The history of Sri Lanka is unique because its relevance and richness extend beyond the areas of South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean. The early human remains which were found on the island of Sri Lanka date back to about 38,000 years ago.
The Sinhalese people, also known as the Sinhalese or Sinhala people are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group native to the island of Sri Lanka. They are the largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka, constituting about 75% of the Sri Lankan population and number more than 15.2 million.
Silva, da Silva, and de Silva are surnames of Portuguese or Galician origin which are widespread in the Portuguese-speaking countries including Brazil. The name is derived from Latin silva. It is the family name of the House of Silva.
The Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) is a political party in Sri Lanka that has traditionally represented Sri Lankan Tamils of Indian origin working in the plantation sector of the economy.
Talduwe Ratugama Rallage Weris Singho, better known as Talduwe Somarama Thero was a Ceylonese Buddhist priest who shot and killed S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, the fourth Prime Minister of Ceylon in 1959.
Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka are Tamil people of Indian origin in Sri Lanka. They are also known as Malayaga Tamilar, Hill Country Tamils, Up-Country Tamils or simply Indian Tamils. They predominantly descend from workers sent during the British Raj from Southern India to Sri Lanka in the 19th and 20th centuries to work in coffee, tea and rubber plantations. Some also migrated on their own as merchants and as other service providers. These Tamil speakers mostly live in the central highlands, also known as the Malayakam or Hill Country, yet others are also found in major urban areas and in the Northern Province. Although they are all termed as Tamils today, some have Telugu and Malayalee origins as well as diverse South Indian caste origins. They are instrumental in the plantation sector economy of Sri Lanka. In general, socio-economically their standard of living is below that of the national average and they are described as one of the poorest and most neglected groups in Sri Lanka. In 1964 a large percentage were repatriated to India, but left a considerable number as stateless people. By the 1990s most of these had been given Sri Lankan citizenship. Most are Hindus with a minority of Christians and Muslims amongst them. There are also a small minority followers of Buddhism among them. Politically they are supportive of trade union-based political parties that have supported most of the ruling coalitions since the 1980s.
The 1958 anti-Tamil pogrom and riots in Ceylon, also known as the 58 riots, refer to the first island-wide ethnic riots and pogrom to target the minority Tamils in the Dominion of Ceylon after it became an independent dominion from Britain in 1948. The riots lasted from 22 May until 29 May 1958 although sporadic disturbances happened even after the declaration of emergency on 27 May 1958. The estimates of the murders range, based on recovered bodies, from 158 to 1,500. Although most of the victims were Tamils, Sinhalese and their property were also affected by retaliatory attacks by Tamil mobs throughout the Batticaloa and Jaffna districts. As the first full-scale race riot in the country in over forty years, the events of 1958 shattered the trust the communities had in one another and led to further polarisation.
British Ceylon, officially British Settlements and Territories in the Island of Ceylon with its Dependencies from 1802 to 1833, then the Island of Ceylon and its Territories and Dependencies from 1833 to 1931 and finally the Island of Ceylon and its Dependencies from 1931 to 1948, was the British Crown colony of present-day Sri Lanka between 1796 and 4 February 1948. Initially, the area it covered did not include the Kingdom of Kandy, which was a protectorate, but from 1817 to 1948 the British possessions included the whole island of Ceylon, now the nation of Sri Lanka.
Periannan Pillai Devaraj is a Sri Lankan politician and former minister of state.
The Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam Pact was an agreement signed between the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike and the leader of the main Tamil political party in Sri Lanka S. J. V. Chelvanayakam on July 26, 1957. It advocated the creation of a series of regional councils in Sri Lanka as a means to giving a certain level of autonomy to the Tamil people of the country, and was intended to solve the communal disagreements that were occurring in the country at the time.
Savumiamoorthy Arumugam Ramanathan Thondaman was a Sri Lankan politician who served as a Cabinet Minister. He was the grandson of prominent unionist Saumyamoorthi Thondaman. He was the leader of the Ceylon Workers' Congress, a Member of Parliament representing the Nuwara Eliya District and was an advocate for the Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka. His career as a politician spanned over 20 years, holding several ministerial portfolios in different governments. He was regarded as one of the prominent politicians from Nuwara Eliya.
The Kingdom of Kotte, named after its capital, Kotte, was a Sinhalese kingdom that flourished in Sri Lanka during the 15th century.
Dias is a common surname in the Portuguese language, and therefore in Portugal and Brazil. It is cognate to the Spanish language surname Díaz.
Karuppiah Kumaravelu was a Ceylonese politician.
Desigar Ramanujam was a Ceylonese trade unionist and politician.
Arnolis (Arnold) Alexander Weerasooriya was the first Ceylonese Colonel of the Salvation Army, also serving as Second in Command of the Indian sub-continent 1887–1888. He was a member of the Weerasooriya family of Dodanduwa and Hikkaduwa, and he is understood to be the first Sinhalese member of the Salvation Army.
The 2020–21 SLC Twenty20 Tournament was a Twenty20 cricket tournament that was held in Sri Lanka. It took place from 4 to 20 March 2021. Colombo Cricket Club were the defending champions. A total of 26 teams took part in the tournament, split into four groups, with 79 matches being played.
Weerasooriya or Weerasuriya is a Sinhalese surname, with origins tracing back to South of Sri Lanka. The word Weera means brave or hero, and sooriya is meant to denote the ancestry and descent from the Kshatriya Solar Dynasty, which is quite common among Karava, even Govigama Names.
