|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
HistorySri Lanka possesses a written history of over 2,500 years and an unwritten history of over 125,000 years attested to by archaeological ruins and other evidence, of more than 125,000 years on the island of Heladiva ('Sri Lanka') Historical chronicles are found in stone writings ('sel lipi'), leaf writings ('Hela Atuva') and also in great Indian chronicles as Mahabharata and the Ramayana. The main historical written evidence is the Mahavamsa, also including Dipavamsa & Chulavamsa . The island presently known as 'Sri Lanka' was originally known as 'Sinhale' or 'Heladiva' ('the island of the Hela (Comprised of naga, yaksha, deva & raksha tribes) people' - according to one theory. Pre and Proto history
Paleolithic human settlements by 125,000 year-old people using chert and quartz tools have been discovered at excavations in several cave sites in the Western Plains region and the South-Western face of the Central Hills region. The island is estimated to have been colonised by the Balangoda people (named after the area where their remains were discovered) about 34,000 years ago. They have been identified as a group of Mesolithic hunter gatherers who lived in caves. Several of these caves including the well known Batadombalena and the Fa-Hien Rock cave) have yielded many artefacts that points to them being the first inhabitants of the island. It is estimated that during certain pluvial episodes in South Asia, as at ca. 125,000 BP, the population density in the Dry Zone of northern, eastern and southern Sri Lanka (for ecozones v. ibid.: app. I) could have ranged between 1.5 and 0.8 individuals per square kilometre, whereas the Wet Zone in the west would have had densities of 0.1 or less.[4] Paleo-anthropologists have shown that burial rites and certain decorative artifacts show similarities between the first inhabitants of the island and the early Dravidian inhabitants of southern India.[citation needed] However, studies based on dental morphology suggest other possibilities (see dental morphology). The Balangoda people appear to have been responsible for creating Horton Plains, in the central hills, by burning the trees in order to catch game. However, discovery of Oats and Barley on the plains dating to about 15,000 BC suggest they may have engaged in agriculture.[5]
Cinnamon, which is native to Sri Lanka, was in use in Ancient Egypt in about 1500 BC, suggesting that there were trading links with the island. It is possible that Biblical Tarshish was located on the island (James Emerson Tennant identified it with Galle).[6] A large settlement appears to have been founded before 900 BC at the site of Anuradhapura and signs of an Iron Age culture have also been found. The size of the settlement was about 15 hectares at that date, but it expanded to 50 ha, to 'town' size within a couple of centuries. A similar site has been discovered at Aligala in Sigiriya.[7] While a majority of present day Sri Lankans are of Indian origin, it is believed that many of the first inhabitants also integrated with those of Indian origin. However, it is suspected that the hunter gatherer people known as the Wanniyala-Aetto or Veddas, who still live in the North-Eastern parts of the island, are relatively direct descendants of the first inhabitants. These first inhabitants, i.e, prior to 10th centure BC, may have been Sumarian, Phoenician and Etruscan sea-faring settleres, as attested by the presence of place names containing Elu words which may be related to such languages (see place-names). The earliest chronicles The Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa say that, before the migration of the Indo-Aryans, tribes of Yakkhas (demons) and Nagas (cobras) inhabited the island. These names might refer to the tribal totems of the people living in the island. One of the first references to the island in ancient literature is found in the mythical epic tale Ramayana, written between the 2nd and 4th centuries BC. In the Ramayana, which is a tale set 880,149 years ago, Rama (an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu) invaded the island through the Mannar causeway with the help of a Vanara (monkey) Army to save his abducted wife Sita from Ravana, the King of Sri Lanka. Early historyThe Buddhist chronicle the Mahavamsa relates the landing of Vijaya, they are not Dravidian like the peoples of neighbouring south India. The Sinhala language is related to Sanskrit, as is Hindi. The first Sri Lankan kingdom had its capital at Tambapanni, but later shifted to Upatissagama and then to Anuradhapura. Based on the Proto-Vedic Continuity Theory or Out of India theory, this migration is a result of continual Indo-Aryan expansion southwards and eastwards following the decline of the Sarasvati River and Indus Valley Civilization. This theory also places the Sinhalese as part of Proto-Indo-European that split inside the Indian subcontinet from 6000 - 2000 BC.[1] Pottery has been found at Anuradhapura, bearing Brahmi script and non-Brahmi writing, dating back to 600 BC, suggesting that the art of writing may have been re-introduced to the subcontinent via Sri Lanka. Ancient epigraphic inscriptions found at Anuradhapura and some other places in Sri Lanka attest some important ethnic communities from north-west India like Kaboja (or Kamboja, & Kambodjin), Muridi (Muruda = Murunda),[2] Meraya (Maurya? or else the inhabitants from Meru in Hindukush?) etc.[3] There is also a reference to Dravidian community Dameda (Damila or Tamil). Besides, there is also reference to Jhavaka (?) and Mileka (=Mlechha), the latter has been assumed to refer to the aborigines i.e the Veddas. Of these several ethnic identities, the Kaboja (or Kamboja, Kambodjin) is the one most referenced and finds mention in seven or eight ancient inscriptions, whereas term Daemeda is referenced four times, Mileka occurs twice and the Muridi, Meraya and Jhavaka occur only once.[4] The Sihalavatthu, a Pali text of about the fourth century, also attests a group of people called the Kambojas living in Rohana. The third story of this text, called Metteyya-vatthu, reveals that the Elder named Maleyya was residing in Kamboja-gama, in the province (Janapada) of Rohana on the Island of Tambapanni (Sri Lanka).[5] Further, there is an ancient evidence from Mahavamsa that the Yonas or Yavanas (Greeks), the next door neighbors of the Kambojas in the north-west, had also their settlement in Pandukabhaya in Anuradhapura[6] See: [8]; See also: [9]). The ancient inscriptions reveal that the Kambojas were actively involved in trade since there is reference to one 'Grand Trade Guild of the Kambojas' (Kabojhiya-mahapugiyana) and one 'Sangha of the Kambojas' (Gota-Kabojhi(ya]na) in Anuradhapura.[7] Scholars have dated these epigraphic inscriptions to at least third century BCE (or probably earlier). This may imply that the Aryan speakers of Sri Lankan population may have materially descended from the north-western Kambojas and partly from the Saka (Murinda) and the Yavana colonists. The ancestral home of Sinhalese, according to Mahavamsa tradition, is Sihapura (Simhapura) in the Lala Rattha (Lata Rashtra).[8] The country is identified with the modern Gujarat, the Larika of Ptolemy.[9][10] Lala is referred to as Lata-desa in Sanskrit texts.[11] Al Biruni calls it Lardesh.[12] There is an epic reference to one Simhapura kingdom located on the upper Indus which shared borders with Ursa, Abhisara, Bahlika, Darada and Kamboja.[13] Seventh century Chinese pilgrim Hiun Tsang also refers to this Simhapura (Sang-ho-pu-lo) and localises it on upper Indus, in Gandhara (north--west Punjab).[14] Scholars have identified it above Salt Range.[15] Yet another Sinhapura is referred to in Gujarat and has been attested in the Charter of Maitraka king Dhruvasena I (525 AD-545 AD). Its modern name is 'Sihore' (Sinhore?) of Kathiawad.[16] There is also an ancient place name 'Hingur' located 40 miles east from the apex of Indus delta which may also be a relic of ancient Sinhapura of the Sinhalese traditions (Hingur < Singur < Singhpur < Sinhapur).[17] It has been pointed out that the republican Gramaneyas of Sabhaparva of Mahabharata[18] may have been the ancestors of Sinhalese.[19] The original home of the Gramaneyas seems to have been the Sinhapura of Gandhara/Kamboja, but the people shifted to lower Indus and then, after defeat by Pandava Nakula, to Saurashtra Peninsula, centuries prior to common era. There they seem to have founded a principality and a city which they named Sinhapura probably to commemorate their past connections with Sinhapura of Gandhara/Kamboja[20] . In all probability, Vijaya and his 700 followers, the earliest known Aryan speakers of the island either belonged to the 'Sihore' (Sinhapura) of Kathiawad or else to Hingur (Sinhapura) east off the Indus delta from where they had sailed to Sri Lanka and settled there as colonists. Thus, it is argued by scholars that the name Simhapura, the eponymous of the Sinhalese, may have been carried into Sri Lanka (via Gujarat) by these Gramaneyas, which is believed by some scholars to be a section of north-west Gandharas/Kambojas[21][22] and that the Sinhalese, in fact, may have been, in general, the Kamboja colonists themselves. There is another piece of evidence linking Kambojas with Sri Lanka. Ravana, king of Sri Lanka and the adversary of Vedic-Aryans is stated to have been a fan of raga Kambhoji. Raga Kambhoji, as the name itself implies, is connected with the Kambojas. Per Tamil tradition, Ravana had once played this raga to praise god Siva.[23] This south Indian tradition, though rooted in mythology, still seems to hold a clue that the Kambojas colonists had influenced the cultural and social lives of the ancient Sinhalese. Ravana is also said to have in his stable the horses from north-western countries including Indus Valley, Aratta, Kamboja and Valhika etc[24] [10]. The above literary evidence again seems to verify ancient links of northwest Kambojas with Sri Lanka. The stream of Indo-Aryan colonists from north-west India was later followed by one from the north-east region.
The tradition of Vijaya and his 700 acomplices (the supposed ancestors of Sinhalese) as embodied in the Mahavamsa does contain references to Vanga, Kalinga and Magadha also. But Mahavamsa is a very belated literary text, written more than 1000 years after Vijaya and his companions landed on Tambapani in 543 BCE (or 486 BCE). The story was handed over from generation to generation till it was reduced to writing by Buddhist Monk Mahanama thero, brother of the Sri-Lankan King Dhatusena, in 6th century AD. The oral accounts are always prone to alterations and additions. Therefore, oral tradition about Vijaya and his followers may have been altered and tuned to reflect the historical, political and social realities which prevailed in India and Sri Lanka around that time (i.e. 6th century AD). Or else, the later revisions of Mahavamsa may have been subject to alterations and interpolations by the later Monks under political influence from the ruling dynasties of later generations. There are obvious contradictions in the geographical setting of the Sihabahu/Vijay story as incorporated in the Mahavamsa (Chapter VI). Moreover, the actual story is too fantastic to be trusted at its face value.[25] The lack of references to the north-eastern states or its people in the ancient epigraphic inscriptions of Anuradhapura (the earliest known records of the island) is a clear indication that the immigrants from north-east India were the later players in the game. For more details, see: Kamboja Colonists of Sri Lanka. Tamil presence is noted throughout the country's written history. Its origins are not dated, but must post-date the arrival of the Dravidian language group in South India sometime in prehistory. Given the island's proximity to the Deccan Plateau, people of different ethnicities must have traveled to and from it throughout human history. The intermingling of Tamil and Sinhala people, especially after the 12th century is evidenced by the tamilization of Sinhala toponyms. Thus thousands of place names in the north and east have names which have no clear meaning until their original typonyms are traced. For a discussion see Place names in Sri Lanka or use the listing of traditional Place names in Sri lanka. There were repeated wars between the Sinhalese and Indian invaders, and for much of the first millennium AD the island was controlled by various Tamil princes. Vijayabahu I re-established a Sinhalese dynasty in the 11th century. The "golden age" of the Sri Lankan kingdom was in the 12th century, when the Sinhalese King Parakrama Bahu I united the whole island under his rule, and even invaded India and Burma. Anuradhapura remained Sri Lanka's royal capital until the 8th century AD, when it was replaced by Polonnaruwa. Sri Lanka was known to the Greeks and to the Romans, who called it Taprobane, probably after Tambapanni. In the 1st Century, the King sent an embassy to the Roman Emperor Claudius. The island was known to the Persians and Arabs as 'Serendib', and features in the Sindbad stories in the 1001 Nights. After the Arab conquest of the Middle East Muslim traders frequently visited the island, and there has been a Muslim community in Sri Lanka since the 10th century. Ibn Batuta visited the island in the 14th Century. European occupationThe 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 Muslim 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 converted to Christianity, but 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 Spilberg landed, the king at Kandy appealed to him for help. But it was not until 1638 that the Dutch attacked in earnest, and not until 1656 that Colombo fell. By 1660 the Dutch controlled the whole island except the kingdom of Kandy. The Dutch persecuted the Catholics but left the Buddhists, Hindus and Moslems alone. But they taxed the people far more heavily than the Portuguese had done. A mixed Dutch-Sinhalese people known as Burgher peoples are a legacy of Dutch rule. In 1659, the British sea captain Robert Knox landed by chance on Sir 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. British RuleImage:Karte von Ceylon.jpg Late 19th century German map of Ceylon. During the Napoleonic Wars the United Kingdom, 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 or 3rd Kandyan War in 1817 - 1818, a treaty in 1818 preserved the Kandyan monarchy (Nayaks of Kandy) as a British dependency. 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 to 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% 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. The British colonialists, following their usual practice, played off one ethnic group against the others. They favoured the semi-European Burghers and also certain high-caste Sri Lankans, fostering divisions and enmities which have survived ever since. 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.[11][12][13] Insert non-formatted text here The struggle for independenceIn 1919 the Ceylon National Congress (CNC) was founded to agitate for greater autonomy. The party soon split along ethnic and caste lines, however. It did not seek independence: in the 1930s ministers of the Congress petitioned the colonial government to increase their powers, instead of demanding independence - they were forced to withdraw their 'Ministers' Memorandum' after a vigorous campaign by the Youth Leagues.[14][15] The Marxist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), which grew out of the Youth Leagues in 1935, was the first party to demand independence.[16] 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. Second World WarDuring World War II, Sri Lanka was a front-line British base against the Japanese. There was considerable opposition to the war in Sri Lanka, and the LSSP leaders of the pro-independence agitation were arrested by the Colonial authorities. On 5 April 1942, The Japanese Navy bombed Colombo and LSSP leaders were able to escape. Several of them fled to India, where they participated in the struggle there, but a sizeable contingent remained, led by Robert Gunawardena, Philip's brother. The Sri Lankan garrison on the Cocos Islands mutinied, partly because of the agitation by the LSSP. Three of the mutineers were the only British Commonwealth troops to be shot for mutiny during the Second World War. [17] Two members of the Governing Party, Junius Richard Jayawardene and Dudley Senanayake, held discussions with the Japanese with a view to collaboration to oust the British. Sri Lankans in Singapore and Malaysia formed the 'Lanka Regiment' of the Indian National Army. Post warThe Sinhalese leader Don Stephen Senanayake left the CNC on the issue of independence, disagreeing with the revised aim of 'the achieving of freedom'.[18]. He subsequently formed the United National Party (UNP) in 1946[19], when a new constitution was agreed on. 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. IndependenceDominion status followed in February 1948, with military treaties with Britain (the upper ranks of the armed forces were 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, he disenfranchised the Indian Tamil plantation workers.[20][21] He died in 1952 and was succeeded first by his son Dudley Senanayake and in 1953 - following a massive general strike or 'Hartal' by the Left parties against the UNP government which led to Dudley Senanayake's resignation - by a relative, John Kotelawala. This led to the party being nicknamed the 'Uncle Nephew Party'. [22]. In 1956 the UNP was defeated at elections (being reduced to 8 seats in Parliament) by the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, which included the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) led by Solomon Bandaranaike and the Viplavakari Lanka Sama Samaja Party of Philip Gunawardena. In 1957 British bases were removed and Sri Lanka officially became a non-aligned country. The Paddy Lands Act, the brainchild of Philip Gunawardena was passed, giving those working the land greater rights vis-a-vis absentee landlords. Bandaraike entered into a pact with Chelvanayagam of the Tamil-based Federal Party to secure more rights for the Tamils, but this was torpedoed when JR Jayawardene of the UNP organised a "March on Kandy" in protest. This triggered hostility from the Tamil minority which soon led to disturbances, culminating in serious riots in 1958. Philip Gunawardena was removed from the government as the right-wing of the governing coalition grew into the ascendent. Bandaranaike was assassinated in September 1959. His successor Wijayananda Dahanayake was unable to hold the government together, and elections in March 1960 brought the UNP under Dudley Senanayake back to office, but without a working parliamentary majority. Fresh elections in July saw Bandaranaike's widow, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, lead the SLFP to power and become the world's first elected female head of government. Her government avoided further confrontations with the Tamils, but its socialist policies of nationalization led to a cut-off of United States aid and a growing economic crisis. After an attempted coup-d'etat by right-wing Army and Police officers, aimed at bringing the UNP back to power, Bandaraneike nationalised the oil companies. This led to a boycott of the country by the oil cartels, which was broken with aid from the Kansas oil producers co-operative. In 1964 she formed a coalition government with the LSSP, a Trotskyist party with Dr N.M. Perera as Minister of Finance. Dissatisfaction with the economic situation brought the UNP under Senanayake back to office in 1965, but this government fared no better, since the underlying cause of Sri Lanka's problems was the declining market for its traditional commodity exports, tea, coffee and rubber. In 1968 Bandaranaike formed a coalition, the United Front with the LSSP and the Communist Party of Sri Lanka, which swept the 1970 polls on a platform of socialism. Independent RepublicUnder Bandaranaike the country became a republic, the Free Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka [23], the Senate was abolished and the position of Sinhala as the official language (with Tamil as a second language) was confirmed. Full independence was established 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). The British-owned plantations were nationalised in order to prevent the ongoing dis-investment by the owning companies. An attempt was made at economic independence, with a five-year plan to achieve industrial development. However, this was stymied due to a shortage of foreign exchange, which was exacerbated by the oil crisis of 1974, combined with an unprecedented drought which severely affected the harvest of rice, the staple food of the country's people. Strides forward were made in the fields of heavy industry, automotive spares and electronics. In 1971 a group variously labelled Maoist or Guevarist, the People's Liberation Front (JVP) launched a rebellion, ostensibly revolutionary but considered by some to be motivated largely by anti-Tamil nationalism. Although the JVP rebellion was suppressed, the JVP established a permanent place in Sri Lankan politics as a voice of extreme Sinhalese chauvinism, along with the movement within the UNP associated with Cyril Mathew. Tamil nationalists responded as their independence and their human rights were almost taken away from them, forming separatist groups such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ('Tamil Tigers'), demanding an independent Tamil state called Eelam, and the country began to slide towards civil war. Second RepublicBy 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 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. Bandaranaike had her civic rights removed by an act of Parliament. In 1978 Jayewardene introduced a new constitution making Sri Lanka a presidential 'Democratic Socialist' republic, with himself as executive President [24]. In 1980 he crushed a general strike by the trade-union movement, jailing its leaders. When the UNP member for the parliamentary constituency of Kalawana was removed on an election petition by his Communist opponent, Jayawardene allowed him to continue sitting in the house.[25] In 1977, Colombo abandoned statist economic policies and its import substitution trade policy for market-oriented policies and export-oriented trade. This included the opening of free-trade zones with a heavy emphasis on exports of garments from these zones. Elections to District Councils in 1981 were marred by the open theft of ballot boxes in Jaffna. The Jaffna Library, the repository of thousands of valuable documents was burned down by government thugs. President Jayawardene had the constitution amended (one of 13 amendments during his 10 years in office) to allow presidential elections to be held early, in 1982. The main opposition candidate, Hector Kobbekaduwa was garlanded with onions by the farmers of the Jaffna peninsular, impoverished by the policy of unrestricted imports. The Presidential election, held amidst widespread acts of electoral malpractice (Hector Kobbekaduwa arrived at the polling station only to find his vote had already been cast) resulted in Jayawardene's re-election. He followed this with an infamous plebiscite on postponing parliamentary elections for six years. Associates of Kobbekaduwa, such as TB Ilangaratne and Vijaya Kumaratunga, were jailed as 'Naxalites', a political creed unheard of in Sri Lanka, before or since. The Commissioner of Elections, in his report on the referendum, reported that it was flawed. In 1983 following a demonstration against the US military occupation of Diego Garcia, former MP Vivienne Goonewardena was physically assaulted at a police station. Her fundamental rights application in this matter was upheld by the Supreme Court in an act of judicial independence. [26] Following this, thugs stoned the houses of the Supreme Court judges who had made the ruling and the police officer who had been convicted had his fine paid by the government and received a promotion. War Against Terrorism
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 severe backlash from the Sinhalese rioters including the destruction of shops. It was rumoured that people behind the riots were government thugs supported by Jayewardene and his cabinet. While many Sinhalese were involved in the mob, many other 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[27] with 150,000 leaving the country resulting in a Tamil Diaspora in Canada, UK, Australia and other western countries. Jayewardene held office until 1989, ruling as a virtual dictator under emergency powers. In 1987, following an army offensive in the Vadamarachchi peninsular, India started getting deeply involved in the ethnic conflict.[28] A convoy sent by India was stopped in Sri Lankan waters by the Sri Lankan Navy and the Indian Air Force retaliated with an air drop of supplies onto the Jaffna peninsular. While the UNP organised street protests against India, Jayawardene declared that he would defend the country's independence to the last bullet. However, the air drop also caused Jayawardene to reconsider his position and he then accepted the offer of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of a Peace Accord.[29] Rajiv Gandhi's offer to send | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
