250 types of resident birds (see List). It has declared several bird sanctuaries including Kumana.^[161] During the Mahaweli Program of the 1970s and 1980s in northern Sri Lanka, the government set aside four areas of land totalling 1,900 km² (730 sq mi) as national parks. However the country's forest cover, which was around 49% in 1920, had been fallen to approximately 24% by 2009.^[162][163]

Politics[link]

The old parliament building of Sri Lanka, near the Galle Face Green, now the Presidential Secretariat.

Sri Lanka is the oldest democracy in South Asia.^[164][165] The Donoughmore Constitution, drafted by the Donoughmore Commission in 1931 enabled general elections with adult universal suffrage (universal adult franchise) in the country.^[166] It was the first time a non-caucasian country within the empires of Western Europe was given one man, one vote and the power to control domestic affairs. The first election under the universal adult franchise, held in June 1931, for the Ceylon State Council.^[164] Sir D. B. Jayatilaka was elected as the Leader of the House.^[167] In 1944, the Soulbury Commission was appointed to draft a new constitution. During this time, struggle for Independence was fought on "constitutionalist" lines under the leadership of D. S. Senanayake.^[168] The draft constitution was enacted in the same year and Senanayake was appointed as the Prime Minister from the parliamentary election in 1947. The Soulbury constitution ushered in Dominion status and Independence to Sri Lanka in 1948.^[166]

Current politics in Sri Lanka is a contest between two rival coalitions led by the centre-leftist and progressivist United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), an offspring of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), and the comparatively right-wing and pro-capitalist United National Party (UNP).^[169] Sri Lanka is essentially a multi-party democracy with many smaller Buddhist, socialist and Tamil nationalist political parties. As of July 2011, the number of registered political parties in the country is 67.^[170] Out of these, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), established in 1935 is the oldest.^[171] UNP, established by D. S. Senanayake in 1946, was considered to be the largest single political party until recently.^[172] It is the only political group which had a representation in all parliaments since the independence.^[172] SLFP was founded by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, who was the Cabinet minister of Local Administration, before he left the UNP in July 1951.^[173] SLFP registered its first victory in 1956, defeating the ruling UNP in 1956 Parliamentary election.^[173] Following the parliamentary election in July 1960, Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the prime minister and the world's first elected female head of state.^[174]

G. G. Ponnambalam, the Tamil nationalist counterpart of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike,^[175] founded the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) in 1944. As an objection to Ponnambalam's cooperation with D. S. Senanayake, a dissident group led by S.J.V. Chelvanayakam broke away in 1949 and formed the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) aka Federal Party. It was the main Tamil political party in Sri Lanka for next 2 decades.^[176] Federal party advocated a more aggressive stance vis-à-vis the Sinhalese.^[177] With the constitutional reforms of 1972, these parties created a common front, the Tamil United Front (later Tamil United Liberation Front). Tamil National Alliance, formed in October 2001 is the current successor of these Tamil political parties which had undergone much turbulences as Tamil militants' rise to power in late 1970s.^[177][178] Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, a Marxist-Leninist political party, founded by Rohana Wijeweera in 1965, serves as the 3rd force in the current political context.^[179] It endorses radical leftist policies, with respect to the traditionalist leftist politics of LSSP and Communist Party.^[177] Founded in 1981, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress is the largest Muslim political party in Sri Lanka.^[180]

Government[link]

National Symbols of Sri Lanka[181][182]
Flag	Lion Flag
Emblem	Gold Lion Passant
Anthem	Sri Lanka Matha
Butterfly	Troides darsius
Bird	Sri Lanka Junglefowl
Flower	Red and Blue Water Lily
Tree	Ceylon Ironwood (Nā)
Game	Volleyball

Sri Lanka is a democratic, socialist republic and a unitary state which is governed by a semi-presidential system, with a mixture of a presidential system and a parliamentary system.^[183] It constitutes a parliamentary system governed under the Constitution of Sri Lanka. Most provisions of the Constitution of Sri Lanka can be amended by a two-thirds majority in Parliament of Sri Lanka. However, the amendment of certain basic features such as the clauses on language, religion, and reference to Sri Lanka as a unitary state require both a two-thirds majority and approval at a nation-wide referendum.

The Sri Lankan government has 3 branches:

• Executive: The President of Sri Lanka is the head of state, the commander in chief of the armed forces, as well as head of government, and is popularly elected for a six-year term.^[184] In the exercise of duties, the President is responsible to the parliament. The President appoints and heads a cabinet of ministers composed of elected members of parliament.^[185] President is immune from legal proceedings while in office in respect of any acts done or omitted to be done by him either in his official or private capacity.^[186] With the 18th amendment to the constitution in 2010, the President has no term limit, which previously stood at 2.^[187]

The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, Colombo

• Legislative: The Parliament of Sri Lanka, is a unicameral 225-member legislature with 196 members elected in multi-seat constituencies and 29 by proportional representation.^[188] Members are elected by universal (adult) suffrage based on a modified proportional representation system by district to a six-year term. The president may summon, suspend, or end a legislative session and dissolve Parliament any time after it has served for one year. The parliament reserves the power to make all laws.^[189] President's deputy, the Prime Minister, leads the ruling party in parliament and shares many executive responsibilities, mainly in domestic affairs.

• Judicial: Sri Lanka's judiciary consists of a Supreme Court – the highest and final superior court of record,^[189] a Court of Appeal, High Courts and a number of subordinate courts. Its highly complex legal system reflects diverse cultural influences.^[190] The Criminal law is almost entirely based on British law. Basic Civil law relates to the Roman law and Dutch law. Laws pertaining to marriage, divorce, and inheritance are communal.^[191] Due to ancient customary practices and/or religion, the Sinhala customary law (Kandyan law), the Thesavalamai and the Sharia law too are followed on special cases.^[192] The President appoints judges to the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, and the High Courts. A judicial service commission, composed of the Chief Justice and two Supreme Court judges, appoints, transfers, and dismisses lower court judges.

Administrative divisions[link]

Bay of Bengal

Palk Strait

Northern Province

Gulf of
Mannar

North Central Province

North Western
Province

Eastern
Province

Central
Province

Uva Province

Western
Province

Sabaragamuwa
Province

Southern Province

Indian Ocean

For administrative purposes, Sri Lanka is divided into 9 provinces^[193] and 25 districts.^[194]

Provinces

Provinces (Sinhala: පළාතTamil: மாகாணம்) have existed in Sri Lanka since the 19th century. But they didn't have any legal status until 1987 when the 13th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka established provincial councils following several decades of increasing demand for a decentralisation of the Government of Sri Lanka.^[195] The provincial council is an autonomous body and is not under any Ministry. It undertakes activities which had earlier been undertaken by the Central Government Ministries, Departments, Corporations and Statutory Authorities.^[195] But importantly, land and police authorities are not given to provincial councils in practice.^[196][197] Between 1988 and 2006, the Northern and Eastern provinces were temporarily merged to form the North-East Province.^[198][199] Prior to 1987, all administrative tasks were handled by a district-based civil service which had been in place since colonial times. Now each province is administered by a directly elected provincial council:

Districts and local authorities

Sri Lanka is also divided into 25 districts (Sinhala: දිස්ත්‍රි‌ක්‌ක sing. දිස්ත්‍රික්කයTamil: மாவட்டம்).^[200] Each district is administered under a District Secretariat. The districts are further subdivided into 256 divisional secretariats, and these in turn, to approximately 14,008 Grama Niladhari divisions.^[201] The Districts are known in Sinhala as Disa and in Tamil as Māwaddam. Originally a Disa (usually rendered into English as Dissavony) was a duchy, notably Matale and Uva. The Government Agent, who is known as District Secretary, administers a district.

There are 3 other types of local authorities: Municipal Councils (18), Urban councils (13) and Pradeshiya Sabha (aka Pradesha Sabhai, 256).^[202] Local authorities were originally based on the feudal counties named korale and rata, and were formerly known as 'D.R.O. divisions' after the 'Divisional Revenue Officer'.^[203] Later the D.R.O.s became 'Assistant Government Agents' and the divisions were known as 'A.G.A. divisions'. These Divisional Secretariats are currently administered by a 'Divisional Secretary'.