History of Sri Lanka
The chronicle records and archaeological discoveries of human beings and their
events which happened in an area known as Sri Lanka is called the History of Sri Lanka.
The number of archaeological evidences and chronicles written by Sri Lankans and
non-Sri Lankans, exploring the history of more than 10,000 years.
The archaeological discovery of the Balangoda Man providing the evidences of a
30,000 years past civilization. With the famous chronicles of Sri Lanka, the Mahawansa, the Dipavamsa, the Culavamsa and the Rajaveliya
which has the recorded Sri Lankan history from the beginnings of the Sinhalesemonarchy in the 6th century BC to the
arrival of European Colonialists in the
sixteenth century, up until the disestablishment of the monarchy in 1815.
There are some historical records about the country also included in the famous
Indian chronicles of sage Valmiki's Ramayana, Mahabharata and the ancient books of Gautama Buddha's
teachings.
The period after sixteenth century, some coastal areas of the country was
ruled by the Portuguese, Dutch and British. After the year 1815 the entire nation
was ruled by the British Colonialists until the political
independence granted in 1948 and becomes a
sovereign state after 1972. The Sri Lankan
people's armed uprisings happened against the British colonial rule in 1818Uva Rebellion and in 1848Matale Rebellion. The newconstitution was introduced in 1978 the Executive President as the head of
state, washappened after the armed youth uprising in 1971 known as 1971 April
Rebellion. The SrLankan Civil War started in 1983 and
again another armed youth uprising happened in 1987-89 period and the 26 year
civil war ended in year 2009.
The significant cultural changes happened after introducing the Buddhism in 3rd century BC by Arhath Mahinda (was the son of Indian emperor Ashoka
the Great), after sixteenth century arrival of European Colonialists and after
1977 the new open economic policies also changed the cultural values in the
country.
Contents [hide]1Prehistoric Sri
Lanka2Ancient Sri Lanka2.1Pali Chronicles and the arrival
of Vijaya2.2Anuradhapura
Kingdom2.3Kingdom of
Ruhuna3Medieval Sri Lanka3.1Kingdom of Ruhuna3.2Kingdom of
Polonnaruwa3.3Kingdom of
Dambadeniya3.4Kingdom of Jaffna3.5Kingdom of
Gampola3.6Kingdom of Kotte3.7Kingdom of
Sitawaka3.8Kingdom of
Kandy4Colonial Sri Lanka4.1Portuguese era4.2Dutch era4.3British rule4.4Independence
movement4.5Second World War4.6Post
war5Twentieth century Sri Lanka5.1Independence5.2Republic (1970 to 2009)5.2.11971 Uprising5.2.2New
constitution5.2.3Constitution of
19785.2.41987–89 Insurrection5.3Civil war (1983 to 2009)5.3.1Defeat of the
LTTE6Post conflict Sri
Lanka7See also8References9Books and magazines10External
links
//
[edit]Prehistoric Sri
Lanka
Main article: Prehistory
of Sri Lanka Thearliest archaeological evidence of human colonization in Sri Lanka
appears at the site of Balangoda. These Balangoda Man arrived on the island about 34,000
years ago and are identified as Mesolithichunter gatherers who
lived in caves. Several of these caves including the well known Batadombalena and the Fa-Hien
Rock cave) have yielded many artifacts from these people, currently the
first known inhabitants of the island.
The Balangoda Man
probably created Horton Plains, in the central
hills, by burning the trees in order to catch game. However, the discovery of oats and barley on the plains at about 15,000 BC suggests that agriculture had already developed
at this early date.[1]
Several minute granite tools, (about 4 centimetres in length), earthenware,
remnants of charred timber, and clay burial pots date to the Mesolithic stone age. Human remains dating to 6000
BC have been discovered during recent excavations around a cave at Varana Raja
Maha vihara and in Kalatuwawa area.Cinnamon, which is native to Sri
Lanka, has been found in Ancient Egypt as early as 1500 BC, suggesting early trade between
Egypt and the island's inhabitants. It is possible that Biblical Tarshish was located on the island. (James Emerson
Tennent identified Sri Lanka with Galle).[2]
The protohistoric Early Iron Age appears to have established itself in South
India by at least as early as 1,200 BC, if not earlier (Possehl 1990;
Deraniyagala 1992:734). The earliest manifestation of this in Sri Lanka is
radiocarbon dated to ca. 1000-800 BC at Anuradhapura and Aligala shelter in
Sigiriya (Deraniyagala 1992:709-29; Karunaratne and Adikari 1994:58; Mogren
1994:39; the Anuradhapura dating is now corroborated by Coningham 1999). It is
very likely that further investigations will push back the Sri Lankan lower
boundary to match that of South India [3].
Archaeological evidence for the beginnings of the Iron age in Sri Lanka is found at Anuradhapura, where a large
city–settlement was founded before 900 BC. The settlement was about 15 hectares
in 900 BC, but by 700 BC it had expanded to 50 hectares.[1] A similar site from the same period has also been
discovered near Aligala in Sigiriya.[4]
The hunter-gatherer people known as the Wanniyala-Aetto or Veddas, (who still live in the
central, Uva and north-eastern parts of the island), are probably direct
descendants of the first inhabitants (Balangoda man). They may have migrated to
the island from the mainland around the time humans spread from Africa to the
Indian subcontinent.
Around 500 BC, Sri Lankans (archaeological phase?, Cultural/Linguistic
Identity?) developed a unique hydraulic
civilization. Achievements include the construction of the largest
reservoirs and dams of the ancient world as well as enormous pyramid-like Stupa (Dagoba) architecture. This phase of Sri Lankan culture
was profoundly influenced by early Buddhism.
Buddhist scriptures note three visits by the Buddha to the island to see the
Naga Kings, who are said to be snakes that can take the form of human at will.
The kings are though to be symbolic and not based on historical fact.[5]
The earliest surviving chronicles from the island, the Dipavamsa and the Mahavamsa, say that tribes of Yakkhas (demon worshippers), Nagas
(cobra worshippers) and devas (god worshippers) inhabited the
island prior to the migration of Vijaya.Pottery has been found at Anuradhapura, bearing Brahmi script and
non-Brahmi writing, dating back to 600 BC – one of the oldest examples of the script.[6][edit]Ancient Sri Lanka
Main articles: Ancient history of Sri Lanka and
Pre Colonial era (500 BC - 1505
AD)[edit]Pali
Chronicles and the arrival of Vijaya
See also: Vijaya
The Pali chronicles, the Dipavamsa, Mahavamsa, Thupavamsa[7] and the Chulavamsa as
well as a large collection of stone inscriptions,[8] the Indian
Epigraphical records, the Burmese versions of the chronicles etc., provide an
exceptional record for the history of Sri Lanka from about the 6th century
B.C.
The Mahavamsa, written around 400 AD by the monk Nagasena, using the Deepavamsa, the Attakatha and
other written sources available to him, correlates well with Indian histories of
the period. Indeed Emperor Ashoka's
reign is recorded in the Mahavamsa. The Mahavamsa account of the period prior to
Asoka's coronation, (218 years after the Buddha's death) seems to be part
legend. History proper begins with the arrival of Vijaya and his 700 followers. Vijaya, is a Kalinga (ancient Orissa, India) prince, the
eldest son of King Sinhabahu ("Man with Lion arms") and his sister Queen
Sinhasivali. Both these Sinhala leaders were born of a mythical union between a
lion and a human princess. The Mahavamsa claims that Vijaya landed on the same
day as the death of the Buddha (See Geiger's preface to Mahavamsa). The story of
Vijaya and Kuveni (the local reigning queen) is reminiscent of Greek legend, and
may have a common source in ancient Proto-Indo-European folk tales.[9]
According to the Mahavamsa, Vijaya landed on Sri Lanka near Mahathitha
(Manthota or Mannar[10]), and
named[citation needed] the Island
"Thambaparni"
('copper-colored palms). This name is attested in Ptolemy's map of the ancient world. The Mahavamsa also
describes Lord Buddha visiting Sri Lanka three times. Firstly, to stop a war
between a Naga king and his son in law who were fighting over a ruby chair. It
is said that on his last visit, he left his foot mark on Siripada (Adam's
Peak).Tamirabharani
is the old name for the second longest river in Sri Lanka (known as Malwatu
Oya in Sinhala and Aruvi Aru in Tamil). This river was a main supply
route connecting the capital, Anuradhapura to Mahathitha (Mannar). The waterway
was used by Greek and by Chinese ships travelling the southern Silk Route.
Mahathitha was an ancient port linking Sri Lanka to India and the Persian
gulf,[11].
The present day Sihalese (and many modern Tamils) are a mixture of the
indegenous people and of other peoples who came to the island from various parts
of India. The Sinhalese recognize the Vijayan Indo-Aryan culture and Buddism
(already in existence prior to the arrival of Vijaya), as distinct from other
groups in neighbouring south India.[edit]Anuradhapura Kingdom
Main articles: Kingdom of
Anuradhapura and Anuradhapura
See also: List of monarchs of Sri
Lanka
In the early ages of the Anuradhapura Kingdom, Sinhalese economic
was based on farming and made their early settlements mainly near the rivers of
the east, north central, and north east areas, which supplied the water for
farming for the whole year. The king was the ruler of country, the law, the Army
and the protector of faith. Devanampiya Tissa (250-210 BC),
a Sinhalese King of the Maurya clan. His links with Emperor Asoka led to the
introduction of Buddhism by Mahinda (son of Asoka) in 247? BC. Sangamitta, (sister of Mahinda)
brought a Bodhi sapling via Jambukola
(Sambiliturei). This king's reign was crucial to Theravada
Buddhism, and for Sri Lanka.Elara (205-161
BC), a Tamil King who ruled "Pihiti Rata", i.e., Sri Lanka north of the mahaweli, after
killing King Asela.
During Elara's time,
Kelani
Tissa was a sub-king of Maya
Rata (south-west) and Kavan Tissa was a regional sub-king of Ruhuna (south-east). Kavan Tissa built Tissa
Maha Vihara, Dighavapi
Tank and many shrines in Seruvila. Dutugemunu (161-137 BC) – Eldest son
of King Kavan Tissa, who was a young man 25 years of age, defeated the South
Indian Tamil Invader Elara (over 64 years of age) in single combat, described in
the Mahavamsa. Dutugemunu is
depicted as a Sinhala "Asoka". The Ruwanwelisaya, built by this king is a dagaba of
pyramid-like proportions. It was an engineering marvel.Pulahatta
(or Pulahatha) deposed by Bahiya, was
deposed by Panaya
Mara, deposed by Pilaya
Mara, murdered by Dathiya 88
BC – deposed by Valagambahu, ending Tamil rule.
Valagambahu I (89-77) BC – restored the Dutugamunu
dynasty. The Mahavihara Theravada - Abhayagiri (pro-Mahayana) doctrinal disputes arose at this time. The
Tripitaka was
written in Pali at Aluvihara,
Matale. Chora
Naga (Mahanaga) (63-51) BC; poisoned by his consort Anula. Queen Anula
(48-44 BC) – Widow of Chora Naga and Kuda
Tissa, was the first Queen of Lanka. She had many lovers who were poisoned
by her. She was finally killed by: Kuttakanna Tissa. Vasabha
(67-111 AD) – Vallipuram gold
plate; he fortified Anuradhapura and built eleven tanks; many edicts.
Gajabahu
I (114-136) – invaded the Chola kingdom and brought back captives. He
recovered the tooth relic of the Buddha.
In those centuries there was a huge Roman trade with the ancient Tamil country (present day Southern
India) and Sri Lanka[12], establishing
trading settlements which remained long after the fall of the Western Roman empire[13].Mahasena (274-301) – The Theravada (Maha Vihara) was
persecuted and Mahayana surfaced.
Later the King returned to the Maha Vihara. Pandu (429) - first of seven
Pandiyan rulers, ending with Pithya, 455; Dhatusena (459-477), his uncle, Mahanama
wrote the Mahavamsa, he built "Kalaweva". His son Kashyapa (477-495), built the famous sigiriya rock palace. Some 700 rock
graffiti give a glimpse of ancient Sinhala.[edit]Kingdom of Ruhuna
Main article: Kingdom of
Ruhuna
The Kingdom of Ruhuna was a kingdom in the south of the island.Sub-terotories of Anuradhapura
[edit]Medieval Sri Lanka
Main article: Medieval history of Sri
Lanka
See also: List of monarchs of Sri
Lanka[edit]Kingdom of Ruhuna
Main article: Kingdom of
Ruhuna
The Kingdom of Ruhuna became the major kingdom on the island after another South
Indian invasion by Rajaraja I of the Chola kingdom.[edit]Kingdom of
Polonnaruwa
Main article: Kingdom of
Polonnaruwa
The Kingdom of Polonnaruwa was the second
major Sinhalese
kingdom of Sri Lanka. It lasted from 1055 under Vijayabahu I to 1212 under
the rule of Lilavati. The Kingdom of Polonnaruwa came
after the Anuradhapura Kingdom was invaded by Chola forces under Rajaraja I and
after the Kingdom of
Ruhuna, where the Sinhalese Kings ruled during Chola occupation.[edit]Kingdom of
Dambadeniya
Main article: Kingdom of
Dambadeniya[edit]Kingdom of Jaffna
Main article: Kingdom of
Jaffna[edit]Kingdom of Gampola
Main article: Kingdom
of Gampola[edit]Kingdom of Kotte
Main article: Kingdom of
Kotte[edit]Kingdom of Sitawaka
Main article: Kingdom of
Sitawaka[edit]Kingdom of Kandy
Main article: Kingdom of
Kandy[edit]Colonial Sri Lanka
Main article: Colonial history of Sri
Lanka
See also: List of monarchs of Sri
Lanka[edit]Portuguese era
Main articles: Portuguese Ceylon
and Portuguese conquest of Jaffna
Kingdom
The first Europeans to visit Sri Lanka in modern times were the Portuguese: Francisco de
Almeida arrived in 1505, finding the island divided into seven warring
kingdoms and unable to fend off intruders. The Portuguese founded a fort at the
port city of Colombo in 1517 and
gradually extended their control over the coastal areas. In 1592 the Sinhalese
moved their capital to the inland city of Kandy, a location more secure against attack from
invaders. Intermittent warfare continued through the 16th century.
Many lowland Sinhalese were forced to convert to Christianity while the coastal Moors were
religiously persecuted and forced to retreat to the Central highlands. The Buddhist
majority disliked Portuguese occupation and its influences and welcomed any
power who might rescue them. In 1602, therefore, when the Dutch captain Joris van Spilbergen landed, the king of
Kandy appealed to him for help.[edit]Dutch era
Main article: Dutch Ceylon
The king of Kandy Rajasinghe(ii) made a treaty with the Dutch in 1638 to get
rid of the Portuguese who ruled most of the coastal area of the island .Main
conditions of the treaty are that the Dutch should handover the coastal areas
they capture to the Kandyan king and King should grant the Dutch the monopoly
over trade on entire island .So that was in 1638 that the Dutch attacked in
earnest but ended with an agreement (which was disrespected by both parties),
and not until 1656 that Colombo fell. By 1660 the Dutch controlled the whole
island except the kingdom of Kandy. The Dutch (who were Protestants) persecuted
the Catholics (the left over Portuguese setlers) but left the Buddhists, Hindus
and Muslims alone. However, they taxed the people far more heavily than the
Portuguese had done. A mixed Dutch-Sinhalese people known as Burgher peoples are the
legacy of Dutch rule.
In 1659, the British sea captain Robert Knox landed by chance on Sri Lanka
and was captured by the king of Kandy. He escaped 19 years later and wrote an
account of his stay. This helped to bring the island to the attention of the
British.[edit]British rule
Main article: British CeylonLate 19th century German map of
Ceylon.
During the Napoleonic
WarsGreat Britain,
fearing that French control of the
Netherlands might deliver Sri Lanka to the French, occupied the coastal areas of
the island (which they called Ceylon) with little difficulty in
1796. In 1802 by the Treaty of Amiens the Dutch part of the island
was formally ceded to Britain, and became a crown colony. In 1803 the British invaded the Kingdom
of Kandy in the 1st Kandyan War, but were bloodily repulsed. In 1815
Kandy was occupied in the 2nd Kandyan War, finally ending Sri Lankan
independence.
Following the bloody suppression of the Uva Rebellion, the Kandyan peasantry were
stripped of their lands by the Wastelands Ordinance, a modern enclosure movement, and reduced to
penury. The British found that the uplands of Sri Lanka were very suited for coffee, tea and rubber cultivation, and by the mid 19th century Ceylon
tea had become a staple of the British market, bringing great wealth to a small
class of white tea planters. To work the estates, the planters imported large
numbers of Tamil workers as indentured labourers from south India, who
soon made up 10%[citation needed] of the
island's population. These workers had to work in slave-like conditions and to
live in line
rooms, not very different from cattle sheds. This also created the
preconditions for the modern problems surrounding the Tamil Tigers and their quest
for autonomy.
The British colonialists favoured the semi-European Burghers, certain high-caste Sinhalese and the Tamils who were
mainly concentrated to the north of the country, exacerbating divisions and
enmities which have survived ever since. Nevertheless, the British also
introduced democratic elements to Sri Lanka for the first time in its history.
The Burghers were given some degree of self-government as early as 1833. It was
not until 1909 that constitutional development began with a partly-elected
assembly, and not until 1920 that elected members outnumbered official
appointees. Universal suffrage was introduced in 1931,
over the protests of the Sinhalese, Tamil and Burgher elite who objected to the
common people being allowed to vote [2], [3][4].[edit]Independence
movement
Main article: Sri Lanka independence
struggle
Ceylon National Congress (CNC) was founded to agitate for greater autonomy.
The party soon split along ethnic and caste lines. Historian K. M. de Silva has
stated that the refusal of the Ceylon Tamils to accept minority status to be one
of the main causes which broke up the Ceylon National congress.[14] The CNC did
not seek independence or "Swaraj". What may be called the independence movement
broke into two streams, viz., the "constitutionalists", who sought independence
by gradual modification of the status of Ceylon, and the more radical groups
associated with the Colombo Youth League, Labour movement of Goonasinghe, and
the Jaffna Youth Congress. These organizations were the first to raise the cry
of Swaraj, or outright independence, following the Indian example, when Nehru, Sarojini Naidu and
other Indian leaders visited Ceylon in 1926.[15] The efforts
of the constitutionalists led to the arrival of the Donoughmore
Commission reforms (1931) and the Soulbury Commission recommendations, which
essentially upheld the 1944 draft constitution of the Board of ministers headed
by D. S. Senanayake.[14][15] The Marxist
Lanka
Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), which grew out of the Youth Leagues in 1935, made
the demand for outright independence a corner stone of their policy [5] Its deputies in the State Council, N.M. Perera and Philip
Gunawardena, were aided in this struggle by other less radical members like
Natesa
Iyer and Don Alwin Rajapaksa. They also demanded the replacement of English
as the official language by Sinhala and Tamil. The Marxist groups were a tiny
minority and yet their movement was viewed with grave suspicion by the British
administration. The heroic (but ineffctive) attempts to rouse the public against
the British Raj in revolt would have led to certain bloodshed and a delay in
independence. British state papers released in the 1950s show that the Marxist
movement had a very negative impact on the policy makers at the Colonial
office.
The Soulbury
Commission was the most important result of the agitation for constitutional
reform in the 1930s. The Tamil organization was by then led by G. G. Ponnambalam
who had rejected the "Ceylonese identity".[16] Ponnamblam had
declared himself a "proud Dravidian", and proclaimed an independent identity for
the Tamils. He attacked the Sinhalese, and criticized their historical chronicle
known as the Mahavamsa. One such
conflict[specify] in Navalapitiya led
to the first Sinhala-Tamil riot in 1939.[15][17] Ponnambalam
opposed universal franchise, supported the caste
system, and claimed that the protection of Tamil rights requires the Tamils
(15% of the population in 1931) having an equal number of seats in parliament to
that of the Sinhalese (~72% of the population). This "50-50" or "balanced
representation" policy became the hall mark of Tamil politics of the time.
Ponnambalam also accused the British of having established colonization in
"traditional Tamil areas", and having favoured the Buddhists by the buddhist
temporalities act. The Soulbury Commission rejected these
submissions by Ponnambalam, and even criticized what they described as their
unacceptable communal character[clarification needed].
Sinhalese writers pointed out the large immigration of Tamils to the southern
urban centers, especially after the opening of the Jaffna-Colombo railway.
Meanwhile, Senanayake, Baron Jayatilleke, Oliver Gunatilleke and others lobbied
the Soulbury
Commission without confronting them officially. The unoffcial submissions
contained what was to later become the draft constitution of 1944.[15]
The close collaboration of the D. S. Senanayake government with the war-time
British administration led to the support of Lord Louis
Mountbatten. His dispatches and a telegram to the Colonial office supporting
Independence for Ceylon have been cited by historians as having helped the
Senanayake government to secure the independence of Sri Lanka. The shrewd
cooperation with the British as well as diverting the needs of the war market to
Ceylonese markets as a supply point, managed by Oliver Goonatilleke, also led to
a very favourable fiscal situation for the newly independent government.[edit]Second World War
Main article: Participation of Ceylon in
World War II
During World War II, Sri Lanka was a front-line British base against the
Japanese. Opposition to the war in Sri Lanka was led by Marxist organizations.
The leaders of the LSSP pro-independence agitation were arrested by the Colonial
authorities. On 5 April 1942, The Japanese Navy bombed Colombo, which led
to the flight of Indian merchants, dominant in the Colombo commercial sector.
This flight removed a major political problem faceing the Senanayake
government.[15] Marxist
leaders also escaped, to India, where they participated in the independence
struggle there. The movement in Ceylon was minuscule, limited to the English
educated intelligentsia and trade unions, mainly in the urban centers. These
groups were led by Robert Gunawardena, Philip's brother. In stark contrast to
this "heroic" but ineffective approach to the war, the Senanayake government
took advantage of the war to further its rapport with the commanding elite.
Ceylon became crucial to the British Empire in the war, with Lord Louis
Mountbatten using Colombo as his headquarters for the Eastern Theater.
Oliver Goonatilleka successfully exploited the markets for the country's rubber
and other agricultural products to replenish the treasury. Nonetheless,
Sinhalese continued to agitate for independence and Sinhalese sovereignty, using
the opportunities offered by the war to establish a special relationship with
Britain.
Meanwhile, the Marxists, identifying the war as an imperialist sideshow and
desiring a proletarian revolution, chose a path of
agitation disproportionate to their negligible combat strength, and
diametrically opposed to the "constitutionalist" approach of Senanayake and
other Ethnic Sinhalese leaders. A small garrison on the Cocos Islands, manned by
Ceylonese, asttempted to cast off the British yoke. It has been claimed that the
LSSP had some hand in the action, though this is far from clear. Three of the
participants were the only British Subject Peoples to be shot for "mutiny"
during the World War II [6].
Two members of the Governing Party, Junius Richard Jayawardene and Dudley Senanayake
held discussions with the Japanese to collaborate in liberating the island from
British colonialism.
Sri Lankans in Singapore and Malaysia formed the 'Lanka Regiment' of
the (pro/anti Colonial?) Indian National Army.
The constitutionalists, led by D. S. Senanayake, succeeded in winning
independence. The Soulbury constitution was essentially what Senanayake's board
of ministers had drafted in 1944. The promise of Dominion status, and
independence itself, had been given by the Colonial office.[edit]Post war
The Sinhalese leader Don Stephen Senanayake left the CNC on the issue of
independence, disagreeing with the revised aim of 'the achieving of freedom',
although his real reasons were more subtle [7]. He
subsequently formed the United National Party (UNP) in 1946 [8], when a new constitution was agreed on, based on the
behind-the -curtain lobbying of the Soulbury commission. At the elections of
1947, the UNP won a minority of the seats in Parliament, but cobbled together a
coalition with the Sinhala Maha Sabha of Solomon Bandaranaike and the Tamil
Congress of G.G. Ponnambalam. The successful inclusions of the Tamil-communalist
leader Ponnambalam, and his Sinhala counterpart Bandaranaike were a remarkable
political balancing act by Senanayake. However, the vacuum in Tamil Nationalist
politics created by Ponnamblam's transition to a moderate opened the field for
the Tamil Arasu Kachchi, a Tamil soverignist party (rendered into English as the
"Federal" party) led by S. J. V. Chelvanaykam, the lawyer son of a Christian
minister.[edit]Twentieth century Sri
Lanka
Main articles: Sri Lanka in the twentieth
century and Post
Colonial era (since 1948)[edit]Independence
See also: Dominion of Ceylon
Dominion status, raised to independence itself followed on 4 February 1948,
with military treaties with Britain (the upper ranks of the armed forces were
initially British) and British air and sea bases remaining intact. Senanayake
became the first Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. In 1949, with the concurrence of
the leaders of the Ceylon Tamils, the UNP government disenfranchised
the Indian Tamil plantation workers.[15][18] This was the price
that Senanayake had to pay, to obtain the support of the Kandyan Sinhalese who
felt threatened by the demographics of the tea estates, where the inclusion of
the "Indian Tamils" would have meant electoral defeat for the Kandyan leaders.
Senanayke died in 1952 after falling from a horse. He was succeeded by his son
Dudley Senanayake, the minister of Agriculture. However, in 1953 - following a
massive general strike or 'Hartal' by
the Left parties against the UNP, Dudley Senanayake resigned. He was followed by
John Kotelawala, a
senior politician and an uncle of Dudley. Kotelawala did not have the enormous
personal prestige or the adroit political acumen of D. S. Senanayake [9]. He brought to the fore, the issue of national languages
that D. S. Senanayake had adroitly kept on the back burner. He antagonized the
Tamils and the Sinhalese by stating conflicting policies with regard to the
status of Sinhala
and Tamil as official
languages. He also antagonized the Buddhist lobby by attacking politically
active Buddhist Monks who were Bandaranaike's supporters.[edit]Republic (1970 to
2009)
Under Bandaranaike the country became a republic, the Free Sovereign and
Independent Republic of Sri Lanka,[19] the Senate was
abolished and Sinhala was established as the official language (with Tamil as a
second language). Full independence came as the last remaining ties of
subjection to the UK were broken (e.g., the Privy Council was no longer
a body of appeal above the Supreme Court). Colonial plantations were
nationalised to fulfil the election pledges of the Marxist program and to
"prevent the ongoing dis-investment by the owning companies".[edit]1971 Uprising
This article may require copy
editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone or spelling. You can assist
by editing it. (November
2009)
Main article: 1971 JVP
Insurrection
The leftist Sinhalese Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna drew worldwide attention when
it launched an insurrection against the Bandaranaike government in April 1971.
Although the insurgents were young, poorly armed, and inadequately trained, they
succeeded in seizing and holding major areas in Southern and Central provinces
before they were defeated by the security forces. Their attempt to seize power
created a major crisis for the government and forced a fundamental reassessment
of the nation's security needs.
The movement was started in the late 1960s by Rohana Wijeweera, the son of a
businessman from the seaport of Tangalla, Hambantota District. An excellent
student, Wijeweera had been forced to give up his studies for financial reasons.
Through friends of his father, a member of the Ceylon Communist Party, Wijeweera
successfully applied for a scholarship in the Soviet Union, and in 1960 at the
age of seventeen, he went to Moscow to study medicine at Patrice Lumumba
University. While in Moscow, he studied Marxist ideology but, because of his
openly expressed sympathies for Maoist revolutionary theory, he was denied a
visa to return to the Soviet Union after a brief trip home in 1964. Over the
next several years, he participated in the pro-Beijing branch of the Ceylon
Communist Party, but he was increasingly at odds with party leaders and
impatient with its lack of revolutionary purpose. His success in working with
youth groups and his popularity as a public speaker led him to organize his own
movement in 1967. Initially identified simply as the New Left, this group drew
on students and unemployed youths from rural areas, most of them in the
sixteen-to-twenty-five-age- group. Many of these new recruits were members of
lower castes (Karava and Durava) who felt that their economic interests had been
neglected by the nation's leftist coalitions. The standard program of
indoctrination, the so-called Five Lectures, included discussions of Indian
imperialism, the growing economic crisis, the failure of the island's communist
and socialist parties, and the need for a sudden, violent seizure of power.
Between 1967 and 1970, the group expanded rapidly, gaining control of the
student socialist movement at a number of major university campuses and winning
recruits and sympathizers within the armed forces. Some of these latter
supporters actually provided sketches of police stations, airports, and military
facilities that were important to the initial success of the revolt. In order to
draw the newer members more tightly into the organization and to prepare them
for a coming confrontation, Wijeweera opened "education camps" in several remote
areas along the south and southwestern coasts. These camps provided training in
Marxism-Leninism and in basic military skills.
While developing secret cells and regional commands, Wijeweera's group also
began to take a more public role during the elections of 1970. His cadres
campaigned openly for the United Front of Sirimavo R. D. Bandaranaike, but at
the same time they distributed posters and pamphlets promising violent rebellion
if Bandaranaike did not address the interests of the proletariat. In a manifesto
issued during this period, the group used the name Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna for
the first time. Because of the subversive tone of these publications, the United
National Party government had Wijeweera detained during the elections, but the
victorious Bandaranaike ordered his release in July 1970. In the politically
tolerant atmosphere of the next few months, as the new government attempted to
win over a wide variety of unorthodox leftist groups, the JVP intensified both
the public campaign and the private preparations for a revolt. Although their
group was relatively small, the members hoped to immobilize the government by
selective kidnapping and sudden, simultaneous strikes against the security
forces throughout the island. Some of the necessary weapons had been bought with
funds supplied by the members. For the most part, however, they relied on raids
against police stations and army camps to secure weapons, and they manufactured
their own bombs.
The discovery of several JVP bomb factories gave the government its first
evidence that the group's public threats were to be taken seriously. In March
1971, after an accidental explosion in one of these factories, the police found
fifty-eight bombs in a hut in Nelundeniya, Kegalla District. Shortly afterward,
Wijeweera was arrested and sent to Jaffna Prison, where he remained throughout
the revolt. In response to his arrest and the growing pressure of police
investigations, other JVP leaders decided to act immediately, and they agreed to
begin the uprising at 11:00 P.M. on April 5.
The planning for the countrywide insurrection was hasty and poorly
coordinated; some of the district leaders were not informed until the morning of
the uprising. After one premature attack, security forces throughout the island
were put on alert and a number of JVP leaders went into hiding without bothering
to inform their subordinates of the changed circumstances. In spite of this
confusion, rebel groups armed with shotguns, bombs, and Molotov cocktails
launched simultaneous attacks against seventy- four police stations around the
island and cut power to major urban areas. The attacks were most successful in
the south. By April 10, the rebels had taken control of Matara District and the
city of Ambalangoda in Galle District and came close to capturing the remaining
areas of Southern Province.
The new government was ill prepared for the crisis that confronted it.
Although there had been some warning that an attack was imminent, Bandaranaike
was caught off guard by the scale of the uprising and was forced to call on
India to provide basic security functions. Indian frigates patrolled the coast
and Indian troops guarded Bandaranaike International Airport at Katunayaka while
Indian Air Force helicopters assisted the counteroffensive. Sri Lanka's
all-volunteer army had no combat experience since World War II and no training
in counterinsurgency warfare. Although the police were able to defend some areas
unassisted, in many places the government deployed personnel from all three
services in a ground force capacity. Royal Ceylon Air Force helicopters
delivered relief supplies to beleaguered police stations while combined service
patrols drove the insurgents out of urban areas and into the countryside.
After two weeks of fighting, the government regained control of all but a few
remote areas. In both human and political terms, the cost of the victory was
high: an estimated 10,000 insurgents- -many of them in their teens—died in the
conflict, and the army was widely perceived to have used excessive force. In
order to win over an alienated population and to prevent a prolonged conflict,
Bandaranaike offered amnesties in May and June 1971, and only the top leaders
were actually imprisoned. Wijeweera, who was already in detention at the time of
the uprising, was given a twenty-year sentence and the JVP was proscribed.
Under the six years of emergency rule that followed the uprising, the JVP
remained dormant. After the victory of the United National Party in the 1977
elections, however, the new government attempted to broaden its mandate with a
period of political tolerance. Wijeweera was freed, the ban was lifted, and the
JVP entered the arena of legal political competition. As a candidate in the 1982
presidential elections, Wijeweera finished fourth, with more than 250,000 votes
(as compared with Jayewardene's 3.2 million). During this period, and especially
as the Tamil conflict to the north became more intense, there was a marked shift
in the ideology and goals of the JVP. Initially Marxist in orientation, and
claiming to represent the oppressed of both the Tamil and Sinhalese communities,
the group emerged increasingly as a Sinhalese nationalist organization opposing
any compromise with the Tamil insurgency. This new orientation became explicit
in the anti-Tamil riots of July 1983. Because of its role in inciting violence,
the JVP was once again banned and its leadership went underground.
The group's activities intensified in the second half of 1987 in the wake of
the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord. The prospect of Tamil autonomy in the north together
with the presence of Indian troops stirred up a wave of Sinhalese nationalism
and a sudden growth of antigovernment violence. During 1987 a new group emerged
that was an offshoot of the JVP—the Patriotic Liberation Organization
(Deshapreni Janatha Viyaparaya—DJV). The DJV claimed responsibility for the
August 1987 assassination attempts against the president and prime minister. In
addition, the group launched a campaign of intimidation against the ruling
party, killing more than seventy members of Parliament between July and
November.
Along with the group's renewed violence came a renewed fear of infiltration
of the armed forces. Following the successful raid of the Pallekelle army camp
in May 1987, the government conducted an investigation that resulted in the
discharge of thirty-seven soldiers suspected of having links with the JVP. In
order to prevent a repetition of the 1971 uprising, the government considered
lifting the ban on the JVP in early 1988 and permitting the group to participate
again in the political arena. With Wijeweera still underground, however, the JVP
had no clear leadership at the time, and it was uncertain whether it had the
cohesion to mount any coordinated offensive, either military or political,
against the government.[edit]New constitution
By 1977 the voters were tired of Bandaranaike's socialist policies and
elections returned the UNP to power under Junius
Jayewardene on a manifesto pledging a market economy and "a free ration of 8
seers (kilograms) of cereals". The SLFP and the left-wing parties were virtually
wiped out in Parliament (although they garnered 40% of the popular vote),
leaving the Tamil United Liberation Front,
led by Appapillai Amirthalingam, as the
official opposition. This created a dangerous ethnic cleavage in Sri Lankan
politics.[edit]Constitution of 1978
After coming to power, Jayewardene directed the rewriting of the
constitution. The document that was produced, the new Constitution of 1978,
drastically altered the nature of governance in Sri Lanka. It replaced the
previous Westminsterstyle , parliamentary government with a new presidential
system modeled after France, with a powerful chief executive. The president was
to be elected by direct suffrage for a six-year term and was empowered to
appoint, with parliamentary approval, the prime minister and to preside over
cabinet meetings. Jayewardene became the first president under the new
Constitution and assumed direct control of the government machinery and
party.
The new regime ushered in an era that did not auger well for the SLFP.
Jayewardene's UNP government accused former prime minister Bandaranaike of
abusing her power while in office from 1970 to 1977. In October 1980,
Bandaranaike's privilege to engage in politics was removed for a period of seven
years, and the SLFP was forced to seek a new leader. After a long and divisive
battle, the party chose her son, Anura. Anura Bandaranaike was soon thrust into
the role of the keeper of his father's legacy, but he inherited a political
party torn apart by factionalism and reduced to a minimal role in the
Parliament.
The 1978 Constitution included substantial concessions to Tamil
sensitivities. Although TULF did not participate in framing the Constitution, it
continued to sit in Parliament in the hope of negotiating a settlement to the
Tamil problem. TULF also agreed to Jayewardene's proposal of an all-party
conference to resolve the island's ethnic problems. Jayewardene's UNP offered
other concessions in a bid to secure peace. Sinhala remained the official
language and the language of administration throughout Sri Lanka, but Tamil was
given a new "national language" status. Tamil was to be used in a number of
administrative and educational circumstances. Jayewardene also eliminated a
major Tamil grievance by abrogating the "standardization" policy of the United
Front government, which had made university admission criteria for Tamils more
difficult. In addition, he offered many top-level positions, including that of
minister of justice, to Tamil civil servants.
While TULF, in conjunction with the UNP, pressed for the allparty conference,
the Tamil Tigers escalated their terrorist attacks, which provoked Sinhalese
backlash against Tamils and generally precluded any successful accommodation. In
reaction to the assassination of a Jaffna police inspector, the Jayewardene
government declared an emergency and dispatched troops, who were given an
unrealistic six months to eradicate the terrorist threat.
The government passed the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act
in 1979. The act was enacted as a temporary measure, but it later became
permanent legislation. The International Commission of Jurists, Amnesty
International, and other human rights organizations condemned the act as being
incompatible with democratic traditions. Despite the act, the number of
terrorist acts increased. Guerrillas began to hit targets of high symbolic value
such as post offices and police outposts, provoking government counterattacks.
As an increasing number of civilians were caught in the fighting, Tamil support
widened for the "boys," as the guerrillas began to be called. Other large,
well-armed groups began to compete with LTTE. The better-known included the
People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam, Tamil Eelam Liberation Army,
and the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization. Each of these groups had forces
measured in the hundreds if not thousands. The government claimed that many of
the terrorists were operating from training camps in India's Tamil Nadu State.
The Indian government repeatedly denied this claim. With the level of violence
mounting, the possibility of negotiation became increasingly distant.[edit]1987–89
InsurrectionPlease help improve this article by expanding it. Further information
might be found on the talk page. (November
2009)
Main article: 1987–89 JVP Insurrection[edit]Civil war (1983 to
2009)
Main article: Sri Lankan Civil
War
In July 1983 communal riots took place due to the ambush and killing of 13
Sri Lankan Army soldiers by the Tamil Tigers. Using the voters list which
contained the exact addresses of Tamils, the Tamil community faced a backlash
from Sinhalese rioters including the destruction of shops, homes and savage
beatings. However, quite a few Sinhalese kept Tamil neighbours in their homes to
protect them from the rioters. During these riots the government did nothing to
control the mob. Conservative government estimates put the death toll at 400 [10], while the real death toll is believed to be around 3000
[11]. Also around 18,000 Tamil homes and 5,000 homes were
destroyed, with 150,000 leaving the country resulting in a Tamil Diaspora in
Canada, UK, Australia and other western countries.
In elections held on 17 November 2005, Mahinda Rajapakse,
the son of Don Alwin Rajapaksa, was elected President, defeating Wickremasinghe.
He appointed Ratnasiri Wickremanayake Prime
Minister and Mangala Samaraweera Foreign Minister.
Negotiations with the LTTE stalled and low-intensity conflict began. The
violence dipped off after talks in February, but escalated in April and the
conflict continued until the military defeat of the LTTE in May 2009, in the
name of defeating the LTTE more than 20,000 Tamil civilians were killed by the
Sri Lankan and Indian forces.[edit]Defeat of the LTTE
The Sri Lankan government declared total victory on Monday, 18 May 2009. On
19 May 2009, the Sri Lankan military effectively concluded its 26 year operation
against the LTTE.Its military forces recaptured all remaining LTTE controlled
territories in the Northern Province, including notably Killinochchi (2
January), the Elephant Pass (9 January) and the ultimately the entire district
of Mullaitivu.
On 22 May 2009, Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa confirmed that 6,261
personnel of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces had lost their lives and 29,551 were
wounded during Eelam War IV since July 2006. Brig. Udaya
Nanayakkara added that approximately 22,000 LTTE cadres had died during this
time.[edit]Post conflict Sri
Lanka
Main article: Post conflict history of Sri
Lanka
Presidential elections were completed in January 2010. Mahinda Rajapaksa won
the elections with 59% of electorate, defeating General Forenska who was the
united opposition candidate.