Sri+Lanka

Ayubowan and Vannakam ! Welcome to My Website, where you can learn all about Sri Lanka.
 * ||  || Chandana Kamaraj ||
 * History Summary || History Timeline || http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/1166237.stm

Fifth Century BC Indo- Ary ans from Nort hern- India immigrated to Sri Lanka abd became the largest ethnic group (Sinhalese).

Third Century BC The Tamils (the second largest ethnic group) immigrated from southern India.

1505 The Portuguese arrive in Columbo. This is the time period of European interest. They find way of trade, trading cinnamon, elephants, and spices. They also introduced missionaries, the Roman Catholic Church, and Christianity. Once people believed and practiced Christianity (especially the people in the government or other higher officers) it was easy to control the Sri Lankans.

1658 The Dutch came to help the Sri Lankans remove the Portuguese power. They did this successfully, and as a result, the Sinhalese king thought that the Dutch were trustworthy, and both parties signed an accord. Then the king offered a dominance over the cinnamon trade.However, the Dutch didn't think that the offer was big enough, so they started controlling the land of which the Portuguese were governing. The Dutch take interest in taking control over the island. (except the central kingdom of Kandy)

1796 The British came to remove dominance of the Portuguese power. The Sri Lankans had many wars between them and the Portuguese (having the British as allies), and successfully removed the Portuguese control. The war led to taxes which the British had to bear. Due to that, the Sri Lankans started protesting. Then, Britain began to take over the island.

1815 The Kingdom of Kandy conquered, and Britain starts bringing Tamil laborers over from India to be work in plantations.

1833 The whole island is now under the British control.

1931- British grant the right to vote and introduce power sharing with Sinhalese-run cabinet. 1948- Ceylon gains full independence. SINHALA NATIONALISM

1949 The Tamil plantation workers are disfranchised and some don't even have citizenship.

1956 Solomon Bandaranaike become Prime Minister. (power of the Sinhalese is exposed)

1958 Anti-Tamil riots leave 200 people dead and thousand other displaced.

1959 Bandaranaike is assassinated by a Buddhist monk. His wife is now Prime Minister. (she continues the nationlization program)

1965 The opposite United National Party wins elections and attempts to reverse nationalisation measures.

1970 Bandaranaike returns to power and extends the nationalisation program.

ETHNIC TENSIONS

1971 Sinhalese Marxist uprising led by students and activists.

1972 The name Ceylon is changed to Sri Lanka and Buddhism becomes the main religion, making Tamil again minor.

1976 The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam forms.

Separatist Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) party wins all seats in Tamil areas.
 * 1977**

13 soldiers killed in LTTE ambush, sparking anti-Tamil riots leading to the deaths of several hundred Tamils. Start of what Tigers call "First Eelam War".
 * 1983**

President Premadasa killed in LTTE bomb attack.
 * War and diplomacy**
 * 1993**

"Third Eelam War" begins when rebels sink naval craft.
 * 1995**

War rages across north and east. Tigers bomb Sri Lanka's holiest Buddhist site. President Kumaratunga is wounded in a bomb attack.
 * 1995-2001**

Government takes out ban on Tamil Tigers. Rebels don't want separate states anymore.
 * Peace moves**
 * 2002** February - Government and Tamil Tiger rebels sign a Norwegian-mediated ceasefire.


 * 2003** Tigers pull out of talks. Ceasefire holds.

Karuna, a Renegade Tamil Tiger commanderas leads split in rebel movement and goes underground with his supporters. Tiger regains control of the east.
 * 2004** March


 * 2005** November - Mahinda Rajapaksa, prime minister at the time, wins presidential elections. Tamils who reside in areas controlled by the Tamil Tigers do not vote.

Mounting Violence

Tamil Tiger rebels and government forces resume fighting in the north-east in worst clashes since 2002 ceasefire. Government steadily drives Tamil Tigers out of eastern strongholds over following year.
 * 2006** August

Government pulls out of 2002 ceasefire agreement.
 * 2008** January

Sri Lankan military says it has captured the important Tamil Tiger naval base of Vidattaltivu in the north.
 * 2008** July

Government troops capture the northern town of Kilinochchi, held for ten years by the Tamil Tigers as their administrative headquarters. President Mahinda Rajapakse calls it an "unparalleled victory" and urges the rebels to surrender.
 * 2009** January

International concern over the humanitarian situation of thousands of civilians trapped in the battle zone prompts calls for a temporary cease-fire. This is rejected by the government, which says it is on the verge of destroying the Tamil Tigers, but it offers an amnesty to rebels if they surrender.
 * 2009** February

Government declares Tamil Tigers defeated after army forces overrun last patch of rebel-held territory in the northeast. Military says rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed in the fighting. Tamil Tiger statement says the group will lay down its arms.
 * Tamil Tigers defeated**
 * 2009** May

Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the New Tamil Tiger leader is captured overseas by Sri Lankan authorities.
 * 2009** August

Incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa wins the presidential election.
 * Rajapaksa re-elected**
 * 2010** January

Government says it plans to ease emergency laws in place for most of past 27 years, in response to its 2009 defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels.
 * 2010** May

Parliament approves a constitutional change allowing President Rajapaksa to seek unlimited number of terms. || **__Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka__**  __OFFICIAL NAME__ : Sri Lanka Prajatantrika Samajavadi Janarajaya (Sinhala); Ilangai Jananayaka Socialisa Kudiarasu (Tamil). **From the 5th century BC the Lion flag was a symbol of the Sinhalese people. The flag was replaced by the Union Jack in 1815 but readopted upon independence in 1948. The stripes of green (for Muslims) and orange (for Hindus) were added in 1951. In 1972 four leaves of the Bo tree were added as a symbol of Buddhism; the leaves were altered in 1978.** || Historical Enemies/ Conflict
 * 2010** September
 * Indo-Aryans first immigrated from India in the 5th century B.C. and became the largest ethic group in Sri Lanka-the Sinhalese. Then the Tamilians, the second largest ethic group immigrated from the southern part of india during the time of the 3th century, to A.D. 1200. Until "colonial powers" contolled Sri Lanka or Ceylon (the country's name until 1972) the Sinhalese and tamils fought over the land. The TAmils took over the north of the island, and the Sinhalese took over the south part of the island. Over a time period, Sri Lanka was contolles was controlled by many counties. First, by the Portuguese (1505 -1685), the the Dutch India Company (1685- 1796), finally, the British (1796-1948). Sri Lanka finally got its independence on Febuary 4, 1948. Then in 1956, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike became prime minister. Since he was sinhalese and a followed the religion of Buddhism, he was able to make Sinhala the official language of Ceylon, and Buddhism the official religion. After he was assassinated in 1959 by a buddhist monk, his wife became the first female prime minister. That was when the name Ceylon was changed to Sri Lanka on May 22, 1972. By this time, since Tamil was starting to be minor according to culture and religion, the Tamil's started fighting in 1983. Tamil rebel groups such as the Tigers of Tamil Eelam bagan a civil war to fight for a seperate nation. In 1993, President Ranasinghe Premadasa was assassinated by a Tamil rebel at a May Day political rally. The next president, Chandrika Kumaratunga, vowed to restore peace to the country. In Dec. 1999, she was wounded in a terrorist attack. By early 2000, 18 years of war had claimed the lives of more than 64,000, mostly civilians. || Flag and its Significance

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LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam)- This group was a rebel to the Sri Lankan Government and they play a huge part in the Sri Lankan conflict.It was a proscribed terrorist organisation in many countries, and one of the first groups to make use of suicide bombing. The LTTE attacked civilian as well as military targets.

Velupillai Prabhakaran(LTTE's founder and leader)- He and his group were implicated in the killing of Jaffna.

 **Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP) -** **JVP was a** Marxist, Sinhalese nationalist, and he had a political party. JVP led two insurgencies in the early 70’s and late 80’s – both which were crushed by the government (led by the UNP in both cases). The first left 20,000 dead,the second 50,000 and the party almost unable to function.

 **Mahinda Rajapaksa:** Current president of Sri Lanka, presideny since 2004. Rajapaksa led the country during the final days of the civil war in 2009. He first preferred to compromise a settlement with the LTTE, he soon took the uncompromising approach that led to the groups military defeat in 2009. Shortly after, he was returned to power in an early presidential election.

The Portuguese- The Portuguese took over the island in 1505. They had ways in trade and Sri Lanka was one of the places of which they got goods. After that, the Portuguese started taking over land and spreading the religion of Christianity.

The Dutch- The Dutch were first helping the Sri Lankans, but due to a disagreement, tensions grew between the Dutch and the Sri Lankans.The Dutch took over the island in 1685.

The British- The British came in to help the Sri Lankans get rid of the Dutch, but after their side winning in the war, they had to earn money because of the debt, do they started asking the Sri Lankans for monry. Due to that, the Sri Lankans started protesting.

<span style="border-collapse: separate; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;">All the sides were enemies, the Sinhalese, the Tamils, and other countries which tried controlling Sri Lanka, so basically anyone who tried to make a change in the government was an enemy, since Sri Lanka didn't gather to fight against other powers as one.

The main confict in Sri Lanka is the tension between the Sinhalese and Tamils, since in Sri Lanka, Sinhalese is a major ethnic group and the Tamils are a minor ethnic group. The Sinhalese also felt discriminated by their rulers: Britain, which started the Sinhalese political nationalism. After this, the Sinhalese governments held the power. This government introduced a legislation which decreased the Tamil minority, including the [|1956 Official Language Act].This increased the tentions between the groups. This conflict was mostly fought between the government and the LTTE. But the violence was also increased by insurrection carried out by the Sinhalese Peoples Liberation Front (JVP). The tsunami in 2003 also worsened the situations.After the failure of peace talks President Rajapaksa began a military offensive aimed at achieving complete victory over the LTTE. Victory was declared in May 2009 after the last of the LTTE controlled areas were captured but even currently Sri Lanka is still trying to gain peace.In addition to that, another conflict is poverty, due to political and natural reasons. || The culture/traditions were mainly the early history of politics and religions. The major ethnic group in Sri Lanka are the Sinhalese(74%) who first immigrated from the northern part of India. Then the Tamils arrived from the Southern part of India(Sri Lankan Tamils 12.7%, Indian Tamils 5.5.%, Moors 7%, Others 0.8%). http://sri-lanka.saarctourism.org/ || Traditional Clothing (Men) Dhoti, Lungi, Sarong (Women) Sari, Pavadai sattai, and Half Sari
 * Culture/Traditions



Dhoti [|www.exoticindiaart.com/ product/YP10/]

[|www.rummuser.com/?] Lungi Half- Saree [|www.hi2web.com/forum/ showthread.php?t=4922]

Paatu Pavadai- Sattai

<span style="border-collapse: separate; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;">

Sari

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www.hi2web.com/forum/ showthread.php?t=4922 []